Before we get into the official portion of the Rugby Club’s official post tournament write up, we would like to take a moment to thank everyone who helped contribute to the team’s success this year. We would especially like to extend a special thank you to everyone who made the drive to Danville to cheer us on. We easily had the biggest fan contingent of any of the teams at the tournament and we definitely benefitted from the support. We also must recognize the efforts of the team members who not only overcame poor weather but an extremely short preparation period and brought the team to a top ten finish at the tournament.
DAY 1
UVA (Darden) VS INSEAD
The boys from Darden drew one of the most challenging brackets at the 30th Annual MBA Rugby World Cup facing two teams from countries renowned for their rugby prowess as the various teams jockeyed for position prior to entering elimination play. Darden’s first match of the tournament pitted them against a squad from INSEAD. The French arrived with their customary élan, brandishing baguettes and sporting berets before attempting to psyche out the boys from Virginia with an extremely tone-deaf rendition of “La Marseillaise.”
Intimidated by the steely-eyed men before them, the French soon thought better of their plan and attempted to surrender twice during the song before the referees interceded and play commenced. The boys from received the French kickoff and charged up the field in the bruising style that has made Darden infamous in its first appearance at the World Cup. Recent Darden graduate and US Army officer, Adrian Outlaw lead the Darden attack smashing through a wall of tacklers before having an impromptu reunion with a West Point classmate who made the mistake of A) going to INSEAD and B) attempting to tackle Adrian. Slowed by pity for this wretched soul, Adrian was eventually pulled down by a plague of Frogs before new team president Jose Flores arrived on the spot to maintain possession of the ball.
Finding the INSEAD squad lacking in both moral and muscular fiber, the Darden pack pounded the ball into the heart of the French defense with forwards Patrick Ryan and Aashish Goswami leading the way. Timely support from Darden auxiliary/law student Warren Allen kept the ball in friendly hands as UVA pressed the attack. Daryn Curry broke through the French line using his patented “stiff arm to the throat technique” on a pair of French players before flipping the ball to Trey Packard who raced down the field to put Darden in scoring position. The French mounted a Maginot-esque defensive line, stalling the Darden forwards before scrumhalf Brian Rainey leapt across the line to score Darden’s first try. Following a successful conversion kick by Jeff Peo, Darden went into the half leading 7-0.
Reenergized by a smoke break during halftime, the French came out in the second half determined to take control of the match. French players hit harder and ran faster, putting the more physical Darden team on their heels. Despite strong defensive play by fullback John Pendleton and winger Jonny Hiler, the Darden team started to buckle under the relentless French assault. Forewarned by international man of mystery and team Francophile, Joseph Pederson, Darden stymied INSEAD’s offense until a French kick and an unlucky bounce allowed the French to score a try of their own. Primed to tie the game with a successful conversion kick, the French found themselves distracted by the deafening roar of Darden’s supporters missing the conversion and leaving Darden with a two-point advantage
The French continued their impassioned play, stopping Darden’s offense despite long gains from Darden centers David Shepro and Macon Thompson. Multiple penalties robbed Darden of these precious scoring opportunities and only stout defensive play from forwards Ryan “Drama” Pruitt and Frank “The Situation” Luisi (that’s not really his nickname but I couldn’t resist) kept the score in Darden’s favor. As time wound down only the timely arrival of Darden subs Brett Van Buskirk, Anders Brinck, and team general counsel Brian Justus provided the impetus to carry the team to its first victory of the tournament.
DARDEN WINS 7-5
London School of Business A VS UVA
Darden’s next opponent, the London School of Business A side, would prove its toughest opponent at the tournament. Virginians have a longstanding history of enmity with Londoners given the British’s numerous offenses; ranging from their occupation of Monticello, burning the White House during the War of 1812, and inflicting Simon Cowell upon an unsuspecting world. With such motivation, the boys from UVA were determined to give their best against such an implacable and remorseless foe.
The first took on the characteristic of heavyweight prizefight with boy team trading blows in a very physical match with the stingy Darden defense locked in opposition with the high-powered LBS offense. Adrian Outlaw and Frank Luisi once again demonstrated their prowess as the team’s leading tacklers but despite their efforts London scored first. The Darden team suffered a stroke of bad luck on the next kick off as a penalty permitted London to score another quick try. Darden mustered some offense off the great jumping by Aashish Goswami during lineouts but the despite the gains by the Darden backs UVA could not punch the ball in and went into the half down two scores.
