PURFC traveled to play Brown at the Irish Cultural Center in Canton, MA, with only 45% of its players available due to the long university clearance process in place this season.

 

The starting line-up consisted of a newly formed front row in light of the season-ending injury last week to Senior Nezim Mmegwa, the team’s tight head prop and leading try scorer and leading ball carrier.

 

With no A-side subs available the starters had to play the full match against a Brown side that were significantly bigger, man for man, in every position.

 

The day was very wet and heavy rain kept falling throughout the match resulting in many knock-ons, which led to more scrums in one game than one usually sees in a season.   Scrums also had to be constantly re-set following multiple slips resulting in numerous collapses.  The conditions strongly favored Brown and they coped much better, using their large forward pack to bludgeon their way forward.

 

Brown has a very strong side marked by experience and size.  They also have several graduate students now able to play under the revised USA Rugby rules.  This included a graduate student who played at tight head prop and who had been an OLB on the Vanderbilt football team, a New Zealand second row who had been on the Brown crew team, as well as another big and athletic graduate student, a former Brown football player, who came on as a replacement prop.

 

Princeton’s only try came when Brown was penalized for a scrum collapse and a quick tap from scrum half and co-captain Mark Goldstein resulted in the PURFC try.  Mark was also the team’s Man of the Match.

 

Both teams used a 10’s match for a B-side developmental game following the A-side match.

 

The Ivy schedule doesn’t get any easier.  Princeton travels to Harvard next weekend to take on the Crimson in a late afternoon fixture at their new rugby venue in Cambridge.  Two weeks ago, Harvard comprehensively beat Brown 53-15.

 

We would like to thank Brown for its hospitality post-match and wish them well for the remainder of the season.