Last weekend, the Oberlin Rhino Ruggers traveled to Ohio State University (OSU) in Marion, Ohio for the annual Teapot Dome Scandal rugby tournament. The Rhinos entered the tournament with great expectations, after they took home the second place trophy last year.

Oberlin’s first match of the day was against Ohio Northern. This past fall the Rhinos had shut out ONU 24-0. Going in confident, the Oberlin team played as a truly cohesive unit. The scrum, despite being significantly outweighed, held their own, scrumdown after scrumdown, with senior hooker Leila Macbeth dominating as usual.

An increase in communication between players on the field allowed for spectacular plays such as Jody Ahlm’s midair pass to sophomore lock Gina Farinaccio. First-year phenom Leslie Mills had her first try of the game on a breakaway in the first half. The referee commented on the ONU hooker during a lineout, telling her that she was “leaning like the tower of Pisa” — a judgment that served only to highlight the skills of first-year flank Cat Wolner, who was being lifted for Oberlin.

In the second half, Mills scored again after a series of rucks and mauls mere yards from ONU’s try line. The Oberlin scrummies repeatedly drove into hapless ONU defenders. Junior flank Hannah Rechschtaffen expertly set the ball, Oberlin’s indomitable scrum half junior Daviel Shy retrieved it and passed to Mills, who broke through three tackles to score her second try.

After minutes of fast play during which Oberlin repeatedly out-paced, out-rucked and out-shone ONU, a lineout was called just yards from ONU’s try-zone. Knowing they were in trouble, ONU attempted to kick out after gaining the ball. Sadly for ONU, they forgot to take into account Macbeth’s short yet mighty presence. The hooker charged down the kick, arms raised, only to find that she caught their ball — neatly touching it down moments later in the try zone. With one conversion completed by Mills, the final score of Oberlin’s first game was 17-5.

After their stellar performance against ONU, Oberlin played Cleveland Women’s Rugby. The Iron Maidens lived up to the first half of their name as their relentless line rammed the Rhinos with repeated straight-arms. The game was frought with unmaidenly conduct, however, and Cleveland’s numerous high tackles proved too much for Oberlin. Despite this, the Oberlin team stayed strong and played an excellent game.

Sophomore flank Kym Buzdygon and first-year inside Sarah Kotcon repeatedly exhibited text-book perfect tackles, despite having already played 60 to 90 minutes of hard rugby. There were noted breakaways by sophomore fly-half Jenn “Buster” Sargrad, Kotcon and Rechschtaffen. Sadly, sophomore Marisol Lebron, celebrating her 20th birthday on the pitch, was denied a near-try after a strong play which left her just yards from the try line. Rechschtaffen proved unstoppable by the Cleveland Women, scoring her first try of the day after an assist from junior lock Rachel Lindy. Once again, Mills completed the conversion kick. The Oberlin scrum held strong, and the line utilized their speed and strength repeatedly, despite tough tackles from Cleveland.

Every rugby fanatic and even some rugby amateurs know that games can be brutal. Every player can be repeatedly thrown to the ground and, for love of the game and team, compelled to run as fast as possible to the next tackle. Keep in mind that by now, some players have been running this kind of taxing play for two hours.

Despite these undeniably tough tournament facts, in game three, Oberlin dominated OSU’s B-side team. Two Oberlin players were taken out in this game, Kotcon with a twisted ankle and Farinaccio with a knee injury. After lineup changes, Oberlin rallied, with a try by sophomore wing Anna Beeke.

Senior fullback Christina “solid block of muscles” Laverentz showed off her intimidating fullback skills time and again, running back the ball as OSU tried to use their boots to shrug the relentless Oberlin line off their backs. Sophomore flank Jess Ingram-Bee broke for 30 yards in the second half, showing why her flanking skills are among the best.

Oberlin ended their third tournament of the semester in third place, and topped off their amazing winning season with a 6-5 record.