A game Darden team took the field in the second half determined to get back into the game. LBS again presented a near impenetrable wall of defenders and with the aid of some unfortunate penalties levied against UVA by referee who sounded like an extra from a Guy Ritchie movie, the Londoners’ lead increased. Determined to resist to the end, the team captains Brian Rainey and Jose Flores briefly debated some alternative strategies such as throwing tea into the nearby Dan River, writing a strongly worded declaration before deciding that having Madonna reside in their country was punishment enough. Having taking the high road and secured a moral victory, Darden indulged their British guests by allowing them to score again and hoped the boys from LBS appreciated the historical significance of British invaders winning in Virginia.
LBS WINS 0-44
Wharton A VS UVA
UVA’s final match of the day was against another one of the tournament’s seminal powerhouses, Wharton’s A side. The Wharton team entered the game extremely well rested having played an under strength Cornell and Columbia B side teams. The Wharton team also presented a formidable challenge because they were the first team that Darden would scrum against all year. Despite the massive gap in experience, the boys in orange remained upbeat and took to field again.
The game started well for UVA with the inexperienced Darden pack making its presence known, dominating the scrums. The strong forward play continued lead by the strong running of Patrick Ryan and Joe Pederson and Darden backs Macon Thompson and David Shepro advanced the ball into scoring position. Following a LBS penalty, Jeff Peo made a penalty kick to put Darden on the board. Wharton struck back kicking the ball deep into Darden territory and scoring twice before the half.
In the second half, Wharton continued to apply pressure to the Darden team with strong forward and back play. The Darden forwards Ryan Pruitt and Warren Allen lead the defensive effort inside but despite their tackling, Wharton scored again. Feeling the pressure, Darden turned to its backs to provide a spark to the offense. Trey Packard made a series of brilliant kicks to take the ball into Wharton territory. Fullback John Pendleton dashed through the Wharton defenders before dishing the ball to winger Jonny Hiler to bring Darden back into scoring position. Darden’s inexperience came back to haunt them as penalties cost them the scoring opportunity. Darden threatened again following the addition of the fresh legs of Anders Brinck and Brett Van Buskirk with Brett nearly scoring before time ran out. Darden stalwart Brian Justus missed the game due to an injury suffered while acting as a substitution for an undermanned Cornell team and missed by the UVA squad.
WHARTON WINS 3-35
Pub Crawl
The boys from the commonwealth understood that the rugby is just about the action on the field and once again were determined to make a strong showing in the all important pub-crawl portion of the tournament. Guided by cagey veteran Brian Rainey, the Darden team approached the pub-crawl like a championship game and donned their finest clothes for the event. Most of the other schools lacked the stamina to play a full day of rugby and then hit the bars but the Darden boys preserved.
Upon arriving in Chapel Hill Darden made an immediate impression due to their boisterous ways and brightly colored clown wigs. In fact, Darden was summarily chased out of one bar because people were “eating dinner” and denied entry to others because they were simply too awesome for the establishment. Undeterred the team roamed the streets looking for succor and moderately priced beer, drawing stares and even enticing one of their supporters to demonstrate her skill at Celtic dance.
One of the other clubs that dared make the journey from Danville to Chapel Hill was the SMU Cox team. Disqualified earlier that day due to some irregularities with the composition of their team (apparently recruiting semi-professional players and prison parolees is frowned upon at an MBA tournament) the SMU team found kindred spirits in the Darden team and an alliance was born.
Of course, before embarking on a joint venture the Darden team performed their due diligence. After assessing the strategic fit, valuing the synergies, and finding an EBITDA multiple Darden needed to assess the cultural fit of the SMU/UVA alliance and challenged the boys from Texas to a team on team flip cup match. To a chorus of “FLIP, FLIP, FLIPADELPHIA” Darden handily defeated SMU with a record of 4-2 with heroic efforts made by anchors Patrick Ryan and Brian Rainey. With the night a success and only about half the team abandoned in North Carolina when a designated driver left without passengers, UVA returned to Danville to sleep for about an hour before taking the field again on Sunday.
Day 2
UVA VS LBS B
Darden’s first opponent on its second day was against the LBS B side team and Darden entered the match confident in their ability to win. Having taken the measure of the LBS A side, the boys from old Virginia knew they would be the more physical team on the field and were determined to take control of the game early. From the first kick, Darden came out strong, battering the Londoners with hard tackles and fierce runs. Aashish Goswami drew first blood for Darden with a ball from the scrum to give Darden an early lead. Landry Ngambia provided superb kicking services converting the point after and leading the contingent of late arriving players that included Kevin Suhey and EMBA student Dan Choudry. LBS struck back with a deep kick in Darden territory fielded by John Pendleton who raced up the field before offloading the ball to fly half Trey Packard who carried the ball back towards British territory.
