Gents of Aspen open home season Saturday

Rugby returns to Aspen this week.

The Gentlemen of Aspen rugby team will open the home season Saturday with a game against the rival Blue Goose club from Breckenridge.

Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday at Rio Grande Park.

The Aspen-Breck rivalry is one of the oldest ski-town rugby rivalries in Colorado, dating to the 1970s.

There is no admission charged; all the rugby action is free.

The Gents of Aspen kicked off the summer schedule last weekend with a 43-17 win over the Defiance Rugby Club at Glenwood Park in Glenwood Springs.

Mackie Hirsch of the Gents scored a try and added the conversion with three minutes to play as Aspen scored 21 consecutive points to turn back the upstart Defiance club. Defiance had pulled to within a try late in the second half of the season opener. Aspen led early 12-0.

Hirsch made 6-of-7 conversion kicks and also kicked a penalty goal to open the scoring in the second half.

Felipe Martinez, Wiehan Pretorius and Hirsch all scored tries during the game’s final 10 minutes.

“We still have … at least half a dozen players who haven’t come out yet because of other commitments,” first-year Gents coach Cameron McIntyre said in an interview with the Glenwood Springs Post Independent. He’s been a player and coach with the Gentlemen of Aspen for more than 20 years. “So really, I’m not overly surprised by the way the game went. But they’ve got a lot of young players who are making them competitive, so they’ve done good with that they have.”

The game was a revival of the annual Strawberry Days rugby game in Glenwood Springs.

At the start, Hayden Horsford pushed across to make the score 12-0 with Hirsch’s conversion kick.

Garrett Lincoln scored on a long run for try as Aspen worked to a 19-10 halftime lead against Defiance.

Cory Fox collected a key turnover for Aspen, setting up a try from Martinez.

While the Gentlemen of Aspen host the Breckenridge Blue Goose on Saturday, Defiance will travel to Grand Junction.

dstrode@aspentimes.com