Binghamton University Rugby faced off against SUNY Cortland Red Dragons Rugby Saturday, with Binghamton coming away 33-22 winners.

With the win, Binghamton improved to 5-2 in the Liberty Empire Conference. 

The first half began with Cortland getting a penalty after some pressure inside the Binghamton half and taking the shot at goal for a 3-0 lead. Binghamton replied with a try through the forwards working the phases after a scrum. Michael Davitt was good on the conversion for a 7-3 lead. Cortland came back and Binghamton defended against multiple attempts to score from Cortland midway through the first half.

Finally that defense forced a knock-on and from there Binghamton was able to charge out of their end and go the length of the field to score and take a 12-3 lead. Cortland then got their fitst try, counter-rucking nicely to steal the ball and go over from there. With the conversion it was a 12-10 game going into halftime.

The second half began with Cortland kicking off to Binghamton, and BURFC was consolidated possession from there and some good offloads set up a try and a 19-10 lead. Cortland was then caught offside and Davitt kicked for the lineout, and Binghamton was able to charge over for another try and not it was 26-10 only 10 minutes into the second half.

Cortland scored through a tackle-breaking run to makr it 26-17, and then kept up the pressure. The Binghamton defense held for a while, but finally Cortland was able to punch it over to make it a four-point game at 26-22.

While defending in the 26th minute, BURFC tackled a Cortland runner into touch, and from that lineout they burst through for a try from 40 meters out. 

That made it 33-22 with 12 minutes left. That was the last try, however, as both BURFC and CRDR continued to play the match with effort despite some players receiving injuries and stoppages for blood. It was a physical win for Binghamton against a tough Cortland side.

—Ewart T Green