Beavers and Ducks are no match for the Cardinal

Stanford Women’s Rugby defeated both Oregon State and Oregon this past weekend.

On Saturday, Oregon State’s forwards were no match for the Cardinal pack. Although there were several knock-ons by Stanford, the Cardinal forward pack trucked the first few OSU scrums, resulting in slow balls if not turn overs to Stanford. With more work within the tight five, this will soon be said of every scrum of every game. During phase play, Stanford were dominant in contact – the focus area for the past two weeks of practice. Players broke several tackles running at pace, created offload opportunities by getting beyond defenders, and added significant physicality when they joined rucks with low body height. However as the number of phases increased between stoppages, a noticeable lack of numbers in the ruck occured. Forwards look to increasing efficiency in rucks by working in pods. Even so, Oregon State trailed soundly behind at halftime. The momentum of the first half only escalated in the second half as Stanford put up several more tries, finishing with a definitive win of 79 – 14.

Sunday’s game against Oregon had a much different pace as several more players were given game time experience. Stanford took longer to gain momentum as previous struggles in contact, such as fewer support players, high body height and reaching tackles, reappeared. Oregon was able to force several turn overs in rucks then gain territory through kicks and a speedy fullback or hard runs near the ruck by the number 8. Stanford was able to regain possession and execute plays, resulting to a 45 – 3 lead at halftime. But as more starting players left the field, the momentum dropped substantially. Stanford’s defensive line stopped launching, connection among the players was lost, along with possession of the ball. Oregon went off on a scoring streak that narrowed the game 45 – 34. For the last five minutes, Stanford’s defense was able to hold off Oregon long enough to end the game.

Michelle Teo ’14, now playing inside center, continues to make exceptional plays as she did at wing. Having played all positions in the backline, Teo shares her insight of where backs can look to improve.

“Overall, our backs did a great job running hard lines onto the ball and when we executed our plays with early decisions and crisp handling, they worked very well! As the season continues, I’d definitely like to have the backs improve on our level of consistency of play. There’s always room for improvement — earlier communication, urgency to re-align with width and depth, ball handling and taking care of the ball in contact. We have many athletic players in our back line and, with more practice and precision, we can only get better!”
After the game, Stanford presented Oregon with two “Player of the Match” awards given to their fullback and eightman. Oregon presented their “Player of the Match” awards to Michelle Batlle ’13, at hooker, and Sara Maurer ’16, at fullback.

This puts Stanford at 3 – 0 for the season. Coming up, Stanford’s next conference game will be against Chico State this Saturday, February 23. Kickoff is at 1pm at Steuber Field, followed by the Crawford match at 2:30pm, then a BBQ for Parents’ Weekend.

Stanford vs. Oregon State
Final Score: 79 – 14 (win)
Tries scored by:
-Smriti Sridhar ’15 (2)
-Michelle Teo ’14 (2)
-Aly Gleason ’13 (2)
-Lai Turn ’13 (2)
-Jamie Lawrence ’13 (2)
-Sara Maurer ’16 (2)
-Tia Watkins ’15
Conversions made by:
-Aly Gleason (5)
-Nikki Richardson ’15 (2)

Stanford vs. Oregon
Final Score: 45 – 34 (win)
Tries scored by:
-Aly Gleason (5)
-Sara Maurer (2)
Conversions made by:
-Aly Gleason (5)