Reminder for the Final Home Game BBQ:
The UC Davis Men's Rugby Club invites you to return to Russell Field for the final home game of the '21-22 season as the Aggies face off against Santa Clara on March 12th. A-sides clash at 1pm.
After the game, alumni and team parents are hosting a BBQ fundraiser as a tribute to the club's seniors, families and supporters. We want you to come out and help us celebrate. Find more details and RSVP here by March 8th:
https://ucdavisrugby.charityproud.org/EventRegistration/Index/8258
UCSB Recap:
The UC Davis Aggies suffered another disappointing loss on Saturday (February 19th) at their away game against the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos. In the early minutes of the game, the Aggies appeared ready for the challenge, holding onto possession and making progress down the field. However, their defense struggled and so did their set piece. The first scrum of the game made the Gauchos’ dominance in the set piece abundantly clear and set up the play that would lead to the first try of the game for UCSB just ten minutes into the game. UCSB scored a second try ten minutes later.
The Aggies fate seemed sealed until Azeh Kani’s quick thinking and speedy footwork chased down a UC Davis penalty kick that failed to find touch and was knocked back into the field where Azeh was perfectly positioned to secure possession for the Aggies. This set up a great field position after a blistering run into midfield. From a quick ruck, a short pass sent to the blind side set up a series of pick and goes at the Gauchos’ line. The Gauchos finally succumbed to this leading to the Aggies’ Mike O’Donnell (#6) scoring their first try of the game with 10 minutes left in the first half.
The teams returned to the field after half-time without a lot of changes. Both sides had some egregious ball handling errors but the slight advantage of the Gauchos’ set piece ultimately secured the game. With a successful penalty kick ten minutes into the second half and then three tries within just a few minutes of each other in the fourth quarter, the Gauchos secured the win. The Aggies were able to slip in one final try. After a successful counterruck UCSB had taken possession and attempted to kick the ball down field. The kick was charged down by Aggies’ William Bradford (#7). The charge down was picked up by Aggies’ Aidan Moore (#3) and carried under the posts. With this try, converted by Francis Schumann (#12), the game closed with a score of 34 Gauchos to 12 Aggies.
The coaching staff and players were disappointed with the result.
Coach Malpass felt the team struggled to handle the difficulties of travel. This was the first travel game in 2 years and the affects of the long drive and quick game turnaround proved difficult.
On a positive note, due to continuing injury crises, we were forced to give some inexperienced players the opportunity to play first team rugby thus increasing the depth of experience through the squad.”
Special mention has to go to the heroic efforts in defense of Guy Barrons (#9) and William Bradford (#7). Both players never gave up on the defensive effort and saved the team from what could have been a worse score line.
Thank you to Santa Barbara’s new coaching team and players for being excellent hosts and demonstrating a classy program.