Recently returned from tour, Princeton played U Penn in a night game under the lights on the Campbell Finney field on Friday, March 31st.  The howling wind and driving rain made running rugby difficult.  Princeton stayed focused and worked hard throughout the full 80 minutes despite the weather conditions.  U Penn were always a real threat when they had the ball and came close to scoring on a number of occasions. Princeton was able to keep the momentum and finished strong to beat U Penn 44-0, scoring 8 tries and 4 conversions.   Ben Schafer was selected as Princeton’s Man of the Match for his great all-around play.

The victory proved costly as Princeton lost both prop Nezim Mmegwa and flanker Will Yoon to injuries.  Nezim twisted his ankle and had to be taken off after scoring a hat trick of tries in the first half.  Not long after Nezim left the pitch, Will suffered a hand injury in a tackle and also had to leave the field.

Princeton’s win put the Tigers into the Ivy Rugby D1AA Final against Brown University to determine which would qualify as the Ivy Rugby representative in the USA Rugby D1AA Round of 16.

With just a short rest, Princeton now travels to Providence on Saturday April 1st to play Brown on Sunday.  Brown will be well rested having played their Quarter Final against Yale two weeks ago.  Brown beat Yale 44-5 in that match.