Aspetuck Rugby’s hot win on Mothers Day

On a day of soaring temperatures, Aspetuck Valley Rugby’s U18 team turned up the heat to inflict a bruising 31 – 14 defeat on courageous opponents, Fairfield Prep.

With less than five minutes on the clock, Weston Senior David Lachs plucked a tricky ball out of the air to beat a shell-shocked Fairfield Prep defense crossing the try-line in true prop-crashing style, claiming the first try of the game.  Team kicker, Tim Squance of Weston sailed a perfect ball over the goal posts, for a successful conversion.

As the mercury rose the action intensified with the visitors unable to stop a charging Wilton Ryan Robb from adding another five point try to the score board at the 15 minute mark, also converted by Squance. Fairfield rallied however, and took the battle into Aspetuck’s half, with ferocious rucking winning the ball for a breakaway Fairfield try yet an unsuccessful conversation attempt kept the score to 14-5 to the home team. Aspetuck’s forwards were quick to respond in kind, driving the game back into Fairfield territory, allowing Aspetuck’s backline center, Redding’s Drew Sennett, to capitalize on the opportunity with a spectacular 30 yard poach-and-go to touch the ball down on the edge of the try line. Unfortunately with the ‘kick from where you score rule in rugby’, the acute angle was just shy of Squance’s range.

With the first half still on the board, a pumped up Aspetuck side with possession in hand set up their crushing center Sennett for yet another drive to the line. Tim Squance managed to successfully convert the fourth try of the half taking them into a confident 26-5 lead over the visiting Fairfield Prep team.

The second half was equally as intense as the first with both teams now familiar with each other’s tactics, holding play fairly stagnant for the first part of the half. At fifty minutes the game threatened to become a tough breakdown grind to the finish, the stalemate finally broken in style by another formidable run from Ryan Robb, sidestepping the opposition to land his second try of the afternoon. With Squance just skirting the uprights shy of two points, the scoreboard read Aspetuck 31-5.

The heat was taking its toll on both teams and a momentary lapse in the Aspetuck defense leaked a Fairfield try with subsequent conversion to take the visitors to 12 points with ten minutes still to go. Fairfield’s dream finish fizzled in the sun however, broken by a gritty defensive effort from the home team to round out the game. Full time score, Aspetuck 31, Fairfield 12.

Next into the arena were the U16s, many of whom had already played a full game only minutes earlier as call-ups for the U18s. Nevertheless they squared off against a fresh Fairfield Prep side that drove straight into the attack from the whistle and pounded in two tries at 10 and 20 minutes with a successful conversion following the second. This was the wakeup call that Aspetuck needed as they reclaimed the breakdown to win the ball and feed the backs. A valiant diving effort from Redding 8th grader Alex Stillman fell cruelly short, just inches from the chalk but the relentless pressure was at last rewarded as Southbury’s Luke Niedziela crashed over the line taking three defenders with him to put Aspetuck on the score board at the half time whistle.

Aspetuck renewed the battle in the second half with some quality positional kicking from Tyler Dickinson (Redding) firing the ball deep into Fairfield territory to pressurize the Prep backs. The change in tactics bore fruit as Tim Squance drove in a try in the 50th minute, conjured from a scrum awarded to the home team for a Fairfield knock-on. The two point deficit was short lived however as Fairfield regrouped and used fresher legs to their advantage. The resulting try and conversion seemed set to seal the game until the ball found its way into the hands of Weston’s power-house, Nate Jacobson. Nothing was going to stop the prop forward as he battered ten yards through a desperate Fairfield defense to slam down Aspetuck’s third try of the game. On a hot May Mothers Day the Aspetuck Valley Rugby players put on a show for their cheering moms but alas it proved to be the last hurrah of a close contest, with Aspetuck on 15 points and Fairfield 19 at the final whistle.

For more information on Aspetuck Valley Rugby Club please visit www.AspetuckRugby.org