49ers Rugby Games

The first rugby match of New Mexico Tech's 2002 edition of 49ers weekend was played by women. The resurgent Pygmy Queens, dormant the past two years due to a lack of viable numbers, still struggle for solvency. But the show must go on.

Enter Albuquerque's Atomic Sisters Rugby Football Club, to the rescue. The visitors, led by former Queen Melissa Burt and accompanied by Pygmy Queen alumnae such as Edie Castaneda, rode in Friday afternoon and after a brief warmup with Tech's few resident female ruggers, produced a rugby match of a quality wholly satisfying to a good-sized group of onlookers. In the end it was 19-5 in favor of Ms. Burt's team, but the score seemed to pale compared to the good feelings generated by the return of women's rugby to the annual 49ers observance.

Not that play was non-competitive. In the second half, first-year player Sengdhuan St. John suffered a broken collarbone as she was tackled onto her shoulder after a long run, costing the program at least temporarily one of its keenest new members.

On the day, Melissa Burt worked well with her halfback partner Melissa Napier of the Sisters, whose husband played in the men's alumni match which followed. Burt scored two tries and teammate and current student Shannon Bays notched one, versus one try by the Atomic Sisters' regular flyhalf, Wendy Meadows. Also conspicuous through her good play was Queens rookie Tiffany Rockage, who turned up often to do good work with ball in hand.

Following a limited fall season in which most of the Pygmy Queens saw action with Albuquerque teams, Tech's rugby ladies will continue recruiting throughout the off season, in hopes of a fielding a full 15-member team in the spring. Until then, it's time to step up the conditioning while dreaming of future glory.

Men's Pygmy Rugby Club

"We (alumni) want to return each year and play some good rugby, have a good time with our old teammates, and play a part in the advancement of the current student team", commented Martin Brueggemann, of Silver City (class of 1990). "If the Pygmies benefited from the game today, that is the most important thing to us."

The opening few minutes of play were punctuated with ball handling errors by both teams which resulted in several set scrum restarts ordered by referee Clint Richardson, a Tech faculty member. Once students and alumni got on the same page, however, the action opened up, resulting in an exciting match, well balanced between power and running rugby. Pat Radabaugh, who now plays his rugby for the Major League Rugby member Boulder (Colo.) Rugby Club, opened scoring for the Blue team after 21 minutes, and converted his own try for a 7-0 lead.

The Blues seemed in control in the first quarter of play, but the Blacks were apparently just warming up. After a prolonged seige on the Blue line, big center Cory Stevens of the El Paso Scorpions (class of 1990) got close and put the ball back for NMT's fearless freshman hooker David Vaughn to grab and dive in for a 5-pointer converted by captain John Ellis of the Santa Fe Santos (1999), to knot things up at seven as the teams went into their halftime break.

Play continued at a feverish pace as the second half opened, with both students and "old boy" players contributing inspired play. At nine minutes, the Pygmies' all-rounder Joshua Ulbricht kicked a loose ball to the wide side where junior wing Michael Bauer was waiting to gather and register a trademark high-speed try for the Blacks, and again Ellis's kick was good for a 14-7 Black lead.

Eleven minutes into the half it was Black captain Ellis's turn to put down a try following an intercepted pass, but his conversion kick sailed wide, leaving the Blacks with a 19-7 lead.

Less than two minutes later the Blues' Matt Odle (1972) belied his age by scrambling across the line for a converted try to keep it close, 19-14 in favor of the Blacks.

At the point of 17 minutes, the Blacks' sophomore scrum half Paul Quintana alertly spotted the hint of a gap in the defense from his position behind a teammate tackled near the line. He scooped the ball up, took a half-step to his right and then burrowed his way straight across the line. The conversion kick was astray and the Black side now led 24-14 with 20 minutes left to play.

Twenty-six minutes into the second half, senior NMT wing Miguel Provencio, playing flank forward to make room for second half substitutions, followed up play nicely and was rewarded with a try in the right corner. Following the missed kick, the Black lead was down to 24-19, with plenty of fireworks to come. Over an hour of exuberant rugby had taken some steam out of the less-active ruggers, bringing the weekly practitioners to the fore in the form of three tries in less than 15 minutes.

First, it was sophomore running sensation Patrick Simons of the Blues, leveling the scores at 24 after a long passing break by his teammates. With seven minutes remaining, his housemate Rob Harrison, who has joined Simons as a scoring threat for the Pygmies this fall, repaid the favor by finishing a great, length-of-field effort by the Black team, and it looked as though they might survive the long and faithful comeback of the Blues.

But the Blues' veteran scrum half Radabaugh was not going to let his team's hard work go to waste. As the final whistle neared, with competitive juices producing some frightful passages of play, a Black player knocked the ball forward some 20 meters from his own goal line. Scooping the ball from the resulting scrum, Radabaugh ran a looping arc to the right to elude the defense and slid home to once again tie the scores at 29. His conversion kick took the Blues clear at 31-29, and moments later Richardson's whistle went to seal the victory.