Beantown flyhalf Tatjana Toeldte (2018) / Photo: Jackie Finlan
Beantown opened up the Women’s Premier League (WPL) at home and treated fans to a 32-22 win against Atlanta. The outing also introduced new coaches Tadhg Leader and Conor Kindregan to the club, kicking off a partnership that ideally leads to the Cup semifinals at nationals.
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Head coach Leader and assistant coach Kindregan hail from Ireland and the MLR’s New England Free Jacks. That working relationship was immediately beneficial, as Leader was outside of Boston until the week prior to the season-opener. Kindregan ran pre-season and the staff was strategic about points of emphasis, given the short amount of time with the team.
“Every coach and player, for the most part, loves the idea of playing wide open and attacking rugby. We’ll work toward that but at the same time you have to realize where you’re at in terms of combinations and familiarity among players and skill sets. So we’ll adapt to get results,” Leader said.
“The core part [of Sunday’s game] focused on the non-negotiables – which I don’t want to get into too much,” the coach continued. “They really embraced that and I was over the moon at how they adapted and put it into play.”
The team talked about attacking shape, efficiency in the breakdown and stretching the defense, and on game day rallied around team captain and flanker Claire Stingley, and vice captains Yeja Dunn and Allison Martin.
“The pack set the tone,” Leader said. “Yeja at 8, Claire Stingley and OBD [Olivia Benzan-Daniel], a prop – all three of them were relentless. They had a lot of carries and always made the gain line and more. And all three of them played all 80 minutes. They had great games.”
The team pursued its game plan at good pace, and both Leader and squad were pleasantly surprised by how well everything was working early on. After 20 minutes, the home side had finished three tries through Dunn, Amanda Schweitzer and Kat Phelan. Flyhalf Tatjana Toeldte kicked the extras for the 17-0 lead.
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“We put a lot on her shoulders to lead, that quarterback mentality, and she did a great job,” Leader praised Toeldte’s management of the attack. “I was very impressed with how she organized and dictated the game, in terms of keeping the ball in hand and looking to penetrate through the middle or outside, or using the kicking game to try and turn them around. An amazing job.”
Beantown kept the pressure on Atlanta, forcing penalties in the breakdown and relocating play to the Harlequins’ end. The home side identified space well and execution was good. But then some complacency set in.
“At the back end of the first half, we let our foot off the pedal and allowed them back in the game. It was disappointing and we addressed it briefly after the game,” Leader said. “As the competition heats up you can’t take 20 minutes off, and a good team like Atlanta isn’t going to lie down.”
Atlanta scored through Cortney Kuehl and Corinne Heavner kicked the conversion and added a penalty, 17-10. On either side of the break, however, Beantown regrouped and sent backs Brittany Dykes (former Tulane scrumhalf) and Rosanna Wright into the try zone, 27-10.
Atlanta started to find its form and by the time the fourth quarter arrived, the Harlequins had closed to 27-22 thanks to tries from Kuehl and Raleigh transfer Lisa Jackson.
“We held firm,” Leader said of this momentum shift. “We had some good substitutions who added impact energy, and that saw us over the line. But the game was tighter than it should have been considering how we came out of the blocks.”
Outside center Schweitzer scored in the final 10 minutes of the match for the 32-22 bonus-point win.
“Everyone was thrilled [with the win], especially being the first game. We didn’t play a pre-season game, and there was no contact in training leading up to this point. Everyone was such an unknown and there were a lot of nerves not knowing what to expect,” Leader said. “We’re relieved to get that first win as a group, and we took five minutes to say, ‘Good job,’ but it’s move onto the next one. Not much time patting on the back. They deserved the plaudits but we’re also realistic: It’s the first week.”
The implication is that there is much work to do, and the coaches don’t exclude themselves from that learning process. Coming from the professional arena, Leader is familiarizing himself with the life and compromises of an amateur rugby player.
“It’s different to have to work around players’ work or study or other commitments and then not have a full deck to train with. That’ll take some getting used to,” Leader said. “It just means more planning and building relationships with players to understand their needs and commitments outside of rugby. Usually rugby is the job and being at training is a non-negotiable. It’s challenging but it’s something that will get easier.”
Despite all of the moving pieces, Leader explained that the leadership group expressed a desire to finish top-two in the WPL East.
“In the past they’ve struggled a bit, for a lot of different reasons – turnover from coaches and other outside things. But the girls seem settled and I’m happy to be working with them,” said Leader, who wants to create an environment of enthusiasm and buy-in. “That starts with them enjoying each other’s company, and when that’s in place, it’s much easier to find performance. It looks to be that way now so there’s no reason why we can’t be in the top four.”
Beantown faces Twin Cities, which lost to Chicago North Shore on Sunday, in round two. Atlanta hosts New York (stay tuned for Ros Chou interview). In the WPL West, Life West beat Glendale in its WPL debut, and Berkeley topped ORSU in San Francisco.