Game Recaps of the Duke and Gastonia matches

Sorry for the delay in getting these posts out...

For the first game of our Fall 2010 season, we convoyed over to Durham to face off against Duke in a Friday night game. This first game featured fresh faces at several positions both within the scrum and back line. Returning players such as Dave "Caveman" Watters, and Aaron "Harvard" Craig helped to lead the scrum, while flyhalf Sean "Burrito" McNally led a back line in which Harrison Anthony started his first game at the outside center position.

This game was played in true fall non-MATRIX fashion, with no kicking for points allowed, due to the fact that a massive satellite was placed behind one of the goal posts in order to broadcast the soccer game that was happening that same night.

Duke started hot, and the Guilford defense was slow to respond, giving up a quick try to the Blue Devils. It was a back and forth game, with penalties on both sides of the ball. The Guilford set-pieces were somewhat sloppy, but it is to be expected with a healthy dose of new blood in the scrums and line outs. Guilford's main defensive problem was not coming up to the ball, and Duke was able to move the ball along the line unimpeded. Our boys responded though, with excellent runs and try's by Harry and Sean McNally in the first half.

The second half went in a similar fashion as the first, but Guilford remained close the entire game. Several forwards made strong powerful runs in after halftime, including those by David Watters and Aaron Craig, the latter of which resulted in a try. The quick Duke wing was more limited than he was in the previous game the previous spring, although he still broke off several long runs.

For the fresh blood - Senior Grayson and transfer Junior Randy played with the type of intensity that makes us proud to be ruggers. Overall there were clear things to work on, but Guilford showed good resilience and chemistry as a side playing its first match together.

Final Score :Duke 35 - Guilford 25





In the first home match of the season the Guilford Men played against the Gastonia Men's Rugby club in a late afternooon match during parents weekend. After watching the girls club play a valiant game against UNC-G, our men took the pitch against the larger, older men of the Gastonia club. This game was confirmed late, after our scheduled opponent Elon, realized that they had already scheduled a match for the weekend against Duke.

The Guilford Club was much better prepared for this, our second match playing as a side, although, an injury to Andrew Slater left us without our captain. For this match, Harry Anthony played at fly half, with veteran Sean McNally moving to the outside center position. This new back line allowed McNally to play his natural position at 13, and put Harry at the 10 spot.

In this second game it was Guilford's turn to start quickly, with excellent back line passing bringing a quick try to the Quakers. The Guilford defense responded to the critics, with better movement and spacing throughout the line. Excellent tackling was displayed around the breakdown by Kevin Cumberland, and new scrummy "Baby" Nick Forman. The Guilford lineouts were also much improved and it showed, with the set pieces bringing breakout offense which resulted in a series of tries for the Guilford Side.

This was a good win for Guilford, our first of the 2010 - 2011 season, and showed the team's potential. Our next game is Saturday, October 30 against Pembroke.

Stay posted

Final Score: Guilford 29 - Gastonia 19