Welcome back, PSC Norsemen! After a short summer vacation Plymouth State Men’s Rugby is back to it. Beginning the season with several weeks of skill intense training the boys in blue went to battle against number two regionally seated Bowdoin College. Arriving in Brunswick, ME on Saturday the weather was perfect for rugby. Sunny skies, warm temperatures, and mild wind allowed for the PSC side to warm up and play to their full potential. The Plymouth “A” side showed Bowdoin a great match with hard rucking, spine shaking tackles, and tactical defense. Despite the lack of experience, the Plymouth started seven rookies out of the fifteen man side. The Norsemen went in hard and showed PSC’s trademark intensity. First-year players Tyler Swett, Jon Agler, Ryan Schruender, Greg Fesko, and Jonathan Salvi did a terrific job holding together our pack. What they lacked in experience they made up for in aggression. Former Old Gold and New England College player Jesse Beaton started as a flanker and ran and hit hard until he was subbed out for veteran Eric Wilson late in the first half. Yves Jaboin and Captain ‘Big’ Bill Dorgan kept the new players in line and contributed a great force to the rucks, scrums, and hard hitting defense. Plymouth’s back line, Dwayne Mann, Larry Pignataro, Brenden Leetch, Pat Hastings, Jeff Cobb, Casey Rillihan, and rookies Chris Cenate and Mike Parnell saw little action that day as the game was played predominantly by the hard hitting forwards. However, the back line did show spectacular skill as the defense came up hard and flat and forced Bowdoin to move the ball more quickly than they would have liked. At the end of the eighty-minute match Plymouth had lost to Bowdoin, but had shown a great effort in the process. While not the victors of their first match PSC Rugby is making it known that the times are changing.
The second game of the day was a prime example of the way rugby should be played. Plymouth Men’s “Killer B’s” matched up with a limited side from Maine Maritime Academy to try and punish the Bowdoin “B’s”. Great running and tackling could be seen from all players. Plymouth rookies Tim Herbert, Valentino Stoll, Pierce Jendris, Eric Konetchy and veteran Ethan Swann matched well with the side from MMA and played a technically sound match. The impression was left on all in attendance that Plymouth State RFC is back in business.
Owing much of our growth and success to the superb training and motivational efforts of our coaching staff, Larry Pignataro and Brenden Leetch, we are going to be training hard for this weekends match against Bates College here at PSC. The match will be at 1:00 p.m. and all are invited.
While the rugby season has started we still encourage anyone who is interested to stop by our field, located at the facilities center across the street from the PE Center, Monday through Friday 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.. No experience is required and everyone will play.