It was on October 22 when AIC Men’s Rugby defended their title against the University of Connecticut away and despite the small field, winning in dominant fashion.

With the scoreboard talking at an alarming rate, AIC beat UConn 87-16, but it was not a perfect game. Even after all was said and done a lot of the players agreed that that the game could have went a lot smoother.

We were challenged by a number of new things, one of which was a huge factor for UConn. AIC has never played a kicking-oriented team, which was a challenge that had to be adapted to, as well as the stamina factor in chasing the ball back and forth. After a few kicks, AIC realized that we must slow down and let the kick play out, that way they did not tire running down the field, only to have the ball kicked back at them.

Another challenge UConn presented was indirect, but played a huge part in the game that was played.

Since AIC was on a winning streak, and UConn is not a huge threat, they saw the game as an easy win and it really showed from the beginning. The warm up once they were on the field was not very good and it was not addressed until the very end.

“It was short,” says Cristian Ortega, a freshman on the team, “Everyone’s head was out of it. The backs were yelling at each other and the field was small so it felt compacted too.”

This kind of thing is not something you want to hear coming from a warm up that really sets the tone for the game, but this was just how the team’s mindset was, and it really showed throughout the course of the game.

According to Nic Franklin, another thing that was a struggle for AIC was the “defensive work rate.” They seemed tired and were not used to all of the running that UConn made them do by kicking, but overall the work rate was just not there as much as it usually is, which allowed those points to be scored a little easier than usual.

Another struggle was just some basic fundamentals such as moving the ball and keeping the turnovers low. According to Gavan D’Amore-Morrison, the biggest challenge “had to be decreasing the number of turnovers with the increased number of utilities to move the ball.” With that being said, it was simply a matter of keeping the ball and using all of the resources on the field in order to get the ball into the try zone.

On a high note, this goal was accomplished progressively as the game went on, and it lead to some pretty amazing tries by the forwards, one including a very great offload game right off a kickoff.

They also kept their running lines hard and with a great line break game, this showed that despite the warm up, a select few were ready for the challenge ahead of them.

As of November 4, the Men’s Rugby team remains unbeaten at 9-0, looking for their 10th win in a matchup with Boston College on Saturday, November 7 at 4 p.m. here in Springfield.