The SEC tournament was very tough for Auburn. Georgia was up first and it was a hard hitting muddy game. The field conditions were awful, however Auburn's ball control was well despite all the mud. Georgia won 24-14 capitalizing on Auburn's backline getting bunched up. After Georgia, Auburn was up against Old Miss. It was a tough competition with both team fighting hard. All the Auburn players gave a good show, but ended up losing 10-7.

The SEC Tournament closes out the Fall Season, which Auburn's record was 6-5 overall. 2-0 in exhibition matches and 4-5 in tournament play. The biggest problem this season has been numbers, it has been a good learning season for the large amount of Rookies playing this semester. Auburn Rugby is now preparing for the Old Boys match, November 7, 2009 and the Spring Season and its first game against the SEC Tournament Winner Tennessee on January 23, 2010. The schedule for the spring will be up by early november.

Auburn Rugby travelled to Jacksonville State to take part in the Breast Cancer Awarness Tournament. Only four teams were at the tournament, and Auburn played Lee University first. Auburn ended up losing the game which ended in a final score of 34 to 7. This was a tough loss because of the mistakes that were made by Auburn. However these mistakes were rectified when Auburn took on Mississippi State University right after the loss to Lee. Auburn came out ready to play, and made few errors, allowing out backline to move the ball and dominate MSU. Auburn won with a final score of 21-0. Next weekend is the SEC Rugby Tournament, which Auburn looks forward to competing in.

It was a disappointing showing this weekend at the Georgia Rugby Union Tournament. Auburn was only able to bring 16 players to the tournament. Our first game of the day was again Armstrong Atlantic University. Auburn won the game 37 to 14. After a 2 hour rain delay, Auburn faced off against Georgia Tech for a second time this semester. Auburn only had 15 available players, while GT had two full sides. After being dominated throughout the game, Auburn lost to Georgia Tech 55 to 0. This was a very disheartening event for Auburn and showed how badly more people are needed to travel with the team to do well. Next weekend, Auburn travels to take part in the JSU Breast Cancer Awareness Tounramnet.

This past Saturday, Auburn hosted College of Charleston' Rugby team in a hard hitting hard fought match. The game kicked of at 11:00AM and from the start it was a rough match. Auburn was first to put points up with Inside-center Joey Palazzolo making a penalty kick. C of C tried to make a penalty kick but missed and later scored a try but again missed the conversion, making the score 5-3 C of C. For the majority of the first half both teams were trying to gain the upper hand against the other. The second half was much of the same hard hitting rugby. Auburn took the lead again when rookie wing, Caleb Faruki scored, however Fullback Ross Anderson missed the conversion, bring the score 8-5 Auburn. C of C ended up scoring again, and successfully making the conversion to take the lead 12-8 C of C. At the very end of the game, with neither teams giving any ground, 8-man Daniel Goncalves intercepted a C of C pass and ran it across the field into the try zone. Flanker Camron Strong missed the conversion but still giving Auburn the lead with a final score of 13 to 12 Auburn.

College of Charleston also brought a B-side with them. Auburn was ablt to take them on with a number of A-side players filling in as substitutes. The B-side game was good experience for the new players and ended up with C of C winning 12-7. C of C scored once in the first half and then in the second,Auburn scored off of a scrum on C of C's 5 meter line, when 8-man Andrew "Rocky" Walker picked the ball and ran it in. Then C of C score again when the Auburn back line tried a quick lineout which was intercepted and scored by one of their players. This match was also a hard fought match that was, a great experience for the new players.

Saturday at 12 o'clock, Auburn took on Jacksonville State at home. Auburn dominated the game, that ended with a final score of 55-3. JSU was the first team on the board with a drop kick ten minutes into the game. After that Auburn found a rhythm and started scoring. Among the AURFC players that scored were two rookies, Lock Brad Williams and Wing Brian Rhett. Many of the issues Auburn had during the Vanderbilt Tournament showed positive improvements. Line-outs and Scrums were much improved and AURFC's ball security was impressive. Auburn's back line worked JSU's hard scoring most of the tries. There were two offensives scrums on JSU's five meter line that 8-man Camron Strong was able to pick and score. In the second half Auburn change the line-up so that many of the rookies got a large amount of playing time. Many of these rookies hadnt played before in a full contact game, but showed promise and still held JSU to only three points. Next weekend Auburn hosts College of Charleston at the Pitch at 11:00AM. Come out and support the AURFC.

