Rhino Ruggers heat up after lackluster start

Women's rugby makes a good showing, but a little too late

Saturday was a hot day for Oberlin's Rhino Ruggers.

As the sun beat down, the team put up a good, but not quite good enough, fight against Bowling Green State University's women's rugby team. After 60 minutes of hard play the ruggers walked off the field with a respectable, albeit disappointing, 20-10 loss.

Regardless of the score, the game was a good chance for the many rookie players to get a feel for the game.

Despite the weather, Oberlin's ruggers started off a little cold and BGSU's first try came early in the first period. The try, typical of all BGU's scores, came off a break-away play. The opposing backline was good at quickly passing the ball out to wingers who were able to fly past Oberlin players. All four BGU scores came off break-away plays.

Luckily for the Oberlin women, BGSU's kicker wasn't able to lift the ball for the extra points, limiting their score to 20.

The two scrums were well-matched and Oberlin put in a good showing despite inexperience. One major set-back for the Rhino Ruggers was BGU's advanced line-out play. They were able to lift their player, making it nearly impossible for Oberlin to steal their throw-ins and easy for them to steal Oberlin's.

BGU also exhibited particularly unsportsmanlike conduct, yelling over Oberlin's line-out plays, thus making it hard for the OC scrummies to hear the play.

The first two periods were quite similar, with BGU scoring all four of their tries by breaking away from the play and outrunning Oberlin's backline. Although Oberlin held the ball the majority of the time and stayed on BGU's end of the field throughout the match, they failed to capitalize on their many scoring opportunities.

The game ended on a much warmer note; by the third period, Oberlin woke up. New players came in and everyone was getting a better feel for their positions and the style of the game. The Ruggers' first try came off a beautiful drive by the Oberlin scrum, powered largely by junior Heather Foster, who broke her foot during the impressive play but continued to play through the last whistle.

The try was scored by senior Katherine Higgins, who slammed the ball in the try zone. Caught a little off guard, the Rhino Ruggers took a moment to realize they had scored.

Oberlin's next try came soon after from first-year wing Angie Martin. Martin, who was playing in her first-ever rugby game, started out with some impressive tackles before flying past BGU's defense to score Oberlin's second try.

Oberlin's team was powered by veteran players junior Vanya Hollis, senior Dina Lee and junior Jen Kew. The three exhibited the aggressive instincts that any good rugby player should possess, taking BGU players down to the ground with particular grace.

Noticeable absences were veterans junior Sue Ives and senior Erica Davila, both sidelined due to injuries. But the two provided much-needed coaching advice to the young team. This was the ruggers' first game without former coach Liesl Strickler, who left Oberlin last Friday for a new job in California.

The Rhino Ruggers have an opportunity to redeem themselves Saturday when they play two teams from Kenyon College at home. The games start at noon on the North Fields.

-Susanna Henighan is a member of the women's rugby team .