Aside from the A-Side taking care of business against Claremont, February 3rd. ASU’s B and C sides were also in action against Phoenix Storm and GCU B respectively. The games provided valuable experience for players outside the A side 23.
The first game of the day was the C side, they took on Phoenix Storm at the Dorsey intramural fields before the A-side game.
In the front-row Dylan, Ferencz made his first appearance of the season at loosehead, TJ Hernandez played hooker and Rasa Yaghmaie packed in at tighthead. Drake Zinn and Bronson Smith were paired in the engine room. The loose forward trio saw Aaron Hazarika and Cole Macias on the flanks, and Gracen Frucini played 8.
In the backline, Matt Loeffler partnered Jimi Letchford at 10 and 9 respectively. In the centers, Sam Trama played 12 and Jose Avila played 13. The back three saw Alex Whitrock make his first start on the left wing, Louis Quiroz on the right wing and Dalton Ferguson at fullback.
ASU scored from the very first scrum of the game, Loeffler drifted across the field drawing the opposing 12 center before passing to Trama. Quick hands from Trama drew the 13 and freed Avila, who drew the fullback before passing to Ferguson who scored under the posts and converted the try.
The Storm hit back with a try of their own a few minutes later, catching ASU sleeping with a quick tap from a penalty. The game then settled into a back-and-forth struggle, the game was t helter-skelter, and neither team was able to hold possession for long. ASU was able to make good meters when they had the ball owing to the strength of their forwards. Storm’s No.8 proved difficult to tackle and was their only real option for making reliable meters.
ASU’s second try was a long-range effort that started from a scrum just outside their own 22. Loeffler got the ball from the scrum and drifted from the center of the pitch to the tramline virtually unchallenged, before drawing the winger and unleashing Quiroz. Quiroz still had work to do when he made the break down the wing but he beat the fullback with a step to the outside and quick fend before scoring under the sticks.
The Storm replied with another try from a tap penalty. This time ASU was ready for the penalty but could not stop Storm’s No.8 from burrowing over the line.
ASU would have the last try of the half. Avila jarred the ball loose in a tackle, Trama scooped up the ball and shoveled it to Quiroz who beat the fullback with the same step and fend as his first try.
Unfortunately, that was not the last event of the half. A disagreement at the bottom of the ruck escalated into a short melee, no punches were thrown and the teams were broken apart within 15ish seconds. However, one of the Storm players was sent off for shoving the ref as he tried to break up the scrap. ASU went into the half ahead 19-10, both of the Storm’s tries were unconverted.
ASU scored the only try of the second half with Loeffler burrowing over from short range. The game was a little chaotic but ASU was disciplined, made solid decisions throughout the game and defended solidly throughout.
Once the game was over, Macias, Yaghmaie, Zinn, Smith and TJ Hernandez backed up and were on the replacements bench for the A-side game, coming on in the last 20 minutes to see ASU home.
While ASU was battling Calremont some of the C-side players had to be rushed across Phoenix from the Dorsey fields in Tempe to GCU, to round out the B-side. While ASU does have a lot of players, they have about 65 players when everyone is healthy. With injuries and work commitments coming into play, it left ASU a few players short of a full 23 for the B-side. Which is why players needed to be ferried across town.
ASU was facing GCU for the 2nd time that season, the first game ended a lot to a little in favor of GCU.
The starting front row for ASU was Jack Andrews at loosehead, Alex Pitton at hooker and Jerimiah Rose at tighthead. Harmon Crowe partnered Michael Best in the 2nd row. Back-row saw Alex Reiman and Gracen Frucini on the flanks with Eddie Barnhill at 8.
In the backs, Alex MacDonald played 9 and Michael Kim moved from fullback to fly-half. The centers saw Alex Vargas return from injury to partner Will Quinn, 12 and 13 respectively. The back three contained two Brophy alumni on the wings Danny Segoviano and Brian Hernandez, with Nate Troxel at fullback.
ASU opened the scoring about midway through the first half, Will Quinn ran in a try from about 60 meters. The try went unconverted, the attempt was charged down. The game was very even, neither team was able to gain the upper hand. ASU had less possession but defended well, helped by GCU knocking the ball on or getting turned over frequently. Despite defending well, mistakes allowed GCU to score two first-half tries. One came from a nice wide-attacking move while the other came from a lineout just before halftime. The try from the lineout was especially frustrating; GCU ran a lot of short lineouts and ASU’s forwards were unused to defending in the backline so became disconnected from their outside men. The first receiver from the lineout exploited that space on the inside and went over untouched. Both tries went unconverted so ASU was only down 10-5 at halftime.
ASU composed themselves at halftime and a try from Michale Kim, exploiting the space between backs and forwards defending in the backline, put ASU back in the lead. However, a try from a goalline dropout restored GCU’s five-point lead. Five points and 15 minutes to play would have made for a fun closing part of the match but as ASU was lining up for the kickoff the referee informed them that there were actually just 3 minutes to go. Since GCU only had the field for so long the game had to be cut short. After a scrum from a failed short kickoff, ASU got the ball back and was driving down the field when the referee ended the game abruptly due to time constraints.
Despite losing due to not being able to finish the game, there were many positives to draw from the B-side’s performance. A game that had ended with ASU losing by about 50 was cut to ASU losing by a try 5 and finishing the game with an opportunity to win the game.
All and all it was a fantastic day of rugby for ASU Rugby, highlighting the resurgence of the program in the last two years. ASU’s next game will be on the road in San Diego with both A and B sides playing USD on February 18th.