10th Annual Alumni Match

And so it began. With a healthy showing of over thirty alumni readying for kickoff, the captains for the alumni and the college engaged in the annual battle; are we playing four, 15 minute, quarters or regular halves? With Ian “Sean White” Mueller in no mindset for losing, he tried to dismiss the Alumni’s kind offer of playing quarters and became irate when Logan “Oh my Ribs” Honeycutt chimed in that he was good with eighths, and disgruntled he settled for two, thirty minute, halves. But that was a choice that he would come to regret.

The alumni had been descending on Charleston for a few days; Jeff “Jazzy” Siedel was so excited he turned up on Wednesday. By Friday night the alumni were getting up to full strength, announcing to the town that they were back with the finesse that only the rugby team can achieve decked out in social jerseys.

While tucking the children into bed, Sean White read a fairytale to his young team:

The alumni are out on the town as I post this, I hope you are not. Some good news, there are missing several of their best players and we stand a real chance of beating them tomorrow. I just listened to them threaten me with death on the field for the last two and a half hours so lets go out there and SHOCK THE WORLD TOMORROW!”

With a brief reminder from uncle Andy “Wandy” Evans that “you were threatened in other ways, not death”, the thoughts of the alumni returned to the important issues at hand.

Festivities continued and some pressing matters were concluded; with this being the tenth anniversary of the club, we took the steps to cement our first ten years through ratifying the Constitution of the club (available on the website). Elections followed as did the inaugural induction to the Hall of Fame with Brad “Box” Burns and Iljia Velkovic becoming the first two names emblazoned on the plaque.  Much merriment continued on into the night and then, with the dawning of the rugby day, we took to the field to teach the children a lesson.

Convinced that they were in a better position, having secured halves over eighths, the College proceeded to lose the toss, which would become the first of many losses that day. The alumni kicked off and after a tepid start, the fortitude of the alumni soon kicked in. Jon “Head/Fatty/Grandpapa” Hansen made some powerful drives, breaking tackles and advancing the team up the field. Strong rucking from the forwards, who included Steve “The Animal” Leamon, Greg “IDF” Fronda, and Joey “I’ve been sharpening my elbows” Ingham led to some early scores, and within no time the alumni had built up a solid 17-0 lead. Kicks from Grandpa “Pip’s forgotten his real name” Grandpa and tries from Austin CoonGeorge “George Play’s wing now?” Woolstan and Lawson “Judge” Ballard quickly racked up the score and by half it was turning into a rout.

The second half picked up where the first left off. Quick scores by a host of players, including Wade “Easter” Berreth, Paul “I’m half the man I was” Fowler, and Rupert “Pip” Munro finalized the result. With the sound of Logan wailing about his femur the alumni rounded the game off with a convincing 46-0 win.

While the score may show a very one-sided game, the effort and potential shown by the college was very encouraging. No-one can say that this isn’t a rebuilding year, but the effort and raw talent shown by the team is a great sight. In the coming year they will be able to learn more about the game, and develop their abilities to the level that they show through effort. There’s a lot of potential in this club, and at the first major milestone of the club, it’s great to see that the team will carry on the great traditions of before.

The alumni association will be doing its part to try to develop this and we hope that all alumni will continue to be actively involved in the team. Thanks to everyone who helped make this weekend possible, from the organizers on the alumni and college teams, to everyone who paid dues. Two people deserve a special thank you for taking a leadership role in the financial development of the team; Sam Cook and Philip “Flip” Levi, both went above and beyond with significant donations – thank you to them. We’ve got a bright future ahead for the club – the first ten years were a great success – here’s to the next ten!

Rupert “Pip” Munro — Alumni Association Fundraising Chair

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2012 Fall vs Coastal Carolina Photo Album

On a sunny eighty degree day, the Cougars kicked off their Fall season against their old foes, Coastal Carolina. It was an intense match, with lots of hard hitting and yellow cards to both sides. New flanker Darius Rivers running guys over multiple times.  Coastal jumped out in front with two tries thanks to poor passing in the backline, which was better remedied in the first half. The Cougars got on the board finally after a long kick by fullback Ian Mueller gave Charleston the field position they needed to smash the ball over the line.When Coastal was called for a penalty Prop Dylan Alford demanded to finish the job himself, which he did so with force. New Flyhalf Tim O’Donnel made the conversion, and the Cougars were down 7-14. In the second half, a lack of fitness became apparent, and Coastal was able to break through and score another try thanks to a succession of penalties. But tje Cougars came back again, making two huge goaline stands and scoring two more tries. Dylan Alford got his second, and former captain George Woolston added a third with incredible ball play between the new wing, Tyler Williams. Tim then converted one of those two kicks, score 21-19. However, the better fit coastal managed to get one last try at the end of the game, final score 26-19.

