Wake defeats Furman 24-14, falls to Lander 15-12

Wake Forest's first side defeated Furman, last year's D3 national runner-up, 24-14 in a match consisting of three 25 minute periods. Furman lost much of its team from last year due to graduation, but returned a solid core of players and has had good results so far this fall. In the first 25 minute period Wake had the better of possession and territory, but reminiscent of the match against ECU, could not string together much in the way of phase play. This was partially due to Furman's tremendous counter rucking, which made freshman scrumhalf Dante Merlino's job extremely difficult and prevented Wake from recycling the ball cleanly. Wake also was not helped by yet another shift in player personnel as sophomore flanker Trent Justice was forced to move into the backline in the #12 jersey as Wake's first, second, and third choice inside centers were out with injury. The first period ended with the scoreline knotted at 3, with Wake's points coming courtesy of flyhalf Tyler Eure's 48 meter penalty goal.

Furman had the run of play in the second period and added 8 points to its tally with another penalty goal and an unconverted try, while Wake was shut out for the second 25 minutes. Wake had all sorts of trouble maintaining possession at the breakdown, as Furman continued its excellent counter rucking. At the end of 50 minutes, Furman led 11-3. The second period was marred by a yellow card to the Furman blind-side flanker for foul play in a ruck and a shocking incident in which the Furman scrumhalf, upset with what he thought was a late tackle, blatantly kicked a Wake player in the groin while the referee had turned his back to follow the ball.

The third period belonged completely to Wake Forest, as Furman made some substitutions and brought in some newer players. Wake also subbed in a number of new players, but all of them had had first side experience at some point this year. The result was Wake running in three converted tries, while Furman could muster only a penalty. Wake tries were scored by sophomore wing Perry Salvagne, freshman prop Matt Storck, and freshman scrumhalf Dante Merlino. All three tries were the result of fantastic support and offloading in contact, a hallmark of Wake's play that was sorely missing in the first two periods. The final score was 24-14.

In the second match of the day, Wake's reserves took on D3 Lander University's first side in a match consisting to two 25 minute halves. Lander capitalized on a number of its opportunities in the first half, scoring three unconverted tries, while Wake was blanked on the scoreboard. The second half was a different story, however, as Wake completely dominated play. Unfortunately, Wake could only manage to convert its posession and pressure into two tries and one conversion and trailed 15-12 at the final whistle.

In all it was another good day of rugby as the young Wake team continues to grow. Of the 30 players who took the field for Wake today, 3 were seniors, 2 were juniors, and the rest were freshmen and sophomores.

Wake is off next week as the University is on fall break.