Auburn Rugby travelled to Vanderiblt this past weekend to participate in the Oak Leaf Cup, Vanderbilt's 1st Annual Invitational Tournament. The team travelled to Nashville Friday afternoon and played against Vanderbilt that night. Despite heavy rain, being heavily outsized in the pack, a red card twelve minutes into the game, and a lack of substitutes, Auburn was victorious, beating Vanderbilt 14-3. Scrum-half Mike Pair and Inside-center Stew Martin both scored.

This past Saturday, the Auburn rugby team held its first game of the Fall season. Though it was only a scrimmage, the team played hard. The team showed that it had already come together over only two weeks of practice. Most of the new members fit well with the team and displayed a good amount of heart. The team was divided onto Blue and Orange sides. To start the game, Orange kicked off to Blue and from then on, Blue dominated the first half. Scoring 22 points and holding Orange scoreless. In the second half Orange answered back with strong backline play and finding large gaps in the defense. However, Blue was able to hold them to only one try and scored two of their own, bringing the final score to 36-7. All in all, the Rugby team is coming together well. There are a large number of new faces, but all of them are learning quickly. With more experience, they will become good assests to the team.

For this game the Auburn Rugby team would make its first road trip of the season to take on the Kennesaw State University Owls in Kennesaw, Georgia. As in the week before Auburn brought a strong core of players and a surprising number of followers and fans. Kennesaw had a good group of players but very few substitutions.

The game started out bad for Auburn with Kennesaw State scoring the first three tries and making all three conversions. Down 21-0, Auburn countered with a try of its own from lock Jonathan Scott. The conversion was missed but the score gave Auburn big heaps of confidence. Soon after the first points from Auburn; Daniel Goncalves, after a blinding run and a beautiful cut, was penalized within ten meters of the try zone and was awarded a penalty try. The conversion was missed again but the score was now 21-10. As play continued another Auburn rugger Jake Holtrop would score his second try of the season on a monstrous push on the five meter line. Ryan Guinn would make the conversion to bring the score to 21-17. After some bruising play off of punches and some brilliant pack play and displays of agility and speed from the backs, Jonathan Scott would go on to score another try after plowing over a few Kennesaw State players. The conversion was missed but the score was now in favour of Auburn at 22-21. With confidence at an all time high during the game Daniel Goncalves would score his second try of the game after some impressive running, passing, and overall play from the whole team. This time Graham Nelson would make an attempt at the conversion. Making the conversion the score for the game improved to 29-21 in Auburn's favour. Not a team to give up, Kennesaw State got their first score since Auburn's 29-0 scoring run. They would make the conversion; making the game a one point game yet again. The score now 29-28 was coming down to the wire. After some inspiring play from Auburn's pack players the backs made perhaps the most important try of the game with Clark Kerby, scoring his second try of the season, putting the ball in the try zone for the go-ahead score putting Auburn over the top to win the game with a final score of 34-28.

The win put Auburn into the USARS Playoffs for the first time in as long as any current ruggers can remember. With a few weekends off until the St. Patrick's Day Tourney, Auburn will continue to practice and get better prepared for the first round, quarter finals, of the USARS tournament.

