On Saturday October 31, the Wolverines spent their Halloween on a bus to a from Champagne, Illinois to take on the Fighting Illini. The started out quite close and was a nail-biter at half, but in our usual Michigan rugby way, we finished strong and pulled out a commanding win at the end.
Top 23:
Illinois was first to score on a line break and dotted the ball down between the posts. The conversion kick was good and Michigan started at a deficit 0-7. The next 10 minutes were spent in Illinois’ half of the field with the Wolverines maintaining ball possession and gaining ground, but Illinois’ tough defense was keeping them from making an try scoring breaks. A quick tap and pass from scrum half Albert Foo to Chening Duker because of a diving over penalty allowed Chening to exploit a gap in their defense and get Michigan close to the try. Several phases of ball movement later, and Duker was able to finish up and pick the ball up from a ruck, diving into the try zone. The conversion kick from Tohy Rakatovololona is good and Michigan ties it back up 7-7. Illinois then spent the next 10 minutes in Michigan’s half, making good offloads and putting pressure on the Wolverine defense. Eventually the Illini are awarded a penalty kick for an obstruction call, but the ball does not make it through the posts. Illinois get very near scoring after they were awarded a questionable penalty and kicked for touch. The Wolverine defense fought hard on the try line and kept out Illinois and drove the ball back another 30 meters until one of their players knocked it on. The ball went directly into the hands of fullback Andre Cargill, and he booted the ball away. Tohy put on an excellent chase on the wing and the bounce from the ball was oh so favorable. It went directly into Tohy’s hands. Two tacklers from behind tried to get Tohy but he slipped them like he was a greased up wrestler, and strode his way into the try zone. The conversion doesn’t quite make and the Wolverines lead 12-7. The end of the second half saw an awful lot of possession change in Michigan’s half of the field. Whether it be lineout, scrum, or poach, it was all happening. before time was up Illinois slipped though Michigan’s defense on a wide ball and got a try in the corner. The conversion was missed and the score at was 12-12.
The first 15 minutes of the second half were very physical. Both sides would trudge deep into the other’s territory before a turnover would prevent a try and send the ball back down the other way. Finally Michigan was able to hammer in a try from some strong runs from the forwards. The ball was dished out to Andre Cargill who broke the defensive line and offloaded to Zack Burns who finished and got into the try zone. The kick from Tohy is good and Michigan takes back the lead 19-12, but this is just the beginning. The real turning point in the game came just several minutes later. Cole Van Harn blew up a ruck and tackled a player as he was taking the ball out. Chening Duker poached and Illinois committed a high tackle on him. The ball was quickly spun wide by Foo, and wing Matt Kasten made a phenomenal break, speeding but Illinois defenders. He was brought down just 15 meters short, but popped the ball up from the ground to his support to maintain possession. Slowly but surely Michigan gained meters until Chening Duker was able to break through and score another try. Kick from Tohy is good and Michigan leads 26-12. Soon after, Kasten attempts to kick to himself on the sideline to get a try. The ball stays in bounds surprisingly, but the Illinois defender touched down the ball first to get a free drop kick from the 22. Illinois kicks into the hands of Kasten, who swings to Cargill. Cargill slips through the Illinois line with ease and support from Chening Duker, Audrey points and directs Duker, which trips up the deep Illinois defenders and Cargill scores the try himself. The conversion from Tohy narrowly misses and Michigan still leads 31-12. On the very next play, Cargill receives the kickoff and has support from Duker AGAIN. This time Cargill offloads and Duker puts up some more points for the wolverines. Tohy makes the conversion and Michigan leads 38-12. Just 5 minutes later a beautiful set of offloads from leads to another Michigan try. 8 man Jeremy Reid broke the line and passed to flanker Jesse Fenno who ran for 20 meters. Just as he was getting tackled Fenno hucks a pass to Kasten, who trots into the try zone for some points. Conversion is good and Michigan leads 45-12. Illinois still had some fight in them though, as they marched their way towards to Michigan try line. The problem was that Michigan still had more fight, and kept them out until a knock-on was forced. When Illinois tried to swing the ball wide later on, a lofty pass gave Van Harn a beautiful opportunity to blow up a player as he was catching the ball. The ball tumbled on the ground after contact, and Matt Kasten scooped it up and ran for 70 meters with the burners at full blast to score another try. Tohy nails the kick and Michigan leads 52-12. For the remaining 5 minutes of the game, Michigan played solid defense to keep the fighting Illini out of the try zone and maintained ball possession until time was out and kicked it out of bounds. Final score, 52-12 Michigan.
