Pygmies Bow to Playoff-bound Aardvarks

(Photo caption: Freshman Josh Hanson attacks Aardvarks after taking a pass from Pat Simons (on ground).
Hanson was awarded Tech's Irish Cup for Man of the Match honors. Photo credit: Michael Kozusko.)

The New Mexico Tech Rugby Club ran into a buzz saw Saturday, April 24, 2004, in the Albuquerque Aardvarks, falling at home 62-14. The Aardvarks, a men's club team, will carry the momentum of their win over the Pygmies into next week's Western Rugby Union championships in Fort Worth, while NMT finishes their spring season with thoughts of the future after another match in which one of their first-year players has raised eyebrows.

The men's division team controlled every phase of play and kept the home team scoreless for the first 50 minutes, before Tech was finally rewarded for their never-say-die spirit with two late tries.

On a faultless spring day the Aardvarks showed they were not distracted at the prospect of playing a collegiate team midway between two crucial playoff appearances in their own open, or club, division. The week before they had scored a last-minute win over Kohlfeld Rugby Club in a challenge match in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, to win rights to attend the 8-team WRU championship tournament May 1-2 in Texas.

For their part Tech's hopes of their upper-division visitors looking past them were dashed early. Just one minute into play the hard-charging Aardvarks had scored their first five-point try on a play that featured over a dozen passes and traveled nearly the length of the field. Unlike American football, a scoring rugby team receives the ensuing kickoff, and just getting the ball to attack with proved tough for Tech as the Albuquerque club used their superior size and experience to dominate possession in general play as well as restarts for long stretches of play. Every minor error in the students' technique was exposed and punished, and they found themselves forced to play virtually constant defense by their more experienced foes. The visitors' pressure had a telling effect as they racked up seven first-half tries on their way to a bulging total of 12.

To their credit, the Pygmies never took a backwards step, and were finally rewarded after 49 minutes of exhaustive effort. Managing to somehow get within 25 meters of the Aardvark line, Tech created a ruck by taking the ball to ground in a tackle. Hooker T.J. Evans gathered and burst free from the tangle, streaking into open space behind the front line defense. Confronted by a covering tackler ten meters out, Evans was no doubt relieved to hear the call of fellow front row man Patrick Garcia steaming up on his right. Evans's deft pass found its mark and Garcia sailed home for the try untouched. Center Patrick Simons added the conversion kick for a slightly improved, but still lopsided 39-7 score.

This match got considerably better for Tech faithful with the second-half return of freshman Josh Hanson (aka Nick Fritz), who'd given way at the intermission so fellow apprentice Sage La Torra could play. The 5' 7" Hanson soon showed he was back to play some rugby with a capital R, combining with various teammates to provide a host of crowd-pleasing plays on both attack and defense.

Over the course of the last 25 minutes Hanson used impeccable body position to perform numerous one-man tackles on considerably larger opponents, covered kicks bravely, and repeatedly handled the ball to good effect.

Hanson's teammates, visibly inspired by the flying freshman, began a pride-saving surge late in the match. The Tech forwards resolutely delivered what scraps of ball possession they could manage to scrumhalf Mark Kelly, and backline pivot Katsuya Sugimoto started to find defensive gaps in which to send his backline mates.

With his team still trailing far behind, Hanson was johnny on the spot to take Pat Simons's pass after Matt Nelson's searing long run, nearly scoring himself before being pulled down 15 meters short. From there Simons picked up and was barely tackled out of bounds within inches of the line.

Soon after the Aardvark line was broken again by the resurgent Pygmy backs. As Sugimoto was being bundled up in a tackle, it was entirely appropriate that the young Mr. Hanson should show up to take the popped pass at a dead run that could not be denied. And so it was.

Following Simons's reliable conversion kick and the final whistle that followed closely, the Aardvarks had kept their momentum alive going into their championship campaign, while the Pygmies had shown their courage while uncovering yet another promising talent.

NMT's rugby club will be represented at the Rio Grande Rugby Union's annual Sevens (7 man) tournament by an uncertain number of players. The Albuquerque event is scheduled for May 15, the same day New Mexico Tech loses two key players to graduation. Captain Mark Kelly will graduate with a degree in environmental engineering, and Katsuya Sugimoto will receive his bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering.

-NMT-