UMW welcomed Belmont Abbey (NCR's #13 ranked team) to the Battlefield Rugby complex and one of the most beautiful pitches on the east coast today for 2 games. It was great day of rugby made even better by the donation of all new Canterbury kit for all the boys by Globetrotters Insurance - pure class in UMW's new alternate color!
In the futures game UMW's team ran away from the Crusaders 59-0. Freshman Abel Kebede was unstoppable and sophomore Nick White was a man possessed, often needing 3 tacklers to subdue him. Sophomore Mathew Clinton played an excellent game all over, executing a perfect series of throws and scrums. Sophomore Sam Gorey continues to improve and now stand out. There were a lot of players raising their hand for first team consideration.
The first side kicked off at 3p in the heat and both teams slotted kicks for an early 3-3 tie. UMW overall did not do a stellar job finishing but the tackling required was taking a toll on the Crusaders. UMW went into the half leading 10-6 and generally not happy with their execution.
Coach Charbel Medlej kept halftime simple with the focus on doing little things right and spreading the field. UMW emerged as the Mother's Rugby we love and started swinging the ball side to side and hitting the gaps.
Freshman Andrew Evan was on fire in the centers getting solid meters and junior fullback Sebastian Scheffermann started to see gaps in the defense which led to springing wings sophomore Yann Aubert and junior Conor Foster for long runs and trys.
In the heat you have to use your subs and it was nice to see high school teammates sophomore Tom Williams at hooker, freshman Bobby Mulvey at lock and freshman Olli Davies at prop enter the game and actually raise the level of play and physicality. Olli got himself a try late near the posts and UMW looked much stronger and fitter in the last 20 min than the first 20 minutes, much of this due to the hard work early of junior players like prop Cameron Giwa, 8-man Nick Ball and flankers Lloyd Stephens and Tobey Barnfield-Lee.
UMW got solid play at flyhalf with sophomore Will Lindsay scoring a late try and freshman Harvey Payne again bringing a different and hard to defend attack to the backline. UMW ran out the last 10 minutes or so with 14 players due to a yellow at 36-6 before the Crusaders scored a late well-earned try to close the game.
Final UMW 36 Belmont Abbey 11. Thank you Crusaders for a great game.
The team gets a weekend off this coming Saturday and then travels to Wheeling (who is traditionally a top 5 NCR team) while the futures side hosts UVA.
See you at the field!