By Austin Danforth of the Bennington Banner

BENNINGTON — Flanker John Ulrich pounced on a fumbled ball in the Berkshire try zone late in the second half Saturday to lift the Bennington Battle Rugby Football Club to a 15-14 comeback win on Saturday at the Beech Street Field.

Bennington (4-2) led 10-7 at halftime after Matt Willey scored a try and converted two kicks. Berkshire answered with two straight tries to go ahead, 14-10, setting up Ulrich’s late score.

The loss dropped Berkshire, the Battle’s main rival, to 2-4 on the year and avenged a 17-3 loss earlier this month.

“This is how rugby is suppose to be played,” Willey said. “Eighty minutes of rugby. No one giving up and everyone focused on the goal — to win.”

“This was a good game. Both sides played hard and we were able to come out on top,” said Bennington coach Jeremiah Madison.

It was the Battle’s second straight win heading into the Division-IV tournament hosted by Berkshire on Oct. 22. Bennington outgunned Black River, 36-29, in Chester on Oct. 8.

Center Josh Weldon led the way with three tries, while Willey added another and converted 4-of-5 extra point kicks and 1-of-2 penalty kicks.

It’s here! BRFC is proud to announce our new website, which will offer up to date schedules, match results, and news about your favorite rugby club. The site will continue to grow over the next few weeks, we’ll be adding some cool features like photos and videos from our most recent matches. In the mean time, let us know what you think here in the comments, or at webmaster [at] benningtonrugby [dot] org.

Bennington Battle Rugby Football Club prevailed in a close game at home against Cape Cod on Saturday the 24^th, of September. The game went back and forth, with both teams taking the lead multiple teams but Bennington holding the lead at the stoppage of time to give them the win, 22-13. This gives the Battle Rugby team a record of two wins and one loss for the season so far.

The game Saturday was a grudge match that went back to last spring. In the New England Rugby Football Union Tournament, the main tournament in New England, Cape Cod faced Bennington. Bennington lost to them 6-5. Bennington had a rough day kicking and had missed four kicks that day that could have been added to their try for the win. However, they committed two penalties close to their own goal and Cape Cod was successful with their kicks giving them the six points and the win.

“This was a great game,” said coach, Jeremiah Madison.  “Cape Cod is a very athletic team. Just looking at both teams, no one would give us a chance. However, our team is more experienced and we were determined. But the big difference was we wanted revenge for the loss last spring.”

The game started with Cape Cod kicking the Bennington. The kick was high and short and the Cape Cod front line was able to jump and catch the ball before the Bennington players were able to. This gave the Cape possession of the ball in Bennington territory, where the ball stayed the majority of the first half. Cape Cod was the first to put points on the board at 13 minutes in, when they were able to capitalize on a Bennington penalty and swung the ball wide. Cape Cod’s outside center crashed through Bennington’s back line to put the ball down and take a 5-0 lead. The conversion was unsuccessful and Bennington kicked the ball back to the Cape. The Cape players continued to march down the field and kept the Battle defense on their heels. However, Bennington refused to yield any more points and the half ended with Bennington down, 5-0.

The second half opened with Bennington kicking to Cape Cod who knocked the ball on to give Bennington a scrum near Cape Cod’s own 22 meter line. Bennington then used a series of crashes by their large forward players to gain position with the series being capped by Lock, Matt Bentley, taking the last crash and putting the ball on the try line for five points. Scrumhalf, Matt Willey’s conversion was good and Bennington took the lead, 7-5 with 34 minuets left in the half.

However, Cape Cod was not giving up and about ten minuets later, a Cape Cod wing was about to break through the Battle Defense and off load the ball to a supporting player who then dived in for five more points. The conversion was not successful and the Cape Cod lead 10-7.

Bennington quickly answered back though and worked the ball through several passes and phases to put five more on the board. This came after Flyhalf, Adam Shepard had a 50-meter break away, setting up his back line for several passes between each other and then finally dishing the ball to Wing, Wyatt Kirby for the score. Willey’s kick was unsuccessful and the score was 12-10 in favor of the Battle.

With about 18 minutse left in the game, one of the Bennington players came into a ruck off sides giving Cape Cod a penalty 15 meters. The Cape opted to kick for points.

“It was deja vu. We lost to these guys in the spring tournament by one point when they successfully made a penalty kick and here they are with the opportunity to do the same again. All I could say to myself was ‘not again!’ It was a very stressful moment,” said team President, Matt Willey.

Cape Cod’s penalty kick was successful and they retook the lead, 13-12.

However, Bennington refused to give up. With about 13 minutes left in the game Bennington was able to drive down to within 8 meters of the goal line. The ball was swung wide to Wing, Woody Brown who was able to dart in for a try and put Bennington back on top with a 17-13 lead. The kick was no good and Cape Cod kicked back off to Bennington.

Cape Cod was still within one try, and knowing that, Battle did not let off the accelerator. With about 6 minuets left in the game, Lock, Jess Clausnitzer stole the ball from Cape Cod in a ruck who then set up an impressive play that allowed Bennington to have more players on the far side of the field than Cape Cod. The ball was passed out to Wyatt Kirby for his second try and the last score of the day. Once again, the kick was no good.

The Cape Cod team came back at Bennington full speed but Bennington would not budge an inch and the time expired with the score, Bennington 22, Cape Cod 13.

“This was a huge win. Those guys hit hard,” Madison explained. “But our guys gave everything they had and would not give up. We simply capitalized on Cape Cod’s mistakes and found the overloads and the gaps. If we play like we did in the second half every half of every game, we can’t be beat!”