HAMPDEN-SYDNEY, VA-The Hampden-Sydney Tigers earned a tough win over the Captains of Christopher Newport on their home debut of the fall 2017 season. Both teams were coming off losses, the Tigers to William and Mary and the Captains to Old Dominion University. CNU has historically been a big, physical side that plays a straight-ahead, bruising game. That was what the Tigers expected going into the match, and CNU did not disappoint. Despite trailing and the half and most of the game, the Tigers found victory through sheer perseverance and striking in counter-attack whenever and wherever options presented themselves. In many ways, this week's match was a role reversal the previous week's, where in both matches the slightly fitter side made use of counter-attack to score tries and win the game against a side that showed superior possession most of the match.
The Tigers struck first, finding an opportunity in the 3rd minute when the Captains conceded a penalty near midfield. Scrum-half Dakota Reinartz took the tap kick quickly and began working across the pitch while CNU was still retreating. His pass to fly-half Austin Hardman missed the mark but center David Miller scooped the ball up in the loose, advancing it into contact and making a well-timed pass to wing Dylan Cate. Dylan took the pass and strode into the try zone from nearly forty meters out, shaking off the only defender to reach him at about fifteen meters from the goal line. This was Dylan's first career try and his first of two on the day. Austin Hardman had no trouble converting the kick with the centered placement and the Tigers took the first lead, 0-7.
Christopher Newport responded quickly, however, and decisively, generating two tries in the next six minutes of play. The Captains went back to their tried-and-true method of pounding the ball close to rucks with their forwards and then spinning the ball to their backs. Missed tackles on the back line became a theme for the Tiger defense, still showing the pressure from the week before, but lacking on the execution. The first try for CNU came in the 8th minute from about the 22m line where a pass from their attacking ruck turned into a missed tackle by the Tiger back line and a cutting run by the CNU backs, finishing with an offload from the deck to a waiting CNU player around 5m out. The kick was good and the game was notched at 7 apiece.
Another Tiger mistake created an opportunity for the Captains to move ahead. The kick restart found the Captains driven into touch for a Tiger lineout near the 10m line on the attacking side of the field. The Captains spoiled the lineout, but their sloppy handling gave the ball right back to the Tigers. On the next phase, however, a miscommunication between players sent the pass off the mark and tumbling behind the attacking Tiger back line near their own 10m line, 40m from the goal line. A CNU player was quick to retrieve the dropped pass and beat the only defender between himself and the try zone, scoring their second try of the day in the 10th minute. The kick was good and CNU pulled ahead by seven, 14-7.
The kick restart was knocked on by a CNU player and the Tigers won their ensuing scrum, but lost the ball in the second phase. The Captains counter-attacked but pressure on their backs produced another scrum, which the Tigers again won. While contesting at the Tiger ruck, CNU committed a penalty, which gave the Tigers chance to press advantage. Once again, moving the ball wide produced significant territorial gains for the Tigers. Once inside the Captain's 5m, repeat penalties gave the Tigers all they would need for their second try. Dakota's pass off the tap kick went to Austin Hardman who charged toward the line but was stopped short. The next phase saw the pass going to center Conor McCabe, who dummied his defender and strode in for the try in the 18th minute. Austin Hardman's kick was good and the score was again tied, 14-14.
The kick restart was once again mishandled—this time by Hampden-Sydney, however—but the Tigers regrouped quickly. Consistent offensive pressure turned into an induced penalty by the Captains and the resulting penalty saw yet another breaking run, this time by second row Lawson Omer, who took the ball into contact and offloaded to wing Ciaran Lewis. Omer's pass, however, was forward, and the Captains turned the resulting turnover into long runs interspersed with grinding forward play. Missed tackles once again gave the majority of ground for the Captains and resulted in a try in the 22nd minute. The conversion kick was good and CNU pulled ahead again by seven, 21-14.
The final points of the first half came nearly ten minutes later. The Captains took the restart and drove deep inside the Tiger 22. Twice over this span, the Tigers managed to prevent tries in stalwart defense along the goal line, resulting eventually in kick clearances. The second of these, however, didn't quite have the intended result and produced a 5m scrum for the Captains. CNU won their scrum, but the Tiger defense harried the Captain scrum half and tackled him. The pass out of that ruck was off the mark and skipped along the ground before being fielded by a CNU back, who then proceeded to avoid defenders, break tackles, and run the ball in for the final try of the half. The kick was no good, however, allowing the Captains to extend their lead to twelve, 26-14.
