Not our day

photo courtesy of UK

On Saturday’s opening kick-off between Kentucky and USC, the wildcat flyhalf, Jack Phillips, boomed a 60-meter 50-22 kick that dribbled out of bounds at the Gamecock 5-meter line. KU mauled the ball in on the line out for a try and converted.

A few moments later, the Wildcats intercepted an errant pass and raced 40 meters for a try. Three minutes later KU scored a penalty kick to take a 15-0 lead at the 14-minute mark. The Gamecocks scrambled to answer but knocked on a sure try on the KU one-meter line.

Playing against the wind and with the sun in their eyes against a relentless Wildcat defense, nothing the Gamecocks did in the first half bore any fruit. And Kentucky rolled to a 35-3 halftime lead.

“One of the things that makes rugby different from many other sports is that there are no time-outs. There’s not a chance to stop play and settle your team,” said Coach John Roberts. “We sure could have used a time out. Kentucky blitzed us early on and we were on our back foot the entire first half.”

For their part, USC regained their composure and outscored KU 22-5 in the second half. But the hill was too steep, and the Gamecocks fell to the number one ranked Wildcats 40-25.

“We mustered some pride and played much better in the second 40,” said Roberts. “So, we’ll build on that and learn more from the game footage.”

With the loss, USC drops to 4-2 overall record but advances to the conference semi-finals and will travel to Knoxville for a rematch with Tennessee November 4. The Volunteers bested the Gamecocks 33-27 September 16. Kentucky will host Alabama in the other semi-final.