Virginia Rugby Football Club vs. Warrenton Rugby Football Club
1:00 PM, Saturday, May 1st, 2010
Roanoke, VA

Virginia faced the Warrenton Rugby Football Club in the semi-finals of the Division III MARFU club playoffs in Roanoke, VA. A close match for the first 30 minutes, Virginia eventually blew open the game to win 46-14. The win advances them to the championship match on Sunday, where Virginia will face Old Gaelic. Both Virginia and Old Gaelic have automatically advanced to the round of sixteen of the USA Rugby national championship.

Both teams had a number of scoring opportunities in the beginning of the first half, but good defense prevented any tries from being scored. Virginia got on the board first with a penalty kick in the eighth minute by fly half James Fealey. Virginia nearly scored a try in the 15th minute, when fullback Lucien Dimani chipped the ball deep into Warrenton territory. Wing Ken Duvall chased down the ball but was stopped just short of the try line.

Virginia finally got its first try in the 30th minute. Lock Aaron Franke passed the ball out wide to Duvall, who beat the opposing wing and fullback to score under the posts. Fealey converted to put Virginia up 10-0. Duvall's try opened the floodgates for further Virginia scoring. Fealey put Virginia up 13-0 with a 25 meter penalty in the 34th minute. Three minutes before the end of the half, Virginia was awarded a scrum 20 meters from the Warrenton goal line. Fealey fed crashing wing Johnny McNulty, who broke through the defensive line to score easily. Fealey made the conversion to bring Virginia's lead to 20-0. Virginia almost extended its lead at the stroke of half time when Fealey's drop goal attempt barely missed.

If Warrenton had any thoughts of getting back into the match in the second half, Virginia quickly put those thoughts to rest. 14 seconds after kicking off, Fealey intercepted a Warrenton pass and scored under the posts. Fealey converted his own try to put Virginia up 27-0. Fealey scored again in the 52nd minute from another errant Warrenton pass inside their 22. Fealey kicked the ball forward from the ground, collected it, and dove through two tacklers to touch down. Fealey made his fourth straight conversion to give Virginia a 34-0 lead.

Virginia had a rare lapse on the ensuing kickoff, allowing the ball to bounce into Warrenton's possession. After a series of Virginia penalties, Warrenton finally crashed through for a converted try, cutting the Virginia lead to 34-7. Virginia struck back six minutes later, when Duvall caught a Warrenton kick and beat three defenders to score under the posts once again. Center Evan Davis converted for a 41-7 lead. In the 68th minute, a Virginia scrum in its own half was fed to Davis, who had moved to fly half. After breaking through the Warrenton defensive line, Davis found Dimani out wide, who beat the last defender to score. The unconverted try brought Virginia's lead to 46-7 with about ten minutes left in the match. Warrenton scored one final try right before the end of the match on a quick tap penalty ten meters from the Virginia goal line. The final whistle gave Virginia a comfortable 46-14 victory, putting them through to the MARFU finals on Sunday against Old Gaelic.

Tries:
Ken Duvall (2)
Johnny McNulty
James Fealey (2)
Lucien Dimani

Conversions:
James Fealey: 4/4
Evan Davis: 1/2

Penalties:
James Fealey: 2/2

Drop goals:
James Fealey: 0/1