Albany Defeated by Beantown B

Albany vs. Beantown B
Albany, NY

Albany 14 - Beantown B 32
April 16, 2011


Cold, windy weather greeted the women's club for their home opener of the 2011 spring season. Albany was hosting Beantown, a club with a long tradition of wining on the rugby pitch along with great depth on the sidelines. This was evident in the fact that they brought their second and third sides to play us and left most of their premier league players at home. That said, there were still a handful of players on field that had international playing experience- and that proved to be tough for Albany to handle.

Beantown utilized their experience in the backline to get two scores quickly in the first 7 minutes of the game, making the score 12-0. After that Albany adjusted and was able to slow the attack of Beantown, the next 15 minutes saw more back and forth play with neither team able to crack the other's defenses. The scoring drought ended at the 22 minute mark when Beantown got in for an unconverted try, 15-0 Beantown. Albany upped the pressure on offense at this point and spent more time in Beantown's 22 threatening to score. Beantown withstood the pressure and was able to find openings in Albany’s own defense when turnovers happened, resulting in two more tries. 27-0 Beantown at the half.

 After their half-time huddle, Albany re-took the field determined to put points on the board and slow down the attack of Beantown. The half-time adjustments and renewed effort paid off, with the Albany forwards driving over the Beantown try-line 7 minutes into the half. Alicia Backus touched down for the try and JoAnne Kos slotted the conversion, 27-7. Four minutes later Beantown jumped on an Albany handling error and ran in for one more try, 32-7. Albany kept up the hard work through the rest of the second and it was Alicia and Jo who were able to put 7 more points on the board for Albany. Overall a tough match for Albany but it was a great challenge for the club and provided a valuable learning experience as the club looks towards moving up a division in the fall.

 Albany's b-side took on Beantown's c-side in the second match of the day, with Beantown getting the upper hand again. The b-side played hard for all 60 minutes and overall it was a great day of rugby for both clubs.

Scoring line: Alicia Backus, 2 tries; JoAnne Kos, 2 conversions

Players of the match: Lauren Sirkin, Nicole Vidro