Wake Recruit Leads Team to State Title

Wake Forest rugby recruit Tyler Vanston scored three tries yesterday in leading his East Mecklenburg High School Rugby Team to the North Carolina U-19 Division II Championship. East Meck defeated the Raleigh Rattlesnakes 41-12 to claim the title. Vanston, a senior outside center, will be attending Wake Forest in the fall. Wake Forest Director of Men's Rugby Patrick Kane, who was in attendance at the match said of Vanston's performance, "The three tries scored by Tyler were certainly impressive, but was stood out most was his defense. He didn't miss a single tackle and every one was made with textbook form. He will certainly factor into our first side backline when he arrives here in the fall."

East Meck wins its first state championship after having opened its season in the first weekend of March with a second place finish at the inaugural Wake Forest High School Rugby Showcase. Unionville High in Pennsylvania, who defeated East Meck in the Showcase final, has also had a spectacular season, running through league play undefeated. Unionville plays in the Eastern Pennsylvania Rugby Union Semifinals today against State College High School.

Wake Forest #22 in Final Poll

The Wake Forest men's rugby team finished its inaugural season in Division II ranked 22nd in the country by erugbynews.com. Wake finished the 2008 spring season with a 5-3 record, falling to Division I University of Georgia in an exhibition match and losing twice to league foe East Carolina who finished the year with the #7 ranking.

The final erugbynews.com men's division II collegiate rankings are as follows:


1 Radford (1) 14-4
2 Coast Guard (2) 13-3
3 Salisbury (3) 13-1
4 Utah Valley (4) 6-5
5 Middlebury (5) 11-3
6 N. Colorado (6) 8-6
7 East Carolina (7) 11-4
8 Regis (8) 7-2
9 Santa Clara (9) 11-6
10 Missouri (10) 14-3
11 Col. Sch. Mines (11) 5-5
12 Texas State (12) 9-4
13 Michigan (13) 6-5
14 St. John's (14) 14-4
15 Loyola Mmnt (15) 7-3
16 Cal Maritime (16) 8-3
17 E. Stroudsburg (17) 9-5
18 Rutgers (18) 12-4
19 St. Bonaventure (19) 8-2
20 South Florida (20) 8-1
21 Vermont (21) 5-1
22 Wake Forest (22) 11-7
23 Georgia Tech (23) 6-2
24 Georgetown (24) 16-3
25 UC Irvine (25) 14-2

Wake Rugby Holds Year End Awards Banquet

The Wake Forest Men's Rugby Team held its annual year end awards banquet on Sunday in the Benson Student Center. After a nicely catered meal and a slideshow of the past year's rugby matches, the team handed out awards for the year's performances. Junior scrumhalf Drew Legge and sophomore center David Sage shared the award for most outstanding defensive player, while Sage also took home the most improved player award. Most outstanding forward went to freshman prop Matt Storck and most outstanding back went to junior center Mike Wills. Senior Dinesh Kirpalani was honored for his off-the-field contributions to the team with the "Unsung Hero Award," while Junior Matt Gottbrecht was similarly lauded for his efforts in building the team with the "Wake Rugby Man of the Year Award." Finally, senior flyhalf Tyler Eure was named the teams MVP for the 2007-2008 season. Eure, a four year starter and three time North Carolina Rugby Union All-Star, started every game for Wake Forest at flyhalf since taking over the position in the fall of 2005. Eure captained the team in the 2007-2008 season and led Wake to its most successful season ever. He graduates as one of Wake's all-time best rugby players and leaves some huge shoes to fill for next year's #10.

The team also honored head coach Barry Horewitch for his work in leading the team to the South Championship match in his first year as head coach, assistant coaches Brad Havins and Greg Dover, team physician Dr. Daryl Rosenbaum, faculty advisor Dr. Bill Marcum, and Director of Men's Rugby Pat Kane.

2008-2009 Wake Forest Rugby Executive Board

President: Matt Gottbrecht
Vice-President: David Poplaski
Treasurer: David Sage
Match Coordinator: David Taveira
Event Coordinator: Drew Legge
Alumni Liason: Critter Commins
Publicity Director: JT Pfeifer

Wake Drops Two in Atlantic Coast Invitational

Fielding a mixed side of first and second siders, Wake lost both its pool matches in the inaugural Atlantic Coast Invitational Rugby Tournament in Raleigh, NC on Saturday. Clearly tired and uninspired after a long weekend of rugby in the South Final Four last week, Wake held tight with Maryland in its first match, before Maryland pulled away behind the strength of their forwards to win 22-0. In Wake's second match, they were completely dominated 32-0 by Florida State, who proved to be the surprise of the tournament. Florida State's backline put together a number of fantastic movements, something that was rarely seen throughout the tournament due to the miserable weather and field conditions.

The semifinals of the tourney pitted University of Virginia against Florida State and University of North Carolina against Maryland. In the first semifinal, Maryland defeated UNC 19-11, utilizing their forward-based style to grind away in the muddy conditions. At times Maryland was driving mauls with as many as 13 players, and despite the fact that UNC had staked itself to an 11-5 lead, Maryland fought back in the second half to move into the final.

UVA defeated FSU 10-8 in the second semifinal, as UVA's Australian fullback notched a penalty goal with only seconds remaining in the match to steal the victory. This was Florida State's second last minute loss of the tournament, as the day before in pool play they were defeated by Maryland on a try on the game's last set piece.

In the final it looked to be all UVA from the start, as they dominated possession and territory and jumped out to an early 5-0 lead. But Maryland was able to slowly exert their style of play on the Cavs and eventually knotted the score at 5 apiece. The match looked to be headed to overtime, when Virginia put together a nice string of phases and touched down in the corner to take the lead with minutes remaining. Maryland fought hard to get the equalizer, but was unable to really threaten and Virginia won 12-5, capturing the first ever Atlantic Coast Invitational Rugby Championship.

Atlantic Coast Invitational Update

Duke has withdrawn from the Atlantic Coast Invitational, citing player availablility. That has forced a reworking of the schedule. Wake Forest is now in a 5 team pool with Maryland, Clemson, Virginia Tech, and Miami. Wake will kickoff the tournament against Virginia Tech at 9am on Saturday.

For the updated schedule and other tournament information, check out http://www.acirugby.com/.

Wake's Playoff Run Ends with 19-10 loss to East Carolina

Wake Forest fell to East Carolina 19-10 in the USA Rugby South Division II Championship game today in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. After dominating the early part of the match and leading 5-0 after a try by sophomore lock Ross Hilton, Wake saw East Carolina's backline capitalize on a few key Demon Deacon miscues, resulting in three long range tries for the Pirates. Wake staged a late game rally culminating in a try by junior center Mike Wills, but it was not enough and East Carolina now moves on to the USA Rugby Quarterfinals.

Wake will take the week off from practice to rest up after a long weekend of rugby, but will be back in action next weekend at the inaugural Atlantic Coast Invitational in Raleigh, North Carolina. Wake will play Clemson and the University of Miami on Day 1 of the tournament.