SALEM, VA – Having beaten Emory and Henry College earlier that day, Hampden-Sydney earned the right to play Washington and Lee University (the #1 seed in the Challenge Bracket of the NSCRO Tournament). Washington and Lee was coming in with only one loss on the season, to D2 powerhouse VMI, and having beaten the #2 seed Roanoke College early in the season. The Tigers, on the other hand, had two losses to other Challenge Bracket teams (Roanoke and UofR). Despite this, we were confident we could put up a good showing. Despite difficulties getting our attack in order and several breakdowns on defense, Coach Brammer and I were happy with the way our teams played and took this loss as a good sign for the future.
One of the biggest stories of this game was personnel. Not only were the Tigers coming off a game earlier in the day while Washington and Lee was fully rested, the earlier game had caused a number of personnel changes. A concussion earlier in the week had taken no. 8 Conor McCabe entirely out of the tournament. This loss was not as pronounced in the first match, as captain Lawson Omer moved from second-row to no. 8 and freshman Jacob Blankinship stepped in at second row. However, an injury to center David Miller forced Omer to make a difficult decision. We decided, with his consultation, to move him to the back line to bolster strength at the center position and moved Will Wilson to no. 8. For the tournament, we were lucky to have full-strength returning players in Oliver Holt and Will Wilson, who had been out various amounts of the season. I do not doubt that with McCabe and Miller in the game, and with these forwards back in the starting lineup that we would have fared better. That, however, wasn't out situation that afternoon.
Washington and Lee had a number of factors going for them. First was their bizarre form of rucking. They would bring players to the ruck, over the tackled player, well in front of the ball, and then bind on to that player from behind back over the ball. Our captains asked the referee several time about this—as the game management guide describes that behavior as "flooding" and notes it as a penalty—but the referee deemed their strategy legal. We, as coaches and players alike, did not respond quickly or well to this tactic and in so doing gave away valuable defensive pressure at the breakdown. Going forward, we will prepare for this kind of play.
The second big factor in Washington and Lee's favor was the strength of their pack in the scrum. No team has generated the type and power of drive that this pack did. Our players were unprepared for it and were pushed back over a won ball on more than one occasion in the game. Given our numbers, we have struggled to practice the scrum effectively all season; a static-weight scrum machine can only do so much. We will need to find another solution to this problem for the next time we face a team like this.
Lastly, Washington and Lee boasts a rare combination of speed and size across their roster. The difficulty is in duplicating the kind of physicality these players bring to the match. This is a feature of Washington and Lee's play we fully expected but did not fully neutralize. One reason for this was the comparative weakness of our back line in this match owing to the injuries and player reallocation I mentioned above.
These three factors together explain the lopsidedness of the score in the first half, during which Washington and Lee scored thirty-five of their forty points on the day. The scoring began in the 2nd minute when Washington and Lee scored off their scrum after a Tiger knock-on. They passed the ball to one of backs who shielded and passed to their inside center as the former went into contact. The center ran in untouched for the first points of the game. The kick was good and the Generals had an early lead, 0-7.
Washington and Lee tried the same tactic several more times but the Tigers had learned how to defend it and shut it down. Despite this, the rucking technique they used more or less assured constant possession for the Generals. In the 6th minute, the Tigers committed an offside penalty and gave the Generals the opportunity to set up a penalty play. Three phases later, in the 7th minute, they punched it in for their second try of the day. The kick was again good and the lead grew to fourteen. 0-14.
After the kick, the Tigers did a good job initially neutralizing the Washington and Lee attack and forcing a knock-on. On the ensuing scrum, however, the Tiger forwards were pushed back and the Generals forced a turnover. Three phases later a pass made its way into the hands of the loaned islander player, who broke the immediate tackle attempt and ran the sixty-plus meters in for the try in the 9th minute. The kick was good and the lead grew, 0-21.
The Tiger players had learned how the Generals planned to run their attack and had made the adjustments in their own tactics to counter. The next twelve minutes played very closely, with the occasional penalty to each side and set pieces here and there. The Generals eventually worked their attack into the Tigers' half of the field, but Hampden-Sydney was putting up a good defense. Eventually, the Tigers had a chance to kick for clearance on a penalty kick, but the kick failed to find touch. The Generals attacked and drove toward the goal line, but a forward pass brought the ball back for a scrum. The Tigers won their put-in and worked the ball wide to move it up field. In the tackle, a General defender was offside, and the Tigers had a penalty. Instead of kicking up-field and to touch, they took the kick and ran a play, but the ball was knocked on. The Generals won their scrum and worked through six phases of offense, eventually winning a penalty when a Tiger defender was called for diving over in the ruck. W&L worked the ball wide to their outside center, who then cut back against the flow and broke a tackle on his way in for the try in the 23rd minute. The kick was good. 0-28.