The last ten-to-fifteen minutes of the first half summarized well the majority of the game. Both teams were committed to a possession-style game with the ball in the forwards, but made little progress that way. For the Captains, the difficulty came in the quick set-up and reasonably sound tackling the Tiger forwards provided close to the ruck. For the Tigers, inconsistency in support often gave the Captains the opportunity to counter-ruck and turnover ball would lose not only possession but territorial gains. The problem, ultimately for both sides, was containing the opposing back lines. CNU's outstanding inside center provided three of their five tries and created the long run and the offload that produced a fourth. On the Tigers' side, CNU appeared to have little answer for those times where the Tigers spread their defense out and worked wide. Unfortunately for both teams, difficulty in retaining possession and forming that crucial link between the forwards and playmaking backs proved difficult and tended to result in a game of mild progress and then explosive plays as defensive pressure broke down.
Hampden-Sydney scored first in the second half in the 45th minute when Dylan Cate picked up a loose ball inside the Captains' 5m and took it straight in for his second try of the day. That opportunity, however, was created by strategic kicking off two lineouts in the opening minutes. CNU had the first lineout but a crooked throw turned the ball over to the Tigers. A few phases later fly-half Austin Hardman tested the Captains back line with a kick to the far corner, where the ball was fielded by a CNU back who was promptly taken into touch by three Tigers. The Tigers won their line and maintained possession for a number of phases, but the possession was squandered by a knock-on near the middle of the field only a few meters from the Captains' goal line. Once again, however, despite winning their own scrum, the Captains were unable to get a clean ball to their back line and the attempted kick clearance went awry (missing the kicker's foot) and Dylan Cate was quick to scoop up the ball and down it in the try zone. Austin Hardman's kick was good and the Tigers cut the Captains' lead to five, 26-21.
The Captains' final points of the game came five minutes later in the 50th minute. With a mixture of long (20m+) runs and their standard forward play marched the ball down inside the Tigers' 5m. Their ruck eventually produced no ball, but as the attacking team, they were awarded the scrum. Their no. 8 took the ball off the back of the scrum and was tackled into the try zone for the Captains' fifth try on the day. Their conversion kick was no good, however, so their lead only grew back to ten, 31-21.
CNU again mishandled the kick restart, with it going off one of the forward players and into touch. The Tigers' lineout was not cleanly won, but quick thinking and reaction by Will Wilson, playing his first game at hooker, kept possession. Conor McCabe, having moved to no. 8 for an injured Ian Curley, produced an explosive run of his own, taking the ball deep into the Captains' 22. Two phases later, a CNU defender was offside at a ruck while Dylan Cate took an offload from fullback Zack Toney and managed to find the try zone on a second move in the tackle. The referee, however, did not award the try—perhaps because of some minor infraction by Tiger players—but instead gave the penalty for the offside infraction. After two highly physical phases, in the 53rd minute, fullback Zack Toney muscled his way into the try zone from several meters out. Austin Hardman's kick was no good, but the Tigers had cut the lead again to five, 31-26.
The final points of the day were earned by Hampden-Sydney and proved to be decisive. The next fifteen minutes saw see-sawing of territory and possession as both sides proved unable to find enough weakness in the opposing defense to break big and find the try zone. That changed, however, in the 67th minute when fly-half Austin Hardman once again tested the Captains back line with a kick into the corner. While the Tigers were unable to field their own kick in the try zone, the play forced the Captains defense to down the ball for a 22m drop kick restart. Freshman center Will Harrison, having come on as a substitution in the second half, fielded the kick cleanly and returned it more than 20 meters back into Captains territory. Caught off guard and without support, a CNU defender dove over in the ruck and was promptly penalized by the referee. Scrum-half Dakota Reinartz took the tap kick immediately and began the attack. He looked to support, which caused just enough hesitation on the Captains' back line to create a seam, which he ran through nearly untouched for the try in the 69th minute. Austin Hardman's kick was good, putting the Tigers in the lead for the first time in nearly sixty minutes of play, 31-33.
In the final ten minutes of the half, the Tigers had seemed to find their rhythm again, but mistakes took away two clear scoring opportunities, once with a knock-on and once with a forward pass. In the closing seconds of the game, the Tigers committed a penalty at a Captains ruck. The Captains proceeded to advance, slowly, and generally by Tiger penalties into the Tiger 22m. The game ended, interestingly enough, with the ball held up in goal on what would have been the Captains' sixth and decisive try.
