The Sacramento State men’s rugby club took on Long Beach State in a home league game Saturday at the Sac State Intramural Field. The Hornets put together a complete game of team play but ultimately took a 38-15 loss.
The first half for the Hornets resembled an exact picture of the slow start seen in their last game against Santa Cruz. The first try of the game came from Long Beach with a long run up the left sideline, resulting in an early 7-0 lead.
Long Beach found themselves in complete control of the first half and this resulted in the ability to drive down the field for four more tries, putting themselves up 24-0 at halftime. On the outside looking in, the play from the Hornets had not been ideal, when in reality, this was a complete shift in the right direction.
“The first half compared from this week to last week is night and day,” assistant coach Anthony Salaber said.
In the second half, the Hornets were physical from the start, resulting in the first try of the game for Sac State to make it a 24-5 game. With physicality comes the realization of needing to maintain mental stability to do the little things right.
“Sometimes our guys don’t understand this is a mental game, and trying to keep the boys focused on what we can do is a struggle sometimes,” head coach Steve Seifert said.
The struggle to have the mentality that Sac State had during their 2023 D1AA championship run has been clear. Sometimes all it takes is a spark from the plug seen in sophomore flanker Kenneth Kimbrough, who in the second half, took responsibility for a try and multiple big hits that caused verbal reactions from fans.
“We had a talk from coach before the second half, I feel like we came out punching,” Kimbrough said. “If we play every week like the second half, we are a tough team.”
The Hornets have shown things within gameplay that open the eyes of coaches to know and understand, that this team should and will succeed in their new division.
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“To see the boys come and improve substantially over the last week has been incredible,” Salaber said. “In my entire five years, this is probably the best 80 minutes of rugby I’ve seen out of these boys.”
A full 80 minutes of rugby allows for multiple players on the roster to get a touch on the ball, in hopes of making something good happen. Senior outside center Jonathan Stewart found himself running over multiple defenders to score a try in the late minutes of the second half.
The energy the Hornets put forth in the second half, proved to be the extra boost they need in times where a comeback is necessary. Sac State managed to outscore Long Beach 15-14 and cut the lead down to a score of 38-15. Although the outcome was not what they hoped for, they left with many positive takeaways.
“Our pace in the second half was a lot better with the physicality we had,” Stewart said. “I’m one of the guys who likes to show up to practice and put in the work, guys keep showing up; we will get better results.”
For the Hornets this season, they will be in charge of how far or short they go in this quest for another National Championship. It will start with the outside dedication of the roster individually and wanting to spend the time getting better together as a team.
“The game starts on Sunday with recovery time and coming in on Monday for film, learning what we might not have done so well last week,” Seifert said. “Once we start getting that belief, that’s the key.”
Sac State will go on the road for two consecutive weeks starting with Santa Barbara on Sunday Feb 18.
