All the alumni team needed to beat the younger more physical Oregon Club Sports rugby team was a couple of former regional all-stars, a former all-American, an active professional rugby player, two Oregon coaches and some extra help from the sideline.
The endless attack by the determined alumni team, which had not won the alumni match in two years, simply overwhelmed the younger Ducks.
The current Oregon players felt outnumbered. And they were actually right sometimes — because the elders had more players were on the field.
Bob Snyer, the current coach of the men’s team and a graduate of ’83, kept the alumni team fresh by changing the players frequently. He also helped the team by scoring a try. Sean Peters, who coached his last season this spring, also contributed with two tries.
Less than ten minutes into the game the alumni were up by three tries. But the younger Ducks weren’t worried.
“We thought they will get tired in the second half, but they didn’t,” freshman Zaid McKie said.
“Hurrah! Hurrah!” the alumnus shouted victoriously from the sideline as their team accumulated tries.
The Ducks could do nothing but glare.
The alumni team dominated the game by “being at the right place at the right time” and when the Ducks dared to retaliate, fierce tackles lead by Eric “Big Man” East cut off any extensive gain.
One of the objectives of this game is to provide the alumni with the chance to play with their old teammates and have fun.
They sure had fun crushing the Ducks, which ranked 18th in the nation at the end of the season, by a score of 63-22.
“Next year we will surprise them,” Jeremy Andrew of the Ducks promised.
The hard-fought alumni match left several players injured, which included a player with a dislocated shoulder, allegedly a broken ankle and a bruised knee.
The players seemed OK as they laughed and talked about the game — some players even managed to return to the game, including the player who claimed to have a broken ankle.
The Ducks will continue on to play sevens, which is rugby played by seven players instead of fifteen, during the summer and resume its season in the fall.