A trip to Starkville proved exciting after the Tigers found a way to jump into the No. 1 spot in their division after a good test from the Mississippi State Bulldogs.
Memphis held the Bulldogs back to win a decent away game and remain undefeated. Captain Musa Banat said his team did enough to seal the win and keep winning.
“We simply stuck to our game plan,” Banat said. “Our performance in the first-half edged us ahead of the other team.”
The Tigers found a way to beat the Bulldogs 31-19 in Starkville. Memphis won their fourth-straight division game and are now at the top of the SCRC DII column. Following the win, the Tigers are guaranteed to be one of the teams in the Southeastern Collegiate Rugby Conference DII Championship game. It all depended on the abilities of Memphis to defeat Mississippi State.
The Bulldogs outplayed the Tigers in the second half in both performance and points. MSU outscored Memphis 19-7 after halftime. Holley said the second-half issues began after putting in the substitutes.
“We did get a little complacent,” Holley said. “We decided to put in our substitutes, and the team lost the chemistry they had built in the first half. We kept shooting ourselves in the foot and with penalties and inconsistent play in the second half.”
The Bulldogs could not overcome the 24 point deficit from the first half. Brittin Roedel continued to score for the team as he scored the first try on a penalty try, which negated an opportunity for a conversion kick. Roedel later scored the second try of the game. Roedel was assigned to conversion kicks again, and he went 3 of 4 on the day. Roedel led his team in points and scored 16 on the day.
The Memphis team was forced to substitute a few starters because of injuries. Roedel was taken out because of a minor shoulder injury. James Yates was taken out and replaced for a blood sub. Kyle Anthony had to be taken to ensure he was not going to aggravate his quadricep injury. All three players are expected to be cleared for their next and final regular-season game.
To end the season, the Tigers will host the Middle Tennessee State University Blue Raiders in Memphis. MTSU has held the Tigers back in the last two meetings. Memphis lost 15-14 for the spring 2019 season opener and 12-10 in the championship match of the Nash Bash Rugby tournament. Banat said this game is not going to be easy or simple.
“It is important that the team maintains discipline for the next match,” Banat said. “That messed us up this past match, and it will certainly break us in the next match if we do not keep it together.”
Both teams have prevailed through their regular season and are still undefeated in their division. Middle Tennessee has not played a game since Oct. 19 and will likely be prepared for a trip to Memphis.
“MTSU has kind of had our number over the years,” Holley said. “I think this might be the year where we have a little bit of payback.”
The Memphis Tigers enters a scrum with the Mississippi State Bulldogs in last year's game. This year the Tigers beat the Bulldogs 31-19 in Starkville.
