Duke starts season with win over UNCP
January 24th 2009
On an overcast day in Pembroke North Carolina, Duke Blue Devils Men's
Rugby Club started league play with a 12-0 win over the UNC Pembroke Braves.
Duke started the game well, scoring both of its tries during the first half of play.
The first try came 22 minutes into the game when senior and captain Daniel Strothe
punched the ball into the try zone for the first points of the match. The conversion
was made by Lee Miller putting Duke out to an early 7-0 lead. Daniel Houghton used the
momentum from the first try to score the team's second try 6 minutes later at the
28' mark. The rest of the game proved to be a defensive struggle with no scoring
occurring during the last 52 minutes of the game. Lange, Wang, Gaske, Helman, Nelson,
Strothe, Wood, and Houghton rounded out the starting pack, which was able to control
both the scrums and the rucks. On the small UNCP field much of the game was played
close to the forwards, and they proved up to the task scoring both trys. Forti, Hays,
Pennington, Blum, Prince, Gurgell and Miller played in Duke's back line.
Duke used Miller's kicking to keep the ball on the UNC Pembroke side of the field
and which, combined with solid tackling by both the backs and the forwards, minimized
the scoring chances for the Braves.
With starting scrum half, Gosnel out of the line-up due to sickness and injury,
the team relied on Forti to lead the team on the field. In his first game at scrum
half, Forti showed great potential as he helped the Blue Devils maintain control of
the ball. The rust of Christmas vacation showed at times throughout the game with
some ill-advised passes and untimely penalties, but overall Duke put up a good showing
in its first matrix game of the season. The Blue Devils are back in action this
weekend against UNC Greensboro where they will look to improve their play and pick up another win.
Game Notes
W 12-0(HT: 12-0)
Duke:
Tries: D. Strothe, D. Houghton
Conversion: L. Miller (1)
UNC-P:
-