The Gamecocks put in a solid performance at the East Coast 7s Tournament in Buena Vista, Virginia February 25, finishing 4-1 while showing flashes of great play.

USC broke out of the gate strong with runaway victories over Queens II 43-0 and Columbia II 40-0. The Gamecocks then bested Virginia Tech, a team that captured the NCR DI-AA national 15s championship in December, 10-5.

Their next opponent, D1-A Queens, kept the Gamecocks on their backfoot for much of the game and fairly coasted to a 24-7 win. Disappointed in the lop-sided loss, USC rebounded for a 21-14 overtime win against the host team, D1-A Southern Virginia 21-14 in the consolation game.

Officially, the Gamecocks finished third in the 12-team tournament. Queens defeated Va. Tech in the finals 22-10.

“There is no shame in losing to Queens,” said Coach John Roberts. “But we failed to play our best game with a chance to go onto the finals. I’m very proud of the way we bounced back to defeat a very physical Southern Virginia team. In all, it was good to play out of region and compete against some D1-A teams.”

The Gamecock B-side was scheduled to participate in the Georgia 7s Invitational. But that competition was cancelled early Saturday morning due to rain.
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The Gamecocks are idle the next two weeks for Spring break. The program hosts the Gamecock Invitational March 18. Both A and B sides will compete.

Photos by Jesse Copeland

The Gamecocks left the Clemson Invitational Tournament Saturday knowing they have much work to do to return to the top 7s form that propelled them to a Southeastern Rugby Conference 7s Championship and a deep run in the play-offs last year.

The round-robin included Clemson and Tennessee, traditional rivals and historically the strongest programs in the 13-team conference. The Gamecocks travelled with more than 30 players and fielded three teams.

USC A finished 2-2, logging wins over Clemson B 15-10, UT B 40-0 before losing games to Clemson A 27-5 and UT A 19-14. After dropping a lopsided 41-0 loss to Clemson A, the USC B side put in two solid games by tying UT A 19-19 and Clemson B 21-21. The Gamecocks had plenty of chances against UT B but fell short 19-14. The Gamecock C side lost a pair of games to Clemson C 17-5 and 31-5.

In all, nearly 30 players saw pitch time Saturday, good news for a program with only three seniors.

“The bad news is that our defense was poor at times, and we lost or tied several games that were within our grasp,” said Coach John Roberts. “The good news is that these games against excellent programs exposed areas that need work. You learn more in defeat than victory.”
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The Gamecocks get back to work this weekend. The A-sided travels to Southern Virginia to take part in a Rugby East Tournament that will include mostly D1A programs. The B-team will travel to Athens to compete in the Georgia Invitational.

South Carolina will head to Clemson this Saturday to participate in round-robin 7s Tournament with Clemson and Tennessee.

Both Clemson and USC will field three teams, The game will be streamed on YouTube and our Facebook page.

​The Clemson pitch is located on Edinburgh Way (Near the Pier) in Seneca.

The complete schedule:
 
10:00
CU A
USC B

10:20
CU B
USC A

10:40
CU C
USC C

11:00
UT A
USC B

11:20
UT B
USC A

11:40
CU B
UT A

12:00
CU A
UT B

12:20
CU C
USC C

12:40
CU B
USC B

1:00
CU A
USC A

1:20
UT B
USC B

1:40
UT A
USC A

2:00
CU B
UT B

2:20
CU A
UT A

South Carolina men’s rugby launched the Spring 7s season in solid fashion Saturday by logging three convincing wins before coming up short in the finals at the Furman Invitational 7s tournament. Here are the scores and quick break down.

USC 33 – Furman 10
The Gamecocks overwhelmed the host-team Paladins with their speed on the perimeter. Trys were scored by Nick DuBois (3), Dan Golden, and Peter Blackburn.

USC 15 – KU 5
Nice win against a very solid conference rival. KU kept it close for a while. But we found room on the edges. Nick Dubois scored all three trys.

USC 22 – Citadel 7
The upstart Cadets managed a 7-5 lead before the Gamecocks got their act together and ran away. Trys were scored by Jack Kelly, Conor Lane, and Nick DuBois (2).

Clemson 17-0
This was a game of halves played with great emotion against our rival. Gamecocks started slow, and Clemson took advantage of take aways to storm to 17-0 halftime lead. USC rallied and played on the Clemson end for much of the second half, but time ran out on our rally. Trys were scored by Jack Chelly and Nick DuBois.

Photos by Jesse Copeland