Despite picking up its first loss of the season on Sunday, it was a successful weekend for the men's rugby team. In a weekend when Tufts took on two undefeated teams, the Jumbos were able to come away with a victory in the semifinals of the New England Rugby Football Union (NERFU) Final Four, good enough for a second place victory in the tournament.
The second place finish was good enough to earn the team a berth in this weekend's Northeast Rugby Union (NRU) Finals at Amherst, MA. In Saturday's semifinals, Tufts will find itself pitted against undefeated Niagara College, the winner of this past weekend's New York area regional competition.
The Jumbos saw their unblemished record disappear in Sunday's NERFU Finals, as they fell 43-12 at the hands of Western Connecticut State University, the school hosting the tournament in Danbury, Conn. Along with the home field advantage, the Colonials also boasted an undefeated record entering Sunday's contest and were fresher coming off an easier semifinal match on Saturday.
"We were just tired from the day before," Tufts senior co-captain Jim Groth said. "Western Connecticut was the home team, and they had a lot of fans there."
The Jumbos are accustomed to a one match per week schedule, but postseason elimination tournaments often call for games on back-to-back days.
"Usually we have one game per week," Groth said. "When it comes to the playoffs, we play one game on Saturday and one on Sunday."
Along with the usual fatigue that comes along with any hard-hitting rugby match, Tufts was especially drained coming off Saturday's 20-19 win over Worcester Polytechnic Institute. It was a match in which the Jumbos could have found themselves on the losing end, had it not been for some late-game heroics from junior Jonathan Rissin.
Tufts, down 19-13 and without the ball, got a key play out of Rissin, who knocked the ball loose from an opposing player and carried the ball in for a try. Back within one point, Rissin then converted on the kick, worth two points, to give the Jumbos a 20-19 lead, which held up to give Tufts the win.
The Jumbos also received a vital play out of senior Dave Leonard, who provided a crucial try in the middle of the game.
"Dave Leonard was awesome," Groth said. "Dave scored a really huge try for us in the middle of the game."
Judging from past experience, Tufts expected a win over WPI and was happy coming away from the weekend with a win and a loss.
"I think we played up to our expectations," Groth said. "Playing on Sunday was hard; we had a hard enough game on Saturday. We started off slow [on Saturday] but ended up coming back to win."
Having picked up its first loss, Tufts now stands at 5-1-2 on the season. Anything short of a victory this weekend at the NRU Finals will bring the men's rugby team's season to a close, but a first place finish would make the team eligible for the national tournament.
For the Jumbos to come away from the weekend on top, they will likely need another large contribution from Rissin, who was also the hero at last week's 12-7 quarterfinal victory over Springfield. With the experience of playing a two-match weekend under its belt, the team will likely not run into the same fatigue problems that it did this past weekend, if it is lucky enough to advance to Sunday's final. If Tufts wins, it will take on the winner of the other branch of the semi-finals, which will be played between undefeated Hofstra University of New York and Western Connecticut State University.
As the level of competition again increases, the Jumbos will find themselves in the familiar position of being the smallest team on the field. Critical to the team's success will be it's use of speed and intellect to get past its opposition.
