Men's Rugby falls to North Carolina

Lander men's rugby made the trip up to Tobacco Road to take on the North Carolina Tar Heels for only the second time in 15s play. Unfortunately, North Carolina's defense was stingy and the chances for the Bearcats were few and far between as the Tar Heels pulled away for a 27-3 win on Friday night.

The Tar Hells were able to score two unconverted tries in the first 25 minutes, to build a 10-0 lead. In the 32nd minute a penalty kick was given within the kicking range for Brad McCaslan and he nailed it. The visitors hoped to build on the momentum and add more points before the half and they would as UNC flipped the momentum with a converted try and penalty kick in the last three minutes of the half to take 20-3 lead into halftime.

The second half showed the resilience of the Bearcats defense by only allowing a converted try in the 65th minute.

Lander had more possession and line breaks than the hosts, but couldn't get the points to show for it in the second half and the game ticked down to give the hosts the 27-3 win.

Coach Billings had this to say, "UNC has a great team, they've been nationally ranked almost all season and showed it tonight. I'm disappointed we didn't get the history, but very proud of our men, our progress, and our competitiveness… we never let up and stayed in the match for 80 minutes.

We had two younger forwards really step up tonight, hooker Drew Patterson and flanker Tristan Armes (Greenwood, S.C.). Those men played great along with our entire forward pack led by Captain Blaine Tomas (Greenwood, S.C.) and alternate Captain Cleon Payne (Charlotte, N.C.).

In the backs McCasslan is really taking form too. I think he's playing the best scrum half in our conference at the moment. Also, freshman Jacob Dawkins had a great night at center and wing.

We still have lots of growth ahead of us, but I'm seeing the progress and I'm confident we are going to continue to improve. We have a tough opponent coming to Lander next week in NC State."
Up next for Lander is the last home match of the season against 10th ranked NC State. Kickoff is set for 1:00 PM on Saturday at New Res Field.

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Players Mentioned

Tristan Armes: 5' 8"; Sophomore

Brad McCaslan: Sophomore

Cleon Payne: 6' 1"; Junior

Blaine Tomas: 6' 0"; Senior

Jacob Dawkins: Freshman

Drew Patterson: Freshman

Players Mentioned

Tristan Armes
: 5' 8"; Sophomore

Brad McCaslan
: Sophomore

Cleon Payne
: 6' 1"; Junior

Blaine Tomas
: 6' 0"; Senior

Jacob Dawkins
: Freshman

Drew Patterson
: Freshman