Mother’s 7’s team won big at Towson, taking 3 points and the overall lead in 7s standing in the conference. We (MR) had a chance to speak with Mother’s Rugby Head Coach Tyler Stephens (TS) after the match:

MR: What did you think of the day overall?

TS: The day was a great first start to the season to highlight the areas of improvement we need to work on, and to see what we are really doing well. The team really showed the payoff of how hard I’ve been pushing them (and how well they’ve responded) the last 4 weeks with their physicality and ability to offload in contact.

MR: What are some areas for improvement?

TS: We were very exposed on our gameplay during kickoffs, so this week we will be focusing a lot on that.

MR: What are you looking for next weekend?

TS: We plan to continue the groundwork we’ve accomplished, and keep our eyes on the task at hand, (which is) winning tournaments!

Match Report Below:

Mother’s Rugby (UMW) won the first CCRC 7’s Tournament of the season on Saturday UMW traveled to Towson University to play in the first 7’s tournament of the season. The day was bitter cold but UMW fought through it in five tough matches going 4-1 for the day. First match of the day was against a very tough Virginia Tech team. VT put one unconverted try on the board in the first minute of play forcing UMW to ramp up their play. They clinched the win, 31-12, thanks to smart decisions resulting in points scored by Bradlee Nicholls (2 tries), Joseph Callery (2 tries), and Mattson Bueche.

Next match up was against the always dominant James Madison University who lived up to their name pressing UMW hard at all times. Phil Harrison was able to put one unconverted try in, but with JMU’s consistent ball movement and strong defense, UMW lost 22-5.

The third match of the day saw UMW facing off against the University of South Carolina. Knowing that UMW had to win the match, and win big, in order to place in the top four in the finals, the team pressed hard from the start! UMW raced across the field executing the work they put in over the last three weeks of training to win 29-5. Freshman Seamus Brennan scored the first try at the 00:35 mark quickly followed by Bradlee Nichols, Harry Masters, and Justin Ford. UMW’s Jack Levine scored with a cross field kick facilitated by himself that ended with him taking the ball from a well timed offload to put in the last try of the match.

With that high scoring victory, UMW faced off against Georgetown who was undefeated in pool play going into the finals. Georgetown immediately started the match off with a converted try at the 00:27 mark. From that second on, UMW went to work putting 8 consecutive tries on the board. Lewis Grant scored the first try followed quickly by Harry Masters (2 tries), Phil Harrison (2 tries), Aidan Gallagher (2 tries), and lastly GianCarlo Pavan at the 13:30 mark.

The championship match put UMW up against JMU who they had previously lost to earlier in the day. Knowing that this was going to be a very tough match, especially with injuries suffered throughout the day, UMW stepped up in a big way. In a very tough fought match pressing both teams defenses to the limit, UMW went into the half down 12-5 with the only try scored by Joseph Callery. The second half proved to be a defensive game as no tries were scored until the last minute of the match when Dan Harrison came in with fresh legs and ran through two JMU opponents to score a try that was successfully converted by Aidan Gallagher putting the score at 12-12 to end it. As it was the championship match, UMW proceeded into a sudden death overtime. Losing the coin toss meant that UMW was kicking off and knew they would have to work even harder to regain the ball. On the whistle signaling kick off, Alec Charoenthep was able to get behind the tap back from JMU and gain UMW the much needed possession. From that moment on it was a full blown offensive charge! The last play of the match found UMW on the 5 meter line for a scrum. Ever resourceful 7’s Captain Harry Masters picked the ball from UMW’s winning scrum and ran it in for the last try of the day. UMW won the tournament over JMU with a score of 17-12.

Up Next

Mother’s  7s head to Salisbury with games beginning at 9 am 

Mother’s developmental 15’s out of action until March 16th when Christendom visits at 1 pm.

Resources

Conference Standings – Click Here