“I get knocked on, but I get up again”
A large and passionate crowd of Michigan students, alumni, and parents made the trip down to Philadelphia, PA to cheer on the Wolverines as they competed in the Collegiate Rugby Championship held at PPL Park. The boys on the squad have been training hard ever since January, and finished the weekend with a result to be proud of.
Day 1: Saturday May 3
It was no secret that we were one of the least-favored in our pool, considered amongst some as the “pool of death” since it consisted of Arkansas State and UCLA, who were favored to make it to the championship, and Texas.
The first game was against Arkansas State, who claim to have not last a game since 2012. Michigan unfortunately fell to them 17-5. No matter, it was a good performance against a strong team and Michigan would only only do better as the day wore on.
[Arkansas State would later lose to Arizona, so I guess all they can claim now is “we haven’t lost a game since 2012 except for that one time”]
The second, and most exciting game was a steel cage chutes and ladders match against UCLA so epic, even John Cena would be proud. UCLA was strongly favored to beat us, and it looked as though it was going to come true when the first half ended 12-0. However, with the fans cheering nonstop, the Boys in Blue found the true meaning of wolverine-ness within themselves and presented a huge upset to the arena as they closed out the game 17-12 that left the stadium roaring, especially in the Michigan section.
The last game of the day was against Texas, and Michigan proved once again that they are a force to be reckoned with with a definitive 29-10 victory. Fitness is what won that game, as Texas had their hands on their knees while Michigan was busy dicing up their defense. #StuFit is real, people.
Michigan ended the Day 2-1, second place in our pool behind Arkansas State, and due to point differential were able to make it into the quarterfinals as the 8th seed.
Day 2: Sunday May 31
Because we were the 8th seed, this meant that we would be facing off against the first seed, and surprise surprise, its Cal. Unperturbed, Michigan was ready to take the field, hoping for another California upset. Unfortunately it was just not in the cards and Cal defeated us 31-0, but they boys walked off the field with their heads held high. We reached the top 8, and all we can say is that we’re proud, and it’s great to be a Michigan Wolverine.
For more and less biased information, here are some links…
CRC Results:
http://www.usasevenscrc.com/2015-collegiate-rugby-championship-fixtures-and-results/
CRC History/Full Writeup:
http://www.rugbytoday.com/7s/collegiate-rugby-championship-has-forever-changed-rugby-america