Man of the Match: Dylan Alford for an all-around great game a prop.

Dick of the Day: Darius Rivers full telling the ref that his call was “bull” and then getting thrown in the bin.

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2012 Fall SoCon Tournament Wilmington, NC Photo Album

The College brought an extremely young squad to the 4th annual Southern Rugby Conference Tournament, and finished a disappointing 1 and 4. The first game was a relatively easy win over the Citadel, 19-5. Two tries were scored by Ian Mueller and one by Chris Natoli. Mueller converted two of three. The Lander game was a tough loss, 22-15, as Lander scored on the very last play of the game after picking up a knock-on inside their own 22. Tries were scored by Ian Mueller, Tim O’Donnell and Chris Natoli. Mueller missed two conversions, O’Donnell missed one. The third game was played against Furman, who won by a deceptively wide 10 point margin (17-7). Hooker Chris Natoli suffered a broken rib and punctured lung in the game. However, illegal substitutions by Furman were duly noted after the game and a protest was lodged which docked Furman of a try, final official score 10-7. Freshman Winger Will Shanahan earned his zulu and O’Donnell converted the kick. The Cougars then faced undefeated Coastal, and once again lost on the last play, final score 12-7. The lone try was scored by Mueller and conversion made by O’Donnell. Thanks to the successful protest, the Cougars actually advanced to the Championship Bracket the next day in the last place slot. (They allowed the least amount of points scored compared to the three other teams who also went 1 and 3). They faced UNC Greensboro, the first seed (4-0) and lost 24-5. Once again, a deceptively wide margin, it was 10 to 5 at half time and UNCG’s fourth try was scored on the last play of the game after a questionable penalty for diving in the ruck. The lone Cougar try was scored off a penalty quick-tap by Mueller. UNCG would go on to defeat Coastal in the Championship game. Considering the level of inexperience on the team, it was not a terrible weekend. There were only four returning players from Spring 2012, and one of them broke his rib in the Furman game. Three other members had high-school rugby experience, and the remaining 7 who accompanied the team had none.

Men of the Match: Center/Prop Darius Rivers and Prop Taylor Tober for playing outstanding defense in their first ever rugby games.

Dicks of the Day: Ian Mueller and Tim O’Donnell. Mueller vomited three separate times due to heat exhaustion and dehydration. Although in the Coastal game he chased his own kick 80m down field, forced the Coastal Fullback out of bounds, proceeded to begin throwing up,  then kept it down long enough to score a try before collapsing in the try zone. O’Donnell simply made poor decisions and paid for it after the Citadel game with several minutes of violent puking.

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Summer Recruiting 2012

Monday, June 11th 11:30-2:00

Thursday, June 14th 11:30-2:00

Monday, June 18th 11:30-2:00

Thursday, June 21st 11:30-2:00

Monday, June 25th 11:30-2:00

Monday, July 9th 11:30-2:00

Thursday, July 12th 11:30-2:00

Monday, July 16th 11:30-2:00

Monday, August 13th 11:30-2:00

Thursday, August 16th 11:30-2:00

 

To all current C of C rugers that are in Charleston for the summer, as you know we lost a few key players last season. These are the dates of orientation for incoming freshman. There is an information fair on these dates starting at 1130 and ending at 2. We need as many rugers there as possible for recruiting, this is how we fill the spots for the players we lost. Even if you cant show up for all of them try to show up for a few. We got to get the word out there that we are the best damn club sport at C of C. I will be there for all of them and I have a 9 to 5 job so I know others can make it. I’m not going to bother with having you guys tell me when you can be there just man up because you love the team and get your asses out there to recruit. We will start setting up the recruiting table at 11 its located in-between Coming and St. Phillip on George St. Its only 2 hours out of the day so support the team and come help recruit. Smitty

Read More Fall 2012