The season has been very good for the University of South Carolina Rugby team. They have come out the gate on fire. They debuted their Fall season with a game against Keystone Rugby Conference, James Madison University, with a 62-14 win. They have since continued their win streak with wins over University of Georgia, 43-8, and University of Kentucky, 66-5.
South Carolina looks to take their competition to the next stage as they vie for their third consecutive Southeastern Rugby Conference Championship. Listen to this interview coach Mark Morris had with Gift “GiftTime” Egbelu prior to the season starting.
Team Name: University of South Carolina Men’s Rugby
Coaches
Head Coach XVs & Director of Rugby – Mark Morris
Head Coach Rugby 7s & Asst. Head Coach XVs – Steven Darnell
Asst. Coach – Geoff Mason, Sam Roller, Kevin Fronz, Jim Repka, & Avery Darnell
Record last year
2014 XVs Season: 12-4; SEC Champions
2015 Rugby 7s season: 21-3; 5 tournaments, 3 Cups, 1 Bowl, 1 Plate
Returning Players
45 returning to team, 20 of 23 A side Starters; with the addition of over 40 freshmen and walk-ons.
Sean Overa-1, Ben Mather-3, Zach Mullineaux-4, Dana Corcoran-6,Jared Maghill-7,Mike Mahon-8,Brian Keown-9, Micheal Rudzinsky-10, Thomas Coar-11, Sean Barnes-12, Christian Harrell-13, Brett Deoy-14, Tim Hamill-15, James Whipper Resv. 12, Nicholas Pagel Resv. 10 ,Alex Smolen Resv 9 , Lucas Paff resv. 11, Jake Phillips Resv 1,Rowan Prown Resv.7 , Dylan Blackburn Resv. 3.
Team philosophy
Our team enjoys playing a free flowing offense that operates best on speed and ball skills. Overall the starting 23 all run well in space and are very good at off loading and keeping the ball moving. We believe in using quick ball at the rucks and keeping the ball in hand versus kicking away our procession. Although we are not huge in the pack we are very technical and get our set pieces accomplished at over 90%.
Defensively we proud ourselves on our conditioning and play a very aggressive style and push other teams to make mistakes and capitalize with turnover ball and great tackling.
Schedule
September 5, 2015 – James Madison University (62-14 W) F
September 12, 2015 – @ University of Georgia (43-8 W)
September 19, 2015 – University of Kentucky (66-5 W)
October 3, 2015 – @ Vanderbilt University
October 9, 2015 – @ Coastal Carolina
October 17, 2015 – @Auburn University
October 31, 2015 – University of Tennessee
November 7, 2015 – Mississippi State University