Central Washington pulled no punches in its 64-0 romp of the Oregon club men’s rugby team last Saturday. The Ducks were only left to speculate as to where this game went wrong.
“It’s our mentality at the start of the game that has let us down,” fly-half Ollie Pengilly said. “We just need to work on getting mentally tough. You forget about the last play and you keep looking forward.”
The Ducks found themselves trailing early as a Wildcat score minutes into the game was soon followed by another try that put Central Washington up by 12. From that point, the Wildcats would never look back.
Central Washington simply had the bigger, faster and better team. For the Ducks, a young team, it was a game they must find ways to build on.
“Our aggression needs to be ratcheted up a notch,” head coach Brendan Hobbs said. “But they are starting to make their tackles. They’re starting to communicate and come together as a team. I wish we could have done a couple of things better, but I see a lot of good things.”
Throughout the game, the Ducks were in a constant state of defense, trying to slow down a team that had the speed and power to turn numerous offensive possessions into breakaways.
At one point, three consecutive laterals left a Wildcat forward running free along the sideline. An Oregon defender found himself in position to make a try-saving tackle, but was unable to bring him down. The Ducks then trailed 31-0 late in the first half.
The Ducks finally became the aggressor early in the second half. Following a penalty near the Wildcats’ 22-meter line, Oregon opted for a drop goal, which would have given it three points. However, the Ducks were unable to convert the kick and were still searching for their elusive first points of the game.
“In terms of today, we would get down on ourselves,” flanker Brian Maxson said. “There were spurts of times where we would pick it up and play really hard and then lose it.”
The Ducks were held scoreless in the game, and following last week’s season-opening 59-0 defeat to University of British Columbia, are still wondering when their first points of the year will come.
Until they do, the Ducks are focused on continuing to make improvements each week they step onto the pitch.
“Our tackling, compared to the last week, was a lot better,” Maxson said. “We had moments of really good rugby. We had a 20-minute period where we were playing solid and playing good defense, but there were just a couple times where we just let it go.”
For Hobbs, the silver lining is in the potential of his young and talented freshmen who he says are becoming better with every game.
“(Nate Delisle) is a good leader. He really picks guys up when they get down and doesn’t let the team implode,” Hobbs said. “(Tyler Bartlett) is a very big kid and really aggressive. (Greg Folk) kind of directs everyone when he’s out there.”
While it might seem as though Oregon still has a long way to go to be able to compete with the better teams it faces, assistant coach Duffin McShane believes all the pieces are in place to turn the season around as early as next week.
“We could have beaten (Central Washington),” he said. “Because we’re a young team, it would be easy for me to say that a year from now or two years from now that’s what we’re looking forward to. I’m looking forward right now to next weekend, and that’s what this team should be focused on.”
Oregon will look to rebound from its tough loss against the Michigan Wolverines at 3 p.m. Saturday.
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