The Memphis Tigers Rugby team were beaten soundly by the Tennessee Volunteers 55-7 in Nashville.
The Tigers did a solid job holding UTK to only 15 points in the first half, but Memphis could not keep up and were outmatched in the second half. Before the team left campus, assistant coach Marc Holley said he thought his team was prepared to compete as best as possible given the roster they could assemble.
“We never quit playing and battled to the end,” Holley said. “Despite playing back to back games with limited number of players on a very hot afternoon, we kept applying pressure and never backed down.”
The Tigers played two games on Saturday, the first one being against Sewanee (The University of the South). Memphis started their junior varsity and led at halftime 22-0. Scores from Joel Witcher boosted the Tigers through the rest of the game.
The Tigers won 39-0 but not before five players from the UofM could score a try. Grant Caldwell scored a try and completed 3 of 6 conversion kicks. Caldwell did complete the only field goal attempt of the game. Captain Musa Banat said he was pleased with the performance from the game.
“I saw performance by the brand-new players that really surprised me,” Banat said. “Collectively there was some great leadership by the rest of the team in regards to a strong defensive line and chasing kicks.”
However, every member on the team immediately shifted their focus to the next game against their SCRC competitor, Tennessee. The last time the Tigers and the Vols played, Memphis was leading 13-7 at halftime. Tennessee later pulled away with a comfortable win in Knoxville, 41-13. Six months later, they had a rematch in a neutral site for the Tigers’ first season in the SCRC.
The Vols escaped another sluggish first half and won 55-7. Banat said his team played very competitively, but their opponents were winners in the end.
“UTK had things that we didn’t have,” Banat said. “More size, better average ball handling and maintained a strict defensive line.”
Despite a lopsided score, the Tigers held the Vols to a slim lead for much of the game. The Volunteers could not break away from the Tigers until the last 20 minutes of the game. UTK scored six tries in the second half, and three of those tries were in the final 10 minutes of the game.
“We did show a great amount of grit,” Banat said. “When it came to one-on-one tackling and our scrums, we held our weight well despite the significant size difference.”
Banat scored the only try for the Tigers in the game with 18 minutes remaining in the game. Memphis was still losing 29-7, but they continued to remain competitive.
UTK will return to Knoxville to play South Carolina in their next SCRC match. The Tigers will regroup and prepare for their next non-conference opponent UAB on Sept. 23. Both teams will be looking forward to the SCRC playoffs in November after playing a key match in the conference standings.
