BU kicked off their 2008 campaign away to Providence College. Forty eight boys made the trip down to Rhode Island, and BU A-side would field numerous players making their first team debuts. The coach ride and 10 o'clock kick off however can offer little excuse for such a slow start by BU as they conceded two early tries. Whilst the home side dominated up front, BU gradually forced themselves into the game to go in at half-time 12-0 down.

      The second half proved to be extremely eventful. BU started to show glimpses of the talent in the backline, and when they decided to run the ball from well inside their own 22', the result was a 60 metre solo try from outside centre Matt Goyette.  Buoyed by their first points on the board, BU began playing some great team rugby. With forwards linking well with backs and some deft handling, Providence were beginning to have trouble with the attacking intensity of BU. A series of offloads out of the tackle released Matt Goyette on the left hand touchline and he raced away for his second try to give the visitors a 14-12 lead.

      BU started to play with real confidence. Left wing Ken made a break inside, good support play and quick rucking allowed prop James Bremis to then barge over from close range. At 19-12 BU seemed to have gained the advantage. Minutes later however, influential playmaker and captain was sinbinned for an alleged high tackle and the wind seemed to be taken from the visitor's sails. Seizing on the numerical advantage, Providence scored two tries while BU's captain cooled his heels on the sidelines to regain the lead 26-19. Unfortunately we were never able to recover the initiative and went down to a tough Providence side.

      Some consolation was met with the B-side beating their counterparts 4 tries to 3 and the rookies giving a great account of themselves in the third match of the day.

      This week BU host URI on Sat Sept 20th at Franklin Park @ 1pm.  For directions visit http://brfc.org/The-Team/Directions/Franklin-Park-Boston

      If any Alumni are interested in helping with training sessions please contact me. We train Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 5-7pm on Magazine Beach. With just one assistant and over 45 boys at every training session it is difficult to prepare the A-side for Saturday and still devote time to all the rookies for whom the game is completely new, so any help is gratefully accepted. Hope to see you soon.

All the best, 
Justin Evan
coach@burugby.com