The Darden forwards Frank Luisi and Ryan Pruitt worked in concert with centers Kevin Suhey and Macon Thompson to drive the ball inside the LBS half before the ball was knocked out of bounds by LBS. Off the ensuing lineout, Darden forwards Adrian Outlaw and Jose Flores drove a maul several meters before Daryn Curry rolled off the pile and dashed down the sidelines before hitting a racing Patrick Ryan with a pass to secure Darden’s second score.
The Londoners rallied at the half, scoring twice once play resumed and putting Darden’s chances to advance in jeopardy. Exacerbating the situation, numerous Darden starters began to go down with injuries; Macon Thompson pulled up with a pulled hamstring and Warren Allen woozy after taking a knee to the head during a hotly contested ruck. Darden players like Brett Van Buskirk and Jonny Hiler stepped into the breach with superb defensive play and strong runs to maintain control in the face of withering LBS opposition. In the end, fierce play by the Darden side ended in victory and the team advanced to the next round of elimination play.
DARDEN WINS 17-12
UVA VS Harvard B
UVA’s next opponent was from another natural enemy of the just and good people of Virginia, specifically this was a team from the “other” case school Harvard. The HBS B squad had arrived like all things from Harvard with great promise but proved something of a disappointment when put to the test and this game would prove to be Darden’s finest effort. The HBS B teams had suffered some injuries, so forced to play with only 12 players, and so compelled Darden to match their numbers. This may have worked against the HBS team since the larger and faster Darden squad now how more running room on the field and would employ the extra space to great effect.
h The Darden players took control of the game immediately using their advantage in both size and speed to carry the ball into HBS territory. Kevin Suhey lead the Darden backs in a blistering attack against the HBS defenders and supported by the Darden pack. On the cusp of scoring, a Darden penalty turned the ball over and it appeared as though UVA had squandered a chance to take an early lead. While attempting to kick the ball out of their try-zone, HBS bobble d the ball and Joe Pederson dashed thru the line to make a brilliant tackle before slapping the loose ball down in a brilliant veteran move.
On the ensuing kickoff, Darden again pressed their advantage with the forwards securing the ball in multiple phases of play before Brian Rainey tossed the ball out to the backs who made a series of quick passes before Landry Ngambia demonstrated his speed outrunning the entire Harvard team for his first rugby score. Darden soon found itself in scoring position again following a brilliant series of tackles lead by Frank Luisi and long runs by Aashish Goswami.
Despite their success, Darden did not escape the match unscathed with critical Darden players like John Pendleton and David Shepro receiving injuries. The HBS side exploited the Darden injuries and threatened to score before time expired but a brutal tackle by Adrian Outlaw stopped three HBS players in their tracks and Darden secured its first shut out of the tournament.
DARDEN WINS 31-0
Duke VS UVA
Darden’s final match of the tournament was against their greatest rival, Duke, for the championship of their bracket. The Darden team now thoroughly depleted by the score of injuries their players suffered over the course of the day turned to their strategic partners of SMU for some players to reinforce the thing Darden team. The SMU additions, mysterious men known only as Marcus and Packie, had been eagerly awaiting a chance to play Duke since their disqualification the day before and the Darden supporters found their ranks swollen by all the SMU fans who wanted a little revenge on behalf of their team.
The game quickly took on the characteristics of a grudge match with extremely hard tackles and bad blood between both sides. Duke still smarted from being Darden rugby’s first victim at last year’s MBA tournament and they were determined to have revenge. SMU auxiliary Marcus dashed up the Duke line to Darden ahead first and following a successful conversion by Landry Ngambia, Darden held the early advantage. Duke soon struck back leading a series of quick shifts in the backline to create an overload and score twice before the half.
Darden refused to go down without a fight and scored once more after play resumed at which point the game took a further uglier turn. As the Duke players became more frustrated with the toughness of their UVA opposition, players began to play with a chip on their shoulders. Following a very physical ruck, a full-fledged fight almost broke out as a Duke player ran onto the field and confronted the Darden squad. This resulted in an expulsion for the Duke player and play resuming at more reasoned level. The Duke squad continued their relentless assault and soon scored a third time to secure the victory for the Dukies.
Despite the physical nature of the game and occasional outburst of bad blood, both teams shook hands at the end and enjoyed a moment of levity when several players completed the tradition of the “Zulu Run” which is a lap around the field stark naked in celebration of their first try scored. Approximately half dozen players partook, most wearing a only a smile though one notably was wearing a Mexican wrestlers mask. One that note of shared amusement, the 30th Annual MBA Rugby World Cup came to end with Darden equaling its performance last year with a 10th place finish and a reputation great sportsmanship and one of the most physical styles of play for any MBA team.
DUKE WINS 12-22