In a key win over the Georgia Southern University Eagles; Auburn University solidified it's case that it should move on into the USARS Playoffs though there would be a key hurdle the following week.At the match GSU came in with a strong team but few substitutes. Auburn again had a good showing of players and support from fans. GSU struck first early in with a 3 point scoring effort off of a penalty kick. However Auburn countered almost immediately and never let up until the final whistle was blown. After the first GSU scored Auburn would score 18 unanswered points until GSU scored a try but missed the conversion. Auburn would then again go on another scoring run this time with 26 unanswered points. Four AU players scored their first try in the season: Jim Smith, TJ Gill, Clark Kerby, and Jake Holtrop; while two AU ruggers helped contribute with tries of their own: Theo Potgeiter and Matthew Broadway. In the end the Auburn University Rugby Football Club had a big victory over Georgia Southern University with a score of 44-13.

The win was a big boost in morale for the AU team. It helped keep their playoff hopes alive and gave them confidence that they could win by big margins. The following week, Auburn would be traveling to face Kennesaw State University in the final matrix game.

In the match against Georgia Tech, Auburn was without some key players. Regardless the team pressed on with a core group of players and hoped for the best. The match started out with Georgia Tech making the first try but missing their conversion. As the match moved forward, Tech made two more tries but missed both conversions bringing the score to 15-0. Finally after fighting extremely hard Auburn made their first try to bring the score to 15-5 (Auburn missed the conversion). Shortly thereafter Auburn made another try this time with the conversion successful. As the first half drew to a close the score was 15-12 in favour of Georgia Tech. In the second half Auburn came out with renewed intensity but it just wasn't enough to overcome Tech's players. With Auburn fighting for every ball and hitting extremely hard they managed to hold Tech out of the try zone numerous times even when the ball was on the 5 meter mark. However, as the game ended, the score was 24-12 in favour of Tech. Auburn was really disappointed and realize that they have quite a bit to work on in preparation for the game against Georgia Southern University next weekend in Columbus, Georgia.

Fall 2007 Recap

Due to the fact that Auburn's pitch was going under some recent construction, AURFC'S Fall season contained very few games. Except for the Old Boys alumni match no home games were played. With all things considered Auburn rugby is continuing to improve from previous seasons. Even with all the chaos of the no home field to play on, and having to travel off campus to extremely inconvenient practice fields, AURFC has managed to build the roster up to just about 40 players.

Many seniors graduated in the previous year, so the beginning of AURFC's Fall season started with many young and inexperienced players in the sport of rugby. Nevertheless, these rookies were able to come in and learn the game well this season. They came in and played heads up rugby at collegiate level without any hesitation. This was the first season in years for Auburn rugby to maintain two sides consistently as well as being top competitors in every event attended. As for the players of the previous year(s), AURFC would like to thank each and everyone of you for stepping up as leaders and helping in the process to produce a top notch rugby team.

We would also like to acknowledge our selected All-Stars from the following tournaments:

Congrats to Chris Lind, David Bess, Brad Kilpatrick, Rick Chapman, and Jonathan Scott for being selected for GRU All-Stars. The GRU tournament this year was held at Clemson, SC. After winning the division 2 tier at the GRU 2005, Auburn was bumped up to the division 1 tier. Although Auburn did not win their division this year, the guys played hard and well. We'll get 'em next year.

Another congrats to Brad Kilpatrick and Chris Lind for making the 1st Annual SEC championship All-Star selection, as well as a hats off to Auburn Rugby. After a tough first match against LSU and the struggling matches at GRU, Auburn finally turned the tables. UGA and South Carolina was taken out of the tournament by Auburn, and Auburn was awarded their rematch against the division 1 ranked LSU. At the half, Auburn was leading 14 to 12. However, with about ten minutes left in the second half, Auburn slipped up by missing a routine tackle which gave LSU a leading try. Auburn struggled to regain composure giving the opposition a penalty kick for an additional 3 points. The game finished with one final try and concluding whistle being blown.

Auburn Rugby won for their division in the GRU tournament this past weekend in Athens, GA, beating Clemson 43 to 10 and 26 to 19 against JSU. As a result, the team has moved up to Tier A. Auburn Rugby now stands undefeated against college teams. Also, congratulations to Brad Kilpatrick, Jamal Thomas, and Chris Cucinotoa for having been selected for collegiate all-stars.