By Maxx Steinmetz
Rutland Rugby hosted a home game, on Sept. 20, against Berkshire, last year’s division 4 champions. The week prior, the Rutland Roosters suffered their first defeat of the season to Mad River in Stowe. Meanwhile, Berkshire put up an impressive 132-15 display against the visiting, under-manned Black River.
This past weekend’s match, however, saw both sides missing key starters, and only having one Rutland substitute available between the two sides.
In the first 20 minutes of the match, the teams played like equal opponents. Berkshire would spin the ball wide, while Rutland looked to keep the ball close to it’s forwards to capitalize on offloads.
But towards the end of the half, Rutland started to pull away. Then, at the start of the second half, they started to hammer the nail into Berkshire’s coffin — though the visitors did get the last say with a patient and hard-nosed try.
When all was said and done, Rutland had put 43 points on the board through 7 tries against Berkshire’s 3.
This victory leaves Rutland to roost at third place in the division while going into their first bye week.
Photos by Christopher Thayer courtesy of Vermont Sports Now & Kate Troy