On Saturday September 26, Michigan took a short trip over to Michigan State to engage in the great game of rugby. It would prove to be a game of defense that lay ahead, and Michigan was surely ready to bring it.
Top 23 Match
The first 10 minutes of the game were fairly even with both sides making strong tackles and keeping the other from making any large breaks. Michigan was able to put a good drive on though, and forced a penalty deep in State’s own end that allowed Michigan to kick for points. Tohy Rakatovololona sails the ball through the uprights and Michigan takes the initial lead 3-0. In the minutes that followed, Michigan did a lot of kicking to bring a little edge to the game, but like deja vu from the Notre Dame match, a kick from Andre Cargill goes off the back of another player and the ball shoots up into the air. When it comes down it lands in the hands of a State player and he makes an easy 40 meter to score a try. The kick is good and State has the lead 3-7. State had big break from one of their props on the following kickoff, but was stopped short and fortunately lost the ball forward as he went down. Michigan moved the ball wide and Tohy kicked and chased. Unfortunately as he tackled the runner he had kick it to, he landed on awkwardly on his shoulder and dislocated it. He was out the for remainder of the game, but fortunately it was popped back in later on the sideline. Senior and team captain Zack Burns moved to the flyhalf position from outside center and Ron Marine subbed in for outside center. For the next 20 minutes State and Michigan battled back and forth with plenty of scrummaging, and state was able to sneak a try around the edge after a scrum. The conversion is good, and state leads 3-14. Fortunately a big break from Zack Burns and David Caputo put wing Matt Kasten in a position to score, so he did. Cargill nailed the conversion and Michigan had the lead back 10-14.
An inspiring speech from head coach Brandon Sparks lit a fire under the rear ends of Michigan, and it showed in the very first scrum of the half. State took a scrum center due to a kickoff that did not go 10 meters, but Michigan showed their physical dominance and pushed the scrum back and won the ball. This small victory set the pace for the rest of the half. Michigan maintained strong possession and had good breaks on the wings to gain territory, but couldn’t finish and possession was being lost to penalties and counter rucks. State could barely make it into Michigan’s half of the field before Michigan would take back possession or force errors. The first score came 15 minutes into the second half from Matt Kasten, who ran a hard line inside from the wing, sliced and diced his way through the defense and scored on the opposite corner of the try zone. The conversion from Cargill was missed. Michigan leads 15-14, tight game folks. With 20 minutes remaining, Michigan marched the ball down the field into States own redzone, just a couple meters from the try line, the ball was lost to a knockon. Fortunately our forwards had fires a brewin’ in their bellies, and pushed states scrum back and got the ball back as well. A couple phases of forward pounding later and 8-man Jeremy Reid touched the ball down to score. The conversion from Cargill is good and Blue leads 22-14. Michigan maintained control the rest of the game until the final whistle. Michigan wins 22-14.
Top 23 Roster
1: Lee Moore
2:Jackson Wagner
3: Nick Azzopardi
4: Jesse Fenno
5: Jamie Demers
6: Travis Sawyer
7: Chening Duker
8: Jeremy Reid
9: Albert Foo
10: Tohy Rakatovololona
11: David Caputo
12: Cole Van Harn
13: Zach Burns
14: Matt Kasten
15: Andre Cargill
16: Sam Cipriani
17: Kyle Gruebnau
18: Evan Rourke
19: Jason Anthony
20: Guy Burke
21: Lucas Mallery
22: Ron Marine
23: Colin Walters
Top 23 Full Match
Top 23 Game Photos:
Academy Match:
Following the excitement of the first match, the Academy side took the field eager to follow up with another vicotry. Michigan hit the ground running with an early try from some pick and goes by the forwards. Conversion missed and Michigan leads 5-0. Kevin Watt made a 40 meter shortly after for a try, shedding some tackles along the way. The conversion was missed again and Michigan leads 10-0. State made their first score, but do not convert. Michigan leads 10-5. State scored again and briefly took the lead 10-12, but it was short lived. More trys were scored by Jason Anthony off of a pick and go, a quick tap to burst through the defense by Guy Burke, and a diving try by Lucas Mallery to slam the ball down in the corner. Michigan dominated winning the game with a final score of 31-5.
Academy Lineup:
1: Sam Cipriani
2: Kyle Gruebnau
3: Alex Carson
4: Ben Cotsarelis
5: Robert Dunne
6: Will Biel
7:Jake Bailey
9: Guy Burke
10: Justin Malin
11: Alex Bourdeau
12: Lucas Mallery
13: Kevin Watt
14: Colin Walters
15: Uygar Ozdemir
16: Alex Adrian
17: Evan Rourke
18: Ryan Hart
19: JP Borjas
21: Raj Singh
22: Lyric Kleber
23: Ron Marine
Second Half of Academy Match:
