This past weekend, the Wolfpack traveled to Atlanta, GA to play at a neutral site for their South quarterfinals playoff game. The Wolfpack was the home team, but due to South regulations, since Ole Miss would have to travel more than 400 miles to reach Raleigh, the neutral site had to be selected. Atlanta Old White men’s club graciously hosted both teams, set up the field and provided a social afterwards. Both teams had the previous week off for spring break, meaning no practice for a week. A sloppy match was to be expected, and that is what ensued.

Unfortunately due to the timing of the match, both teams had trouble with getting their usual personnel to Atlanta. Ole Miss said they had a few players with connecting flights that were delayed, not allowing them to participate in the match, thus, they could only field 14 for the match. The Wolfpack were also missing some starters, although they still only had 15 men at the field.

The game started at 3pm, with the warmest weather the Wolfpack had to play in yet this season. The match also started 15 on 14, although this changed shortly. Since the Rebels could not field a full side at the start, they did not have any subs, and at one point in the first half the game was 15 on 12. Will Teague started the Wolfpacks scoring with a penalty kick from the 22. The first try for the Wolfpack was put up by a player who stepped up due to missing personnel, Brett Simpson from the wing. The Wolfpack ended up piling on trys, Although the Rebels never quit. The Rebels actually scored a try in the last minute of the game, showing their drive until the end, although they were unlucky with their personnel and injuries. The Wolfpack also received two injuries, and by the end of the game it was 12 on 12 rugby. The Rebels had very physical forwards play, which kept them in the game for the duration, although the Wolfpack still prevailed for a 41-22 victory.

Following the match, Atlanta Old White hosted a social for both teams. At the social, we followed in Ole Miss’s after-match tradition of having each team select the man of the match from the other team. Ole Miss selected Bryan Maxwell from the Wolfpack, who played fullback for the day. The Wolfpack had a slew of notable players who stepped up to the circumstances well. Major recognition should be given to Brett Simpson, who in his first a side start, and still in his first year, scored two trys from the wing. David McCallister, also a freshman and new to rugby, got his first a side start and scored a try himself. Jon Rogers, who has usually played prop for the Wolfpack, with the self proclaimed nickname “prop-magic”, stepped in at second row and played a great game. Greg Hesler filled the shoes at scrum half, with an exceptional command of the field. The usual players, the guys that show up every week, also played well.

With the win, the Wolfpack will travel to Murfreesboro, TN for the South Final Four tournament this coming weekend. NC State will take on GA Tech for their game on Saturday, March 27. With a win on Saturday, NC State will have clinched a spot in the South Division 2 Sweet Sixteen tournament in Sanford, FL, since the south gets two spots. The game on Sunday will determine the seeding for the sweet sixteen tournament, and the South Collegiate Division 2 Champ. Elsewhere, App State took on Vanderbilt and won, 22-3. The Wolfpack expects to face them if they win on Saturday. The Wolfpack are currently 6-0-1 on the season, without a loss, making this one of the best seasons for NC State rugby in a while. The Wolfpack are well on down the road to arriving at their pre-season goal of making the National Sweet Sixteen, which seems more attainable than it ever has. Please cheer on the Wolfpack as they travel to Murfreesboro, TN for the South Final Four!

Starting A side
1 Mark Addison
2 Matt Pace
3 Abe Harman
4 Eddie Youngs
5 Jon Rogers
6 David Hunt
7 Phillip Burcal (Captain)
8 Andrew Birch
9 Greg Hesler
10 Robby Dow
11 David McCallister
12 Will Teague
13 Brandon Mosiman
14 Brett Simpson
15 Bryan Maxwell

Match summary by: Phillip Burcal

This past Saturday, March 6^th, Shippensburg State came to NC State for a friendly match, and to kick off their spring break. Unfortunately they had their tour bus break down midway through the trip, forcing the match to be postponed until 3pm. They also have had the misfortune of having to practice on asphalt, since their fields are covered in snow. So they enjoyed it when they stepped out into the sunny 60 degree weather on Saturday.

The game started off in NC State’s favor, where they took it into the Raiders half and forced a penalty. Will Teague converted the penalty kick from in front of the posts, to put NC State on the score board 5 minutes into the game. The Wolfpack kept the ball in the Raiders half on the attack again, and a well placed pass by Bryan Maxwell allowed Will Teague to break some tackles along the right sideline and put a try down in the corner. The conversion was not made, and NC State was up 8-0 at this point. NC State, on the attack again forced another penalty, and Will Teague converted this one to put NC State up even more, 11-0. The Raiders weren’t giving up at this point, and hadn’t in the previous parts of the game, and their forwards put up a try near the end of the first half. Bryan Maxwell finished out the first half scoring, by kicking a penalty kick to end the half, with the score 14-5.

The second half was much better for the Raiders than the first, and they were able to even up the score with NC State eventually. The Raiders posted two trys back to back, putting themselves on top, 14-15.  Shortly after the Raiders second try, NC State answered, with a break down the left side of the field, where the ball was offloaded several times until it end up in the hands of Robby Dow who was able to touch the try down between the posts. NC State was next to score again, when Bryan Maxwell, on a valiant single effort, caught the pass off the scrum and put it down in the try zone. The Raiders answered 3 minutes later with their own try, keeping them in the game in the 75^th minute. Both teams fought hard at this point since the game could go either way, but a penalty kick converted by Bryan Maxwell ended the game.

Both teams were down some of their usual starters, Shippensburg State claimed they were missing 20 of their guys. NC State was missing about 5 of their normal starters as well. The game was close for both teams for the full match, but the home team won, 27-20. This was a friendly match so the outcome wasn’t as important for the Wolfpack, but they increased their record to 5-0-1 on the semester. The B side game went forth, NC State with a motley side of current B side players and old players taking on a mix of a and b side Raiders. The game in the first half was largely on the Raiders side, with a halftime score of 5-12 in the Raiders favor. NC State B side turned it on in the second half, and came back to win 26-19. Trys were scored by David Milbern, Will Durway, Jorrie Bower and Jason Batt. Santiago Rubio converted two penalties.

The man of the match for his A side performance was Bryan Maxwell, who was also the man of the match vs ECU last weekend. He played well from the fullback position, stepping in for Greg Hesler since he was out of town for the game. Bryan stepped in and kicked for Will Teague, since he had to leave the game for a bloody nose. Bryan has been playing rugby for most of his life, and the Wolfpack has benefit from his knowledge and skill in the game this semester.

A side starters

1 Mark Addison

2 Stephan Bahner

3 Abe Harman

4 Aaron Mclean (Captain)

5 Eddie Youngs

6 Matt Pace

7 Jason Batt

8 Dylan Martin

9 Craig Maxwell

10 Robby Dow

11 Will Durway

12 Phillip Burcal

13 Will Teague

14 Tim Vinick

15 Bryan Maxwell

Subs

Alex Compton