Intrasquads Night 2: Bennies Pull Ahead

Sues watch as the Dudes and Bennies face off in a scrum

A week has gone by, and the Michigan men’s rugby intrasquads teams show no sign of slowing down. Coming off an evenly matched first week where many players got their first taste of contact since the Fall 15s season, the theme of the night continued to be parity, as all three teams battled to at least one win or tie. Looking ahead to the final night of intrasquads, the power rankings are as follows.

#3: Dudes

Despite battling the Bennies to a tie, the Dudes were unable to pull ahead in points or point differential this week. After a grueling battle in the two teams traded try for try, the Dudes couldn’t execute their revenge on the Bennies for their blowout win in week 1. Waiting on the sidelines as they watched the Bennies-Sues match, Dudes players discussed where they went wrong, continuing a large huddle into the start of their matchup with the Sues. After finding an early lead, the Dudes gave up too many tries, leading to a late Sues surge to win by less than 5 points. With no wins in week 2, the Dudes worsened their point differential and came last in points. Only trailing the #1 Bennies by 3, the Dudes can win the tournament with a sweep of this weeks games. The Dudes can not afford another loss.

#2: Sues

After a promising start in which they maintained a 1-1 record, the Sues have fallen to the bottom of this week’s point differential for the first time in their decade long dynasty, avoiding the cursed last place by 1 score point. Looking for blood after a Dudes-Bennies tie, the Sues were unprepared for the Bennies’ revenge. Failing to beat the Dudes this week and falling to a Sues comeback in week 1, the Bennies used their speed to the advantage. The Sues couldn’t keep up, but most scores came from the outside, hinting at defensive adjustments by captain Armen Vartanian. Bouncing back from their blowout loss, the Sues battled with the Tommy Hendricks led Dudes for a full fourteen minutes, pulling off another remarkable comeback to keep them in the running for the championship this week. The Sues have now beat both the Bennies and Dudes during the tournament, but are fading fast in the point differential. Their comeback win puts them above the Dudes in point total, but time will tell if they can keep pulling off the comeback.

#1: Bennies

After years of playing second fiddle to the Sues, the Bennies enter the final week at the top of the power rankings. After an unwanted tie with the Dudes, the Bennies took vengeance on the Sues in a dominating blowout victory. Veteran player Joe Ounsley played a key role in the victory, making multiple conversions, many on his own tries. Despite their dominance, the Bennies are only ahead of their rival Sues by 2 points. With the Dudes only trailing by 3, any loss would put the Bennies’ first place ranking at risk. As the days go on, it increasingly looks like teams can only win with a sweep on Thursday.

Full Match Results Below: