On Saturday, March 15 Eastern Michigan University’s Men’s rugby club traveled the short way to Ann Arbor for some developmental Spring 15s rugby. It was a good day for both clubs as each were given opportunities to grow and learn. UMRFC loves to have good competition near to home, and as such the club is always welcoming towards nearby clubs that are looking to improve and learn from 15s games in the spring. If you would like to view the match for yourself, as well as some intrasquad 7s play from our dedicated 7s team, check out our Youtube channel.
Albert Foo breaks away for Michigan
Each team only fielded 14 players as EMU was plagued by injuries at the time and did not have enough for a full 15. The first half saw a great deal of offense from Michigan, with Eastern fighting back, but often getting outmatched by the overall more experienced Wolverine team. The scoring started off with a try from Drew Vecchio and conversion from Andre Cargill. Eastern responded fairly quickly however with a try of their own, missing the conversion to make it a 7-5 game. Each side stiffened up their defense after the tries and it wasn’t until the 20 minute mark that Cargill would burst through the Eastern line to speed his way to a second try and conversion for the Wolverines. The Maize and Blue would stack on two more tries rapidly in the next 8 minutes with Cargill converting both to give Michigan a commanding 28-5 lead. Zack “Junior” Burns added a try of his own to the tally soon after this burst of scoring but Cargill could not convert this time. EMU showed they had grit and weren’t going to roll over however, and responded with a dominant run through the Michigan line to score with one minute left in the half. Vecchio would not let the half end on that note however and in the final play of the half he drove his way into the try zone to score with no conversion to bring the score to 38-10 at the half.
The second half saw similar play to the first, with Michigan showing a continuing ability to run the ball and control the pace of the game. Brennen Arnett would start the scoring off for Michigan with a try three minutes into the half as he took the ball off a pick and fell into the try zone. The sophomore Zack Burns followed this up with a try of his own on a speedy run to score one minute later. Burns (So.) could not convert either try. EMU continued to show glimpses of brilliance with another solid and dominant run going through the Michigan defense to make the score 48-15. Vecchio continued his dominant performance with two more tries, with the string of Michigan missed conversions continuing with two more misses making the score 58-15. Rookie Jeff Krasnow scored his first career try with an impressive 30m run but the conversion was missed once again. Rookie Soroush Labuf would also score his first career 15s try with a speedy run around the edge. Eastern responded with another strong run as the clock hit the eight minute mark, to bring the game to 68-20. Vecchio would then close the game out on a strong Michigan note adding another try to his impressive total and converting it no less to bring the final score to 75-20.
1. Nick Azzopardi
2. Travis Sawyer
3. Brennen Arnett
4. Nick Mattes
5. Drew Vecchio
6. Jeff Krasnow
7. Jason Anthony
8. Zack Burns (Fr.)
9. Albert Foo
10. Andre Cargill
12. Nick Fehrman
13. Soroush Labuf
14. Aymen Maktari
15. Jackson Wagner
16. Zack Burns (So.)
Tries: Vecchio 6′, 51′, 55′, 77′, Cargill 20′, 27′, Azzopardi 23′, Foo 29′, Burns (Fr.) 35′, Arnett 43′, Burns (So.) 44′, Krasnow 60′, Labuf 67′,
Conversions: Cargill 6′, 20′, 23′, 27′, Vecchio 77′
