Individual Game Recaps Aggies Suffer First Defeat To Chico 1/26/2008 Aggies Lose Sloppy Game to Chico Saturday January 26 The UC Davis Men’s rugby team knew that they would be in for a dogfight in an away game at Chico. The field was muddy from a week of rain and much narrower than most collegiate rugby fields. This gave a certain advantage to a Chico team that bases its play on big forwards rather than the fast backline strategy of Davis. The Aggies worst possible scenario played out, and the team suffered its first loss of the regular season by a score of 15-7. The Aggies must be careful not to blame the loss on excuses such as the sloppy field or some sloppy officiating because the truth is that Chico was the better team on this day. Davis executed poorly, losing many scrums and lineouts and missing kicks that should have either found touch or split the uprights. The Davis defense looked solid early in the game, but repeated penalties kept Chico close to the try zone and eventually they put one in. A successful conversion made the score 7-0. The Aggie offense was simply unable to get anything going all day. Finally some good kicks brought the Aggies near the goal line but they were stuffed by Chico and turned the ball over on a penalty. The halftime whistle sounded with the Aggies looking confused and frustrated but only down a score of 7-0. There was plenty of time to get on track but the team was unable to do so. The speed of the Aggie back three was neutralized because they never found themselves with the ball in their hands with room to run. Chico added a penalty kick about halfway through the second half, making the score 10-0. Once again the Aggies brought the ball all the way to the try line, at times within inches of it, but were unable to score and were eventually held up in the try zone. This seemed to deflate the Davis side quite a bit and Chico was the team to score the next try, making the score 15-0. At this point the result of the day seemed to be sealed, and the Aggies began to play a reckless style that actually worked a bit. The lone bright spot of the day came when prop Colin Clark scored a try to make the score a bit closer at 15-7. Overall this was a day that the Aggies would simply like to forget. Not one player can be said to have really performed well, although flanker Johnny Volan made many tough tackles and Clark’s determination to play until the final whistle was commendable. Davis (1-15) Colin Clark, Jacob Litinesky, Gus Brown, Levi Ryan, Reid Robinson, Sam Shackleford, Johnny Volan, Mark Miller, John Parshall, Julien Howsepian, Tyler Harrison, Tom Warner, Jake Mayers, Brian Rozzelle, Danny Nolan Tries: Clark Conversions: Howsepian 1 UC Davis Men's Rugby Club 232 Activities and Recreation Center University of California, Davis 95616 Copyright 2006-2007, Julien Howsepian