Brown Nails Down the Basics in Repeat Quest
Brown Nails Down the Basics in Repeat Quest
Brown University is looking to defend its NCR D1 championship after winning the Liberty Conference final over Siena over the weekend.
What seems to surprise casual rugby fans is that Brown wins their games off a solid foundation of defense and set piece. Not that they can't do the other stuff, they can, but they are a team that wins in the grind. Oh well, those gentle Ivy League souls winning on tackles, scrums, and mauls? Well, yes.
"Heading into this game [against Siena] I really didn't know what to expect," said LaFlamme. "Siena had been putting up some high numbers. I was receiving varying reports from other teams as to what they felt were their strengths. I decided that, while I know they would have some talented players, we had to do two main things: control the set-piece, our bread and butter this year, and contain their backs."
That's pretty much it.
Two minutes into the game fans saw the first scrum ... and Brown got a penalty. Their defense showed they could contain Siena's effective backline.
All of that led to scoring chances for Brown, giving the Bears a 15-point lead, but LaFlamme wasn't necessarily overjoyed.
"Over time, we saw that we could in fact contain their backs," said LaFlamme. "We were unfortunate not to execute fully on a few plays in the first half. A couple of quick tries in the second half may have caused us to become a little complacent as we let Siena over the line for a converted score. We then reeled things in a bit but still had second half moments of poor choices and faulty execution."
But there was a moment where we saw exactly what Brown can do and why they might well win the NCR D1 for a second year in a row.
If you can do something that's essentially impossible to stop it ... well ... makes you difficult to stop.
Such as, Brown's maul. Take a look at this with John Broker's expert play-by-play:
That's right. They mauled it 35 meters to score. They did it because the players at the back stayed low and just kept walking forward. The players up near the front made very sure they were bound in, and when No. 8 Antonio Esteves is separated from the maul he immediately rolls out of the way and rejoins the maul at the back, rather than create an obstruction scenario. It's smart, brutal rugby. And it works. But there are sterner tests to come.
"This was a good win for us," said LaFlamme. "However the dial will get turned up a couple of notches as there are some tough teams on the horizon."
