(Zack Plum photo)
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This spring season marks the inaugural matrix campaign of the newly organized Carolinas Rugby League.
The league will allow natural rivals to play each other annually and will determine the top Division I and Division II squads from the region.
The first round of the CRL featured a trip of Division II clubs going on the road to visit a Division I opponent. The reader might be surprised by the results.
We begin in Columbia, South Carolina where USC played host to Wake Forest. This one was a closer game then might have been anticipated.
USC used their back line to their advantage, getting the ball to edges and scoring a few early tries.
However, according to their head coach Geoff Mason, South Carolina gave away the ball more often then they wanted due to some inconsistent rucking. Still, they were happy to take a 15-3 lead in at the halfway point.
In the second half, it seemed as if Wake Forest finally had their legs beneath them and mounted a convincing comeback of their own, giving USC all they could handle and outscoring them 14-5 in the second half.
Thanks again to their back line, however, the Gamecocks were able to put one more try across in the second set. When the final whistle blew they had held on for a 20-17 victory.
Standouts in the game were USC centers Richard Pyke and Peter Bolland. Coach Mason stressed that his club, “won a close game” and “have a lot of work to do.”
The other match in South Carolina took place at Clemson, where the Tigers hosted the ECU Pirates. This one was also a very close match from the outset with both teams exchanging tries.
In fact, a penalty conversion for ECU made the score 8-5 pirates at halftime.
According to captain Justin Burgeois, the Pirates have “a very young team, we graduated 11 seniors last year.” Given that fact, the tenacity shown by ECU was all the more impressive.
They held their until the middle of the second half when Clemson dropped a well placed kick behind the ECU defense and picked it up to put down the deciding try. The final score was 12-8 in Clemson’s favor.
Perhaps the biggest game of the afternoon took place in Chapel Hill in a rematch of the fall’s North Carolina State Championship game. Last fall North Carolina defeated NC State to capture that crown.
This spring, NC State were back in town and looking to avenge that loss.
According to head coach Robert McCallister, his young NC State side “played a great all around game in both the pack and the backs.”
Despite this, in the early going things were not falling their way. In the first half, North Carolina put up 10 points to NC State’s 3.
Led by outside center Brandon Mosiman, NC State mounted a comeback in the second half. Both teams eventually drew even at 18 points apiece.
That was the score until North Carolina committed a penalty with less than a minute remaining in the match. In a climactic moment, NC State converted a penalty kick that made the final score 21-18.
The win is more impressive since the Division II squad was on the road. Coach McCallister was gracious in victory, commending North Carolina on “a hard fought, classy game.”
League standings (unofficial):
Clemson (1-0)
NC State (1-0)
South Carolina (1-0)
Appalachian State (0-0)
East Carolina (0-1)
North Carolina (0-1)
Wake Forest (0-1)
