Women's Rugby Routs Yale 84-0

The newest Crimson varsity sport clinched its first victory with a shut-out against an Ivy League foe.

“Our first win as a varsity team is very special,” Harvard coach Sue Parker said. “This is a huge win and it’s always great to beat Yale.”

The Crimson women’s rugby team (1-1, 1-0 Ivy) came out firing from the start and never lost momentum in its 84-0 win. By halftime, Harvard had taken a 46-point lead over the Bulldogs with several breakaways from the more experienced players that ended as tries and conversions.

But the Crimson was still unsatisfied with the plays made in the first half, implementing a number of changes after the break.

“Obviously by the scoreboard we did well with scoring,” co-captain Brandy Machado said. “But we just needed to clean up some things, like working on lunging together and making more aggressive tackles.”

Fellow co-captain Xanni Brown registered the team’s first try within the first two minutes of the game, and the Crimson’s unrelenting offense added six more tries to round out the first half. But the team still felt the need to make adjustments during the brief halftime huddle.

“I thought we did some really good things on offense but we had some sloppy defense that we needed to work on, myself included,” Machado said.

After its loss Tuesday night to Quinnipiac, Harvard came into Saturday’s contest with plans for improved play.

“We came in with some very specific goals that we wanted to achieve fundamentally, and we didn’t do it in the first half,” Parker said. “The Yale team was tough and scrappy and we started to play more individually in the first half, but we made adjustments during the second half.”

The last 40 minutes showed more teamwork for the Crimson. Senior Ali Haber scored the first try of the second period, followed shortly with tries by Machado, and fellow seniors Rachel Foo and Shelby Lin. Machado led the team with five tries. Yale hardly saw the Harvard end of the field, as most of the action happened in Harvard’s attacking third.

“During the second half we refocused and got better at launching and being more aggressive in ruts and tackles, which were things we needed to work on after playing Quinnipiac,” Machado said.

Despite minor adjustments and mistakes, the overall spirit of the Harvard team was enthusiastic after the win. With the Crimson still holding a substantial lead, many rookie rugby players got to see their first minutes of playing time later in the game.

“We had a lot of brand new rookies that have never played on a rugby field before today,” Parker said. “I’m very happy and proud of them in playing in their first varsity experience on this field today against Yale, and if we keep making improvements with each game, we should see significant strides.”

“I think they did really well,” Machado said of the rookie class. “With rugby, it’s hard because you can practice all these things but you don’t really know what’s going on, and then you get thrown in the game and you still don’t know what’s going on. The fact that they were able to get in there and play today is really great.”

Adding new faces to the lineup is just one of many transitions for the Crimson as it continues to embark on its first varsity season.

“[The rookies] are acclimating to the higher standards with great enthusiasm,” Parker said. “They haven’t mastered them yet, but as you could see from the game they’re trying as hard as they can to do the things we tell them to do.”

With the team’s first victory under its belt, Harvard is ready to face its next opponents on the road this coming weekend with a few improvements in mind.

“We have some individuals that are extremely scrappy and we need to make sure that…we don’t rely on athletes that we know can break through,” Parker said. “We need to improve our teamwork and conviction to stay focused even if we are winning.”

“[We need to focus on] strong body positions, lunging together, and racing to realignment,” Machado added. “I think we can take Dartmouth, and I’m looking forward to playing Brown and Princeton as well.”