Solid Second Half Sees Life U Beat NOLA on the Road
Men's Club Rugby / 09.11.22
METAIRIE, La. ---- The Life University men's club rugby team battled back in the second half to win their season opener on the road against NOLA Gold 15-13.
NOLA scored two tries, one at the beginning and one at the end of the first half, to see them go into the break 13-5. Their first try came off an intercepted pass that NOLA outside center, Ross Depperschmidt ran in from 70 meters out. Life created a lot of opportunities in the first half but was only able to convert the one with Chris Rossouw scoring off the back of a maul.
Coach
Blake Bradford stated, "We just weren't clinical enough in the first half. We created a lot of opportunities through our dominant set piece and crossed the line three times. Unfortunately, one was a knock in and one got called back for crawling."
The second half saw Life outplay NOLA 10-0 to claim a 15-13 win. Life cut down the lead by three with a
Jacques Odendaal penalty kick. Again, it was the forwards that got the maul moving forward and
Brandon Rey crashed over for a try under the posts. Odendaal converted to add the extra two.
Bradford added, "I challenged the guys at half time to let them score in the second half and they didn't disappoint. We needed to just cut down on our mistakes and play rugby in the right areas of the field. I'm very proud of the effort of my guys on a very hot day in NOLA to get us our first win. Big kudos to my two assistants for getting the men physically ready to compete."
The men's club rugby team will play on the road again on Saturday, September 17, when they take on HTX at 1 PM.
