UGA 39 Renegades 17

Athens, GA
November 9, 2002
Report stolen from Red & Black's Alex Hood

Georgia's mens club rugby team proved too hot to handle as it tore the Atlanta Renegades to pieces.

A tremendous team performance earned an unexpected 39-17 win at the Intramural rugby field Friday night.

Attacking straight from kick-off, Georgia scored on its opening foray up-field. Forward Eric "Rhythm Rogers" completed a swift move by scrambling the ball over the line for a 5-0 lead.

The Renegades responded well, but a crisply executed Blake Richter penalty soon had Georgia back in front 8-7.

The Bulldogs increased their lead moments later as Matt Botwin showed determination by avoiding a flurry of tackles to touch down. Richter's kick proved accurate, as Georgia led by 10 points at the interval.

Georgia resumed the second half in emphatic style.

A fumble by the Renegades defense was pounced on by the alert Jullian Harris. Harris was tackled, but the ball fell to Trevor Maliro, who skipped past several flailing arms to score a try.

On Georgia's next scoring move, Maliro's teasing pass found Mark Thomas, whose incisive run split a frozen Renegades defense. Richter's conversion had the Renegades chasing 25-7.

Collecting the ball with electric pace, Harris again had the opportunity to breach the Renegades defense. This time, he powered his way past the Renegades' defense for Georgia's fifth try of the game.

Renegades staged a brief comeback, but the Bulldogs Josh Tedder compounded the visitor's misery by forging his way through to touch down.

Coach Mark Smith said he was thrilled by his team's performance.

"We played extremely good rugby, and we thoroughly deserved our victory," he said. "We've had little to show for our efforts of late, so it's nice to finally get a result."

The mens team makes the road trip to Alabama a this weekend to play Auburn University.