Vail Rugby Club opens season with impressive win over Boulder

The Vail Rugby Club has been practicing for less than a month, but new coach Joe Lippert already seems to have taken the team to a new level.

“Ball handling is totally different from last year,” Chris Chantler, club president, remarked as he watched the Vail boys’ crisp, cross-field passes lead to three first-quarter tries in Saturday’s scrimmage against Boulder. Vail cruised to a 38-5 victory.

“Completely different culture,” said Reece Smith. “All the boys want to be here, they want to show up, they want to play for each other.” Smith is one of the team’s year-round locals. Joining him on the roster is a large influx of international talent: Four key starters are from South Africa and another hails from Zimbabwe.

“They’ve been playing high-level rugby their entire life, they’ve brought a great attitude and they bring that little something extra that you get when you’ve been playing rugby for 20 years,” Lippert answered when asked about the impact of South Africans Riis Du Plessis, Milan Burger and Principia teammates and National Collegiate Rugby DI All-Americans Andy Naringo and Charles Luhanga. Du Plessis’ speed and agility wreaked havoc on an overwhelmed Boulder team, which didn’t score until part way through the second quarter.

“The more we practice together, the harder we practice together, the better we will create chemistry and I think we showed that today,” Du Plessis said.

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Du Plessis didn’t exactly get a “warm” welcome to Colorado. He stepped off the jetway in Denver on the day of a mid-May blizzard.

“It’s the first time seeing snow like that,” he said. “It was quite spectacular. Playing rugby in the snow is something new.”

The squad of almost 40 players — a roster Chantler said was one of the largest and most talented in the last decade or so — has been practicing twice a week at the Vail Athletic Fields since the middle of May.

“They come with intent,” Chantler said. “I’m so impressed by the culture our coach has created. They’re here to play.”

Lippert’s success in implementing schematic elements to the offense was apparent on Saturday as well.

“That’s been my major focus is making sure they come together as a unit,” Lippert said. “Because they’re from all over the place. And then make sure they get some timing off each other and that they enjoy playing with one another.”

Luhanga led the way Saturday with two tries. Another local, Zach Guida, scored in the left corner 15 seconds into the third quarter to keep the steam engine rolling after Boulder ended the first half with its only try.

As rain began to fall, Lippert gathered his group for a post-game huddle. Even though he acknowledged the team’s strong start, he found room for improvement.

“I’d say the first 10 minutes was an A,” the coach said. “We looked really good, played cleanly, dominated possession, dominated territory. I would say we got a little sloppy around our rooks. We gave up some penalties we didn’t need to, we gave up some possession we didn’t need to as the game wore on.”

Smith sees areas for growth, too, but is confident moving forward. “Now, having a new coach, we’ve kind of developed a solid team culture and solid foundation for the remainder of the summer,” he said. “It was quite good, especially the outcome.”

Vail plays at Grand Junction next Saturday before returning home to host Steamboat on June 22.

“I think we just should stick to our guns,” Du Plessis answered when asked how the team can build off Saturday’s win. “Do what we do best and stick to our strengths and just build on that and the rest of the game will just kind of fall into place.”