Individual Game Recaps UC Davis vs Humboldt 11/3/2007 AGGIES OPEN SEASON WITH A WIN Saturday November 3 2007 The Aggie Men’s Rugby Team began the 2007-2008 season with a solid win over a tough Humboldt State side. The Aggies had many question marks due to the loss of important players from the previous year, and for the most part the new players did well in their first test. Humboldt State is a highly ranked Division II team and was a big, strong opponent. The Aggies made up for any lack of size with great forward mauls and an intelligent kicking game to win the match convincingly, 41-10. Two returning seniors were responsible for the Aggies first try, as scrumhalf John Parshall went to the weak side with a pass to diminutive wing Brian Rozelle, who snuck his way past a Humboldt player to reach the goal line. Julien Howsepian playing his first game at fly-half made the conversion. Humboldt proved resilient, however, and took advantage of some Aggie offensive miscues and defensive missed tackles to score. The conversion tied the game at 7. The Aggies, however, showed good maturity for the first match of the year and responded with a try of their own when Parshall took the ball off of the back of the ruck, dummied a pass to his right and then took off up the field for a 15 meter try scoring run. The Aggies also got the next try of the match. This was the result of a great maul by the forward pack and was touched down by all-american prop Ben Reynolds. The conversion was once again made by Howsepian. The Aggies were unable to continue this momentum, however, as undisciplined play allowed Humboldt to kick for penalty and made the score 19-10 at the half. The Aggies showed great spirit coming out of the break. The scoring was started when Reynolds touched down his second try of the match on a great individual run. After this score the Aggies seemed to relax a bit offensively, and strung together some better drives. One was capped off when center Tom Warner gave a pass to hooker Gus Brown, who was wide open to touch the ball down for his first try of the game. Warner continued the scoring with a great individual effort. He took Howsepian’s pass and found a gap in the Humboldt backline defense, was knocked to the ground but not wrapped, and after regaining his feet ran through 3 defenders to get the try. By this point the Aggies were showing some great offensive potential. The Aggies did have trouble maintaining discipline during the game, and this allowed Humboldt to stay competitive. Davis was dinged for too many penalties, and two players were given yellow cards. Prop Colin Clark was sent off for repeated offsides violations and Warner was called for a dangerous tackle. Overall the Aggies showed a lot of potential that is hopefully a sign of good things to come. UC Davis (1-15) Ben Reynolds, Gus Brown, Colin Clark, Reid Robinson, Jimmy Wessell, Robert Meeson, Jacob Litinisky, Mark Miller, John Parshall, Julien Howsepian, Tarick Abu-Aly, Tom Warner, Jake Mayers, Ross Warnloff, Brian Rozelle/Andrew Hopkins TRIES: Reynolds (2), Warner, Rozelle, Parshall, Brown CONVERSIONS: Howsepian (4) PENALTIES: Howsepian (1) UC Davis Men's Rugby Club 232 Activities and Recreation Center University of California, Davis 95616 Copyright 2006-2007, Julien Howsepian