This past weekend, the men’s and women’s rugby teams traveled south to Portsmouth, R.I. to play in the Beast of the East tournament. Although both teams performed well, the men’s squad was especially strong. Over the course of the two-day tournament, the men battled to the top of the field, returning home with the Division II title.

On Saturday, April 21, the men kicked off the weekend with two games. In the first matchup against New England College, the men struggled to remain organized on the field. Despite such difficulties, however, the Mules scrambled to pull out a close 7-5 victory. Later in the day, the men were not so lucky. In their game against the College of New Jersey, officials decided to cut the playing time by seven minutes due to darkness. As a result, the men were unable to make a comeback, and fell by a score of 7-3.

The following day, the Mules bounced back from their loss to win three consecutive games. Despite terrible weather conditions that led to some sloppy play, the men gained momentum and shut out Catholic University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) and the College of the Holy Cross by scores of 36-0, 24-0 and 26-0, respectively.

Colby excelled in all phases of the game, beginning with efficient passing on offense. Lineouts and scrums were also very effective for the Mules, who consistently won possession of turnovers in both set pieces. The defense, however, was the standout component of the Colby victories, as the Mules held opponents scoreless with relentless unity and effective tackling.

Overall, the men only allowed 12 points in their five games during the tournament, and this stellar defensive effort propelled the Mules to victory.

After the tournament, Tim Badmington ’14 said, “Generally, the connections and communication between the forwards and backs was what won us the game. We really played as a unified whole with very polished, textbook rugby.”

On the women’s side, the Mules first faced off against the State University of New York at New Paltz. Courtney Moran ’13 scored the lone try of the match to bring the Mules to a 5-0 victory after a conversion play. Kelsey Werner ’12 and Alicia Furnary ’13 also contributed strong tackling and runs for the Mules. The following game, the women competed against Boston University. Although the women lost 34-0, the Mules, a Division II team, played strongly against this Division I team.

This coming weekend, April 28-29, the teams will compete at the Maine State Championships. Both the men and the women will look to continue their strong play as their seasons come to a close.