Life University Athletics

MARIETTA, Ga. ---- The Life University men's club rugby team hosted the Atlanta 404, the developmental squad for Rugby ATL, over the weekend with the Running Eagles taking home the dominate 47-12 win over the cross-town rival.

Life U struck first with a penalty kick from Bradley Crane in the third minute to take an early 3-0 lead. 404 responded with a try and conversion to lead 7-3 in the 11th minute. Six minutes later, Crane added his second penalty to bring the match to within one, 7-6. 404 scored again in the 32nd minute to take a 12-6 lead as Crane added his third penalty kick of the match to head into halftime trailing 12-9.

Life U came alive in the second half, and put the game away early on. Right after halftime the backs opened some space off a solid scrum as Donovan Law slid through the defense and scored next to the posts in the 41st minute. Crane added the conversion to put the Running Eagles ahead 16-12. Five minutes later, 404 surrendered back-to-back penalties allowing Life U to kick to the corner. The forwards capitalized on the momentum by driving in a maul try to make the score 21-12.

In the 59th minute, Life U got another opportunity with their maul, but this time Sean Coughlan broke off the maul and busted through two defenders to score the team's third try of the match. Crane added the conversion to give the Running Eagles a comfortable 28-12 advantage. With some fresh legs on the field, Life U got another opportunity to rumble with their maul and they didn't disappoint driving it in from 15m out. Joe Hawthorne controlled the ball at the back and scored the try. After a wayward kick from the 404, Filipo Parasma found some space on the edge, moving the ball into the 404 22 with a jinking run. After a forward hit up, Cam Veloz found some space around the ruck and dove in for his try in the 73rd minute to put the Running Eagles ahead 40-12 with the conversion from Tabonga Ngonyamo. The final Life U try began off a solid tackle at halfway, which caused a loose ball. Life U spread the ball quickly out wide as Donovan Law turned on the afterburners to score his 2nd try, beating four defenders on his way to the try line for the final score of 47-12.

Head coach Blake Bradford expressed his thoughts afterwards stating, "We put ourselves under pressure a bit in the first half through some silly mistakes, penalties and not winning the kick battles. 404 capitalized on this scoring two tries in the first half while we settled for penalty kicks. We made some adjustments at halftime and I asked the guys to up the physicality and intensity in the second half. It was great to see them believe in themselves and back the plan."

The men's club rugby team will return to action on Saturday, October 16, when they travel to Malden, Mass. to face Mystic River at 1 PM.