UNC Defeats Georgia Tech

Saturday, September 26th, 2009

Carolina A 31, Georgia Tech 25

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Away — The Tarheels started off the 2009 Fall season in a match against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets over the weekend. Facing a trip to Atlanta and a 9:30 start time, the Heels wanted to set a high level of intensity for the match and the rest of the season.
Due to injuries and study abroad opportunities, plenty of new faces received their first collegiate rugby experience representing the Taheels. They represented the club well with the first two tries coming from freshmen Jim Morisson and Grant Johnston. Despite fluid play and several offloads, final touches for the try were hard to come by for the Heels with knock-ons coming at the try line throughout the match. Forward play was key for the Tarheels as they dominated scrums and lineouts while the Georgia tech offensive was unable to achieve ball retention from their own set pieces. Despite good play by the Tarheels, the Georgia Tech scrum-half was able to keep the score close as a result of silly penalties by UNC This set up an exciting finish with Georgia tech taking the lead; however, in the waning minutes of play fly-half Gregor Maclennan scored a try off of a rather daft dummy pass.
Overall, the Heels looked like a side on the verge of good play despite a lack of proper execution and penalties in their victory. The team looks to continue improving and prepare for the next trip to Radford University on October 10th.

UNC Lineup: Brooks, Pugliese, Raczkowski, Johnston, Mohar, Morrison, Epifanio, Moye, Duguid, Maclennan, Skill, Giffin, Van Niekerk, Spencer, Ayodele

Man of the Match:

Tries: Morrison, Grant, Maclennan
Conversions: Maclennan (2)
Penalties:
Drop Goals:

Reported by Evan Raczkowski

Modified Dec 11, 2009. 07:48 pm