Tour Report: Scotland 1999

by Sean Heaney

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The UNC rugby team traveled to Scotland in Spring of 1999 for its first international test matches in two years.

The team then chowed down on some tailgate food and started on the free drinks from host Craig McDonald's family's tailgate. After watching the end of England and Wales on the Satelite feed in a nearby tent, the squad headed back to downtown for a night of Edinbourough after hours.

Sunday, March 7th
Match 1 vs. Craig's old high school alumni squad, The Fet-Lor RFC.
The other team had never played together before, had too many backs, and some were very old. A chance for UNC rugby you might think? Nope. We were handed one of our worst thrashings in a few years, 60-5, or so. No one really kept score after 40 but 60 seems just about right. Sophomore rookie Sean Heaney took home man of the match by scoring the Tar Heels only try. A few things the Fettes boys praised us for was our intensity, and our drive. But our egos were bruised, our confidence waning, and our bodies a wreck. (Not completely from rugby mind you) We were calm that night, though for the rugby squad, that might not be saying much. We were determined to perform better the next day.

Monday March 8th
Match 2 vs. Kirkcauldy
Now up to play some farmers boys north of Edinborough in the county of Fife, in a town named Kirkcauldy. (pronounced 'Kirk-Caudy') We had a hard training session that afternoon from Craig's high school coach, urging us to stay low as we ran, and to remember our fundamentals; play clean rugby and play smart rugby, no fancy stuff. Kirkcaldy. It was a perfect setting. A cloudy, lightly raining night with the temperature about 40 degrees fairenheit. The wind was blowing strongly over the field and rugby was in the air. We were greeted at the clubhouse door by a 6'4'' 230 pound 8-man, and his compatriots, but we were not daunted. The fire had been lit in our loss the day before, we were a team with a desire to play like we'd never played before. With that in mind, Sophomore Craig McDonald deeply moved and inspired us with a prematch speech reminiscent of the former British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill (pardon the Englishman comparison Craig). We ran out onto the field, ready to take on the world. And then play we did, like we never had before. It was a tough match, both sides fighting for their country with honor, the Scottish boys visably stunned at our skill (At least from this prop's rememberence of the game).

We went into the half trailing but feeling good. We knew that if we played our rugby, Carolina Rugby, we could beat those boys. And in the second half, senior and team Co-President Mark Beavers took over the game. He broke through the whole Scottish side to score a try from outside the 22, and began the Tar Heel rally. With Mark's unbelievable play, and the rest of the team at peak performance, Carolina moved within 7 points with 15 minutes left. The feeling was unbelievable To be that close, against a team with players who had played their whole lives; it was a moment in time. And even though we ended up losing, for a few brief minutes there, we all expierienced something few people do. We were at a level that we never thought we could have been a day, nor a month earlier. All it took was us to believe in ourselves. Words cannot describe the feeling we had, as we sang the star-spangled banner after the match and took pictures on the field. We had lost, it was raining, it was cold, we were all muddy, and few of us had ever felt happier in our lives.

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Created Jan 03, 2006. 08:00 am
Modified Jan 03, 2006. 08:00 am