A-side rally comes up short, reserves roll

South Carolina’s furious rally fell short Saturday as the Gamecocks dropped a thrilling contest against rival Clemson Saturday 29-17.

USC got on the scoreboard first with a try by flanker Carter Saleeby to go up 7-0. But Clemson answered with three trys to break out to a 22-7 halftime lead.

Both teams battled toe-to-toe early in the second half as Clemson added a penalty kick to increase their lead to 22-7.

The USC offense, which had been plagued by poor line out play all day, found some rhythm with 15 minutes to go after freshman Charlie Dwyer converted a penalty kick near the 10 -minute mark. Junior wing Nick Dubois found the try zone a few minutes later to make the score 17-22.

With momentum and the crowd on the Gamecocks side, the team pressed inside the Tigers’ 10-meter line with four minutes remaining before an errant South Carolina kick landed straight into the hands of the onrushing Clemson flyhalf, who caught the ball in stride and raced 90 meters for the score.

“Very hard game to lose,” said Coach John Roberts. “We only converted 7 of 19 offensive lineouts and that was too much to overcome against a very good Clemson team. Overall, I think our defense played well. We are a good team, but we need to be good in every phase to beat the top teams in our conference.”

The loss snaps a 2-year 15s winning streak against Clemson as the Palmetto Cup returns to the Upstate.

On a more positive note, the Gamecock B-side (the Savages) dominated the Clemson reserves 36-7.

“Our set piece play was very good, and we moved the ball very well,” said Roberts. “This result illustrates the growing depth and overall strength of our roster.”

The Gamecocks return to action Saturday as the team travels to Athens to face the Georgia Bulldogs in a noon contest. The game will be streamed on the Gamecocks YouTube channel.