The flashing lights of ambulances could be seen busily moving from field to field at Gardner Seveney Sports Complex in Portsmouth, R.I., shuttling the injured off in a testament to the brutality of the sport.
Fairfield men’s rugby had a strong showing in the early rounds of the team’s biggest tournament of the year, the Beast of the East Tournament.
The team, which arrived on Friday night as one of 32 entrants in the tournament, took the field Saturday morning at 9:30 a.m. for its first round match against UMaine – Farmington, a team that had finished second in the tournament last year.
Fairfield won the game 17-0, controlling the tempo and frustrating UMaine – Farmington to the point that one of their players was ejected from the game for punching a Fairfield player in the face.
Ben Welch ’08 scored the first try for the Stags and also had a three point kick, while James Kiernan ’09 finished off the assault with a demoralizing long run towards the end of the second half.
Next up was a 2 p.m., second-round match against rival Sacred Heart.
Fairfield Head Coach Matthew Leonard had a simple message to his team: Play Fairfield rugby and dictate the flow of the game.
“We cannot let them get a sniff,” he said in the pre-game huddle. “Do not let them get in the game.”
Engulfed in a cloud of dust, the game was hard hitting from the start.While Fairfield won handily 17-7, there were casualties on both sides.
A scary moment occurred early in the game when Paul Goldweitz ’09 was temporarily knocked unconscious while making a stop. When he came to, Goldweitz tried to convince the medics that he was fine to play; finally, he relented and was taken to the hospital for tests.
While he did not play against Salisbury, he showed his support for his team on the sidelines.
Fairfield was one of eight teams remaining in the tournament when it took the field Sunday morning against Salisbury University.
While spirits were high, Fairfield was clearly overmatched in the contest by a team in Salisbury that boasted a 48-0 win earlier in the year over Division I opponent Maryland.
Fairfield lost 46-5 to the team that would eventually win its final two games to take the tournament.
Their faces, dirt smattered, bloodied and swollen, were sullen in the silence of a final team huddle before they journeyed back to Fairfield.
“I think we’re going to look back on this as a pivotal moment,” Leonard said to his team after the game. “The last 10 minutes, I saw some stuff I have not seen all season.”
Welch, playing in his final Beast of the East, was proud of his team’s effort, but could not hide his disappointment at the outcome.
“We thought we had the best team,” said Welch. “We had a tough road to get there [to the finals], but I think we did well anyway.”
What once was a collection of dissimilar athletes had become a team of committed rugby players.
“It’s a much more disciplined team,” said John Davey, whose senior sons, Adam and Brian, both play for the team.
“They’re a lot more of a team than a club,” he said.
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