Match Report: Oregon State University

The Dawgs fought hard but were unable to execute on numerous scoring opportunities against the Beavers this weekend. A number of factors played into the loss, including heavy rain, gusting wind, and a very physical OSU team in the wet conditions. It would have been more palatable if the Beavers played quality rugby, but unfortunately, it was an archaic brand of smash ball, and we played to their level.

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The Huskies scored first, 4 minutes into the game. It looked like this could be a dominant UW performance from the kickoff, but OSU rebutted in minute 6 with a try of their own. The Dawgs spent considerable time on defense, losing several of our possessions at set piece and through ruck penalties, leading to a yellow card for repeated infringements.

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Our red zone attack fell short – we entered to OSU 22 many times, but didn’t come away with points. Some of last week’s focal points were executed well – defensive line speed and line integrity, defensive roles, and counter attack. Pod attack and interplay between forwards was strong, but our outsized backs didn’t utilize forwards to hold defense and move the ball to the edges. This week’s film and training focus will be on recognizing and seizing opportunities, of which there were many to score points.

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1st XV Final Score: UW 7 – OSU 24

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Our second side picked up the slack and fought hard for a win, with some outstanding play from our young Dawgs, and especially one of our Freshman recruits Maxime Cauchi who is back from a toe injury, and received Man of the Match.

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2nd XV Final Score: UW 24 – OSU 12