The Tigers' only points of the first half came in the next few minutes. The Generals fielded the kick cleanly but knocked the ball on in the second phase; flanker Oliver Holt scooped it up and turned the ball over to the Tiger attack, also earning a penalty advantage from an offside W&L player. After a number of phases, the referee gave the penalty kick, which the Tigers turned to a crash play. They worked through seven successful phases of attack before Brennan Vaught took a pass out of the ruck, dummied his defender and cut inside. He was untouched on his run from about fifteen meters out, touching the ball down in the 25th minute. His own conversion kick was good and the Tigers were on the board, 7-28.
The Generals managed one more try in the first half after the Tigers won a penalty inside their own 22m. They took the kick and second-row Jonathan Abkemeier took the ball into contact, but a lack of support gave the Generals a turnover in the ruck. W&L worked through three more phases of attack before getting the ball over the goal line in the 29th minute. The kick was good and the lead was again twenty-eight, 7-35. The kick ended the first half.
The Generals made use of every substitution they had available to them for the second half. Consequently, the quality of their play plummeted. Unfortunately, the Tigers did not have the organization or drive to exploit these mistakes. Neither the starting lineup nor the substituted W&L players were significantly more skilled than the Tigers; in both halves it was a problem of the Tigers simply not executing to cut off opportunities and not having the ability to capitalize on their own opportunities. Some of this, no doubt, can be attributed to having already played a full match that day, but some of it comes from not recognizing adjustments that could have been made.
That being said, the Tigers started off the second half with a quick strike. The Generals knocked on the Tigers' kick restart and the Tigers won their ensuing scrum, working the ball across the 22m through three phases of attack. In the fourth phase, a W&L defender was offside at the ruck and the Tigers won a penalty, which Dakota Reinartz took quickly, working the ball through Ciaran Lewis to Lawson Omer, who broke one tackle and fended off three other Generals defenders on his way into the try zone. The try came in the 32nd minute and while Brennan Vaught's kick was no good, the Tigers had cut into the lead, 12-35.
Judging from the first few minutes of the second half, it looked like a comeback might be in the cards for Hampden-Sydney, but it never quite materialized. Over the next nine minutes, W&L committed seven penalties, eventually resulting in a yellow card for their inside center for a cynical foul of killing play. Over the next three minutes, the Generals committed four more penalties, again resulting with a yellow card (a second), again for a cynical foul, this time playing the ball from a blatantly offside position after the tackle. Despite these repeated penalties, the Tigers never managed to cross midfield. Their crash penalty plays would result in quick tackles and rucks, rather than breakaways and territorial gains. Or else, they would try to work the ball wide after a penalty and find only General defenders waiting for them. The best explanation I have for these difficulties is fatigue and relative fitness levels. In hindsight, we should probably have kicked to touch more and tried to secure ball in the lineout, but set pieces were not a strength in that match, given the wet conditions and W&L's comparative freshness.
Even more frustratingly, with all of these penalties in favor of the Tigers, they conceded a try in the 17th minute. Off a penalty kick, the Tigers tried to work the ball wide, but the pass was forward and sailed into touch. The Generals won their lineout and went through six phases of attack on their way into the try zone. This try showed the utter exhaustion of the Tiger players. The kick was no good, but the W&L lead was again twenty-eight, 12-40.
The last twelve minutes of the game were a bit brighter for the Tigers as they kept the ball in the W&L half of play for the majority of that time, keeping up pressure but, unfortunately, unable to find much success. In the 26th minute, in the midst of one of the Tigers' better attacking efforts of the half, flanker Oliver Holt took the pass out of the ruck and broke one tackle on his way into goal, but as he was being tackled in, he was flipped over and the ball flew forward out of his hands, invalidating a try-scoring opportunity. This event was symbolic of the entire second half of the match: having opportunities but just not able to capitalize on them.
This was, no doubt, a disappointing loss for the team. While the Generals did go on to beat Roanoke 57-14, Coach Brammer and I believe that we can beat this team. We have seen the tactics and strategies they use and we know what their personnel looks like now. An even-strength match (that is, both teams rested) would be much closer. I am proud that our players never gave up, even in the face of being down by so much. It is an attribute of this team that Coach Brammer and I have noted and admired before. I look forward to the opportunity to play and beat this team in the future. They have shown us what we need to beat to be the best team in the bracket. Our players are up the challenge. I'm excited for next fall.
