Mother’s nearly took down Navy on Saturday. The showdown of top Mid-Atlantic teams lived up to its billing for 80 minutes. UMW jumped out to a 14-0 lead thanks to a 21st minute try by Jordan Sacks after several crushing runs by Matt Gordon and a late Matt Gordon try before the half after excellent defensive play by UMW.
Out of the break, down 14-0, Navy clawed back into the game scoring 12 points from two tries. The physicality of the second half was tremendous. UMW waned down the strecth. A conceded penalty in the 68th minute would be converted for a game winning 3 by Andrew Malick of Navy.
RugbyToday.com quoted Navy head coach Gavin Hickey, “The emphasis [in the second half] was on physicality and accuracy in execution. We were getting into the right positions, but our accuracy in the final third was letting us down. The boys understood that and as Midshipmen, they accepted the challenge and rose to the challenge.”
UMW head coach Min Sae Chae said, “In the last 20 minutes especially, Navy’s fitness was better. We just didn’t play our pattern. Our game plan was to play in the 15-meter channels as much as possible and we barely did at all. We got into their game playing in the middle of the field really physically and that is their bread and butter. We wore down because we didn’t play smart.”