Lineup:
1: Lee Moore
2: Jackson Wagner
3: Nick Azzopardi
4: Mike Shay
5: Jamie Demers
6: Travis Sawyer
7: Chening Duker
8: Jeremy Reid
9: Albert Foo
10: Zack Burns
11: Tohy Rakatovololona
12: Cole Van Harn
13: Ron Marine
14: Matt Kasten
15: Andre Cargill
16: Sam Cipriani
17: Evan Rourke
18: Jesse Fenno
19: Nick Mattes
20: Tomer Chen
21: Kevin Watt
22: Cooper Smart
23: Colin Walters
Academy:
Following the strong second half performance by the A-side, the Academy side was energized and ready to play. Michigan received the opening kickoff and the teams traded possession back and forth until the Illinois massive 8-man dragged a few Michigan defenders into the try zone and touched it down. The conversion was good and at 13 minutes into the game Illinois lead 0-7. Not long after, Michigan played some good defense and forced a turnover that wing Colin Walters turns into a try. Justin “Mouse” Malin makes the conversion and the score is 7-7 after fifteen minutes. Another long period of back-and-forth rugby that featured a great break by Inside Centre Lucas Mallery led to Illinois scoring a try in the corner after Michigan was unable to cover the weak side in defense. The conversion is no good and Illinois leads 7-12 at the end of the first 30-minute half. The second half started very much like the first half, with Michigan playing mostly on their own half of the field until they finally broke and Illinois scored on a pick-and-go from the try line. The conversion is good and Illinois leads 7-19 after thirty-eight minutes of play. Michigan plays great defense from the kickoff and forces a turnover. Michigan maintainied possession until freshman wing Kevin Watt takes a quick tap off of a penalty and gets deep into Illinois territory, where Mallery scores two phases later. Malin makes the conversion and the score is 14-19 after forty-two minutes. Michigan botches the ensuing kickoff and is forced to play defense until they force Illinois out-of-bounds. Michigan is awarded a penalty and Fly-half Tomer Chen takes the quick tap and makes a huge break before offloading it to lock Nick “Crawdad” Mattes. Mattes takes it all the way to the five meter line. A few phases later, outside cente Juan Aguirre punches it in. Malin makes the conversion and Michigan leads 21-19 with a little under twenty minutes remaining. The following twenty minutes were spent going back-and-forth, with the Wolverines getting close to scoring on two separate occasions. Michigan then committed a knock-on inside their own twenty-two meter line that set up a huge scrum for the last play. Dubbed the “Moment of the game” by coach Brandon Sparks, the Michigan forwards buckled down and made a huge push that resulted in a free kick awarded to the Wolverines. Tomer Chen sealed the victory for UMRFC by kicking the ball out-of-bounds. Final score is 21-19 UMRFC.
-By Alex Carson
Lineup:
1: Sam Cipriani
2:Evan Rourke
3: Alex Carson
4: Nick Mattes
5: Ben Cotsarelis
6: Jake Bailey
7: Will Biel
8: Jason Anthony
9: Justin Malin
10: Tomer Chen
11: Alex Bourdeau
12: Luke Mallery
13: Juan Aguirre
14: Colin Walters
15: Cooper Smart
16: Will Coleman
17: Rob McMahon-Gibson
18: Alex Adrian
19: Alex Meilstrup
20: Raj Singh
21: Mare Salhaney
