GRU Tournament
Report stolen from Red & Black's Alex Hood

Georgia's mens rugby club reached the final of the Georgia Rugby Union Tourney on the weekend, but could not defeat Auburn to reclaim the prize.

Auburn, defeated in last year's final by Georgia, won 24-17 to become 2002 GRU Champions in Clemson.

Georgia head coach Mark Smith said, "I'm disappointed. We entered the tournament as champions, and I thought we could have left as champions."

The Bulldogs topped group B on Saturday, defeating Clemson B, 36-0, and Georgia Southern University, 11-10, en route to Sunday's final.

In the final, Georgia faced Auburn, winners of group A, and Auburn's aggressive first- half play had Georgia trailing 17-0 as halftime approached. Georgia finally recorded their first points of the game in the remaining minutes, when Kellen Montgomery raced through to score following an exchange by the crafty Trevor Maliro, for 17-5.

As the second half began, Georgia captain Matt Botwin further reduced the deficit, running unchallenged through a ruck of bodies to score Georgia's second try. Blake Richter's conversion flew neatly between the sticks, to make the score 17-12.

Georgia was back in contention, but sloppy handling allowed Auburn to increase its lead. A brave pushover try from forward Botwin took the game to the wire, but Georgia could not pull any closer to Auburn, who held on to a 24-17 victory.

"We showed a lot of determination. A lot of positive things have come from this tournament," Smith said.

He added, "It was a very good performance from my players, considering we had key personnel missing. I'm very proud of the team that put rugby ahead of the Tennessee football game."

Botwin was voted Most Valuable Player of the tournament, an honor he shared with a Georgia Southern player.

"He is great," Smith said. "He's a leader, a great player and he thoroughly deserved this award."

Botwin was one of eight Georgia players selected to attend the Georgia All-Stars camp in November. Included in the squad of thirty-nine, are forwards Josh Tedder, Josh Feller, Daniel Van Dijk, Botwin and backs Maliro, Montgomery, Julian Harris and Richter.