The University of South Carolina men’s rugby team bounced back nicely this weekend with wins over N.C. State (14-10) and Coastal Carolina. (31-14)
The contest against the Wolfpack was a game of contrasting styles. N.C. State’s big forward pack bullied the Gamecock scrums. Both Wolfpack tries resulted from won scrums and forward play.
Meanwhile the Gamecocks’ advantage was overloads and kicking.
USC freshman flyhalf Charlie Dwyer converted a penalty kick early in the contest to put the Gamecocks up 3-0. Charlie Feehan, another freshman, added a try at the 20-minute mark to push the lead to 10-0 after the successful conversion.
Shortly before the break the Pack pushed over a scrum to score a try to make the score 10-5.
Minutes into the second half, Feehan, a wing, gobbled up an errant ball and raced 20 meters for the try.
NC State answered with a try off a rolling maul 15 minutes later to make the score 17-10.
The Gamecocks spent much of the final 20 minutes in the NC State end but could not break through for a score.
“Overall, our defense was much better, our lineouts improved, and we did a great job of pressuring a very good NC State team on the perimeter,” said Coach John Roberts. “We absolutely must improve our scrum play, and we’ll continue to work on that.”
The next day, Coastal Carolina faced a combination of A and B-side players. USC led 21-14 at the break but found more offense in the second half enroute to a 31-14 win. The Gamecock C-side defeated the Coastal reserves 5-0 in one half of play.
Meanwhile the Gamecocks lopsided loss to Queens last week seems a bit more palatable as the Division 1 Royals logged big wins over SCRC rivals Alabama (85-10) and Tennessee (48-10) over the weekend.
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