South vs Bermuda

The below email and article were received from Kevin Kitto on May 8th, 2012.

On Saturday I was pleased to be the President of USA Rugby
South.

After many many years of going to the ITT Tournaments and
always being on the losing side and then last year losing to
Mexico and then winning in Jamaica I felt good. Let me tell
you all this last Saturday playing Bermuda National Team
rated 48th in the world I wondered what would happen.

The article explains it all and even though it was a long long
wait it was worth every minute. All of the players made me
proud to be from the SOUTH.

Kevin Kitto

South Rising

Two weeks ago, most of the USA South rugby team didn’t even know each other.
That didn’t stop them gaining a momentous 38-33 victory over the Bermuda
national team on Saturday, May 5th in Atlanta, however.

In a game played in record heat at Life University, there
were some very exciting exchanges and a see-saw match that kept the crowd on
the edge of their seats until the full-time whistle as the South defeated
Bermuda, the current North American and Caribbean Rugby Association (NACRA)
title holders ranked 48th in the world by the IRB.

Following stirring renditions of both countries national
anthem, the match – billed as a warm-up for Bermuda’s World Cup qualifier in
two weeks time – started at a frantic pace in 88 degrees. The South defended
stoutly for 10 minutes after numerous Bermuda assaults and eventually broke out
to score the first try. Bermuda’s tactics were beginning to become obvious with
a good kick-and-chase game plan to the sidelines in order to engineer a
powerful driving lineout, a plan that ultimately yielded them four tries on the
afternoon.

Back-to-back tries by the South’s exciting backs led to a
17-7 score at the 20-minute mark, but then a converted try and penalty by the
visitors locked the scores once again. The last 10 minutes of the stanza
exemplified the tightness of the match with both teams scoring well-orchestrated
tries and conversions to tie it up at 24-24 at the break.

The second period began with a flourish of penalties, and the respective goal
kickers traded kicks to go to take the score to 27-27 and then 30-30. As the hot
and humid conditions took their toll on the players, points became hard to
find. A penalty to Bermuda gave them a three-point advantage with just 10
minutes left on the clock. Again the South withstood some strong Bermuda raids
and managed to get field position to score the match-winning try with two
minutes to go for a 38-33 victory.

Try  scorers,
Justin Smith (Greenville) Jeff Reuther (New
Orleans) Amir Khan UNC Chapel Hill, Mu Cabbel ( Georgia Southern)  Derek Wolfe ( Nashville)

————————————————————————————————-

Kennesaw State University’s magnificent club sports
facility in North Atlanta staged the selection trials for the South men’s rugby
select camp just two weeks ago. Over 50 players spanning from all the southern
territories attended the arduous two day camp, culminating in a final game
against the strong Atlanta Renegades of whom a number of their players earned
selection in the 25 man squad.

The coaching staff of Dave Conyers, (Kennesaw State), Jody Hensley (Middle
Tennessee State) and Rene Daniel (Georgia Tech) who all guided the South U21
tour to Cayman Islands earlier this year had just 26 hours to formulate the
squad. Having a depth chart three deep on positions made up of many DI men’s
and college players realized a very competitive team.

An unexpected feature – not by design – meant that eight southern states and
all six territorial unions had representation, giving a true reflection and
flavor of America’s south.

With no chance of a training session or practice until the team assembled on
Friday afternoon on the weekend of the match, we were very fortunate in that
the ethos of rugby provides a ready-made bed of friendship and understanding –
key elements in the formulation of a team’s chemistry.

The team assembled and trained for two and a half hours on Friday after players
travelled up to 12 hours to reach Atlanta. Another one-hour session Saturday
morning completed the team’s paper thin preparation.

This represents the third match played by USA South
against NACRA (North America Caribbean Rugby Association) opposition, a loss to
Mexico  being followed by a win v Jamaica
and now Bermuda. South also took part in the Caribbean sevens in Barbados.

The team

RICKY STREETER                           RENEGADES

Big thanks to Life University for their generous hosting,
to DNA sports for donating the kit SERRS for supplying excellent officials and the
South Board for financial support.