UMF ruggers overpower Holy Cross in play-off win

FARMINGTON – The University of Maine at Farmington men’s rugby team had waited 18 years to host a championship bracket playoff game and it didn’t take visiting Holy Cross University long to learn that for local rugby fans it would be worth the wait.

The UMF men caught the opening kick-off, and eight passes later and with just one minute ticked off the game clock, flanker Taylor Steeves was crossing the Holy Cross try-line with the first of seven unanswered UMF tries. The UMF men were clinical in the loose play, and when the final whistle went they were the well deserved winners, 35-5.

UMF controlled the match from the outset, and their hard rucking enabled them to feast on possession all afternoon. As they have all season long, captains Ryan Nickerson and Chip Burnham led from the front, and hard-running forwards Josh McMahon and Dan Linck scored two tries each. In the set scrums, props Ray Linck and George McLean anchored an engine room that overpowered their Massachusetts visitors all afternoon.

For their part, the Holy Cross men tackled superbly for the entire 80 minutes, or the scoreline would have certainly been more one-sided.

The win earned UMF a date in next Saturday’s New England Rugby Union’s semi-finals. The team, now 6-1 on the season, are likely to face undefeated Bryant College in Smithfield, Rhode Island for a berth in the following weekend’s championship match.