NMT Rugby Club Opens Spring Season with Win over UNM

by Dave Wheelock, NMT Director of Rugby

Note: This article was accompanied by three excellent pictures by Jason Brooks of El Defensor Chieftain. To see them in all their glory, click on the smaller version embedded in this article. They are large files, so be prepared!

SOCORRO, N.M., Feb. 13, 2007 With victory seemingly assured, the New Mexico Tech Rugby Club introduced inexperienced substitutes at halftime Saturday (Feb. 10, 2007) in their home match with the University of New Mexico. Meanwhile the Lobos injected several veterans from their Western USA Rugby Union Division One championship side. The end result was a rugby match of two distinctly different halves. The Pygmies enjoyed nearly complete supremacy over a young UNM “B” side in racing to a 25-7 lead at the break, and then had to weather a furious Lobo comeback to squeak out a 25-21 win.

Tech won ball possession at the opening kickoff, and after just three minutes of sustained attack, center Royce Beaudry scored Tech’s first 5-point after chasing down a kick from teammate and captain Seth Daly. Daly’s two-point conversion kick split the posts for a 7-0 lead. Tech continued to mount pressure in UNM’s end of the pitch and three minutes later, wing Sage La Torra dotted down for a second try, again converted by Daly.

Tech’s sizable forwards drove their opponents in the set scrums, and hooker John Rundberg’s lineout (inbounds) throws were spot on to both Steve Graves and Matt “Moose” Kretz. The Pygmy backline feasted on the resulting supply of ball possession and ran their plays with precision and purpose.

Midway through the first 40 minutes, Daly nailed a three-point kick after UNM was forced into a penalty while trying to halt the Pygmy onslaught, and Tech’s lead stretched to 17-0. At 22 minutes, flank forward Hunter Reik sneaked through the middle of the Lobo pack to score a third try, and Daly kept his tally sheet perfect, 22-0.

When Daly’s second penalty kick sailed through for a 25-0 lead eight minutes before halftime, it appeared the Pygmies were on their way to a rout over their young Lobo counterparts. But from a penalty close to the Lobo line, the Pygmies elected to run rather than kick for the three points, and the result was a stolen ball and length-of-the- pitch-run to bring the halftime score to 25-7.

While holding its own, the less-experienced Pygmy side could not maintain scoring traction in the second half against the reinforced Lobo team. UNM broke the deadlock after 28 minutes with a breakaway run by the left wing, and the conversion was good, 25-14. At 34 minutes, Tech turned the ball over in a tackle, and the Lobos took immediate advantage to score a converted try, bringing the visitors uncomfortably close at 25-21. But the Pygmies managed to snuff several Lobo thrusts over the remaining six minutes for the win.

Moose Kretz was named Man of the Match by his New Mexico Tech teammates for his performance at number eight forward. The Pygmies host New Mexico State University February 17 for the Rio Grande Rugby Union Division Two collegiate championship title and a trip to the Western Union championships in Greeley, Colorado in April. The Chiles hammered a disorganized Tech side 50-24 in Las Cruces last fall.

-NMT-