The Varsity Blues men’s rugby team started 2010 with a bang, earning at narrow 21-19 victory in a cross-border friendly at the University at Buffalo on Saturday, September 5.

The two teams were well matched and both contested for field position early on. Buffalo slowly worked their way into Blues territory and in finding a few holes, managed to move the ball to the wing and squeak in a try in the corner. Luckily for the Blues, video replay revealed that the winger had stepped out of bounds and the referee’s initial call was overruled.

U of T quickly rebounded and gained the lead when Lee Nevitte took a quick tap off a penalty, ran it 40 metres for the try and followed up with an easy conversion.

The Blues played well-disciplined goal-line defence, fending Buffalo off again and again, however, failed to turn over the ball and eventually conceded the try.

Play was tight and closely contested throughout the rest of the first half. Toronto’s outside center Rob French came up with a devastating hit on his opposite number and
made a massive break through a shooting Buffalo back line. With a promising scoring opportunity in sight, winger Justin Collis was quickly tackled at the last minute.

However, before the first half was up Toronto fly-half Nick Smith found his way through the Buffalo defence for a score.

Early in the second frame, the Blues applied pressure inside Buffalo’s 22-metre line and Theo Pui chased down the ball for a yet another try that was converted by fullback Arjun DaCosta.

Play continued back and forth with Mike Hamata and George Musgrave making some key sticks around the rucks.

Later in the half, Buffalo again found themselves deep in U of T territory and with significant effort, managed to grind down and rumble in for a try.

The last score of the game went to Buffalo after a series of penalties put the Blues on their heels and they conceded a third try in the corner. Despite gale force winds Buffalo made the conversion but remained two points behind Toronto at the final whistle.

The Varsity Blues open their 2010 regular season campaign on Saturday, September 11 when they travel to St. Catharines, Ont., to take on the Brock Badgers. Game time is set for 3 p.m.