On Saturday July 19^th, the Highcountry RFC competed in 10’s rugby in the Georgia State Games. Teams in the Men’s Division included Highcountry, Birmingham, Atlanta Old White, Georgia Southern, Hilton Head, and the Atlanta Renegades. The format for the tournament was a two game initial round followed by a two game playoff. One win in the first half secured a chance to compete for a medal.

The first game of the day was against a large yet undermanned Birmingham Vulcan’s team. The pack featured many new guys mixed with only a few veterans. Devon, Jason, Kevin, and Fudger alongside Andres, Harley, and Andrew. The backs were a plentiful as usual including new guy Adam, G-Tech’s own Doobie and Brian, Army Mike, David, Mike Price, Art, and Troy Albright. The pack played a pedestrian game, but was bailed out by a backline that was too fast for the Vulcans. Substitutions were used in excess to get all the new guys ample playing time. The highlight of the match included a beautiful assist by Andrew when he perfectly timed a pass in traffic to a streaking Adam who ran 20 yards for the try. Highcountry won the match easily.

The second match was against Old White. The forwards weren’t supporting one another, which led to many poached balls from an experienced Old White side. Due to this the back line never got their hands on the ball and Highcountry lost. Nevertheless, a playoff birth was already earned.

After the horrible loss to Old White, Andres gave a Lombardi quality speech to get the team to play up to their potential. Extra warm-up was performed and the team was fully prepared to take on the next opponent – Georgia Southern. A win would guarantee a spot in the gold medal match. Georgia Southern was 2- 0 and had just put a beat down on the Renegades. Highcountry went with their most veteran pack of Harley, Andres, and Devon across the front and Andrew and Kevin in the second row. The backline was Adam to Leon, Troy, Doobie, and Army Mike. The match was over before the second half. With renewed aggressiveness, the Highcountry forwards controlled ALL rucks and physically dominated the match. This allowed open lanes for the backs, which were able to score all the tries. By the end, Georgia Southern had used a dozen injury timeouts and all their subs. By far the best Highcountry has played all summer. Highlights included Andrew fighting off two defenders and making a one handed pass to Army Mike for a quick try. Also, rookie Devon showed his best rugby ever when he took the ball into contact, pitched it to Troy, who then fired it to Army Mike for another try. All the backs scored tries. With the win Highcountry was set-up to play Old White in the gold medal match.

Old White beat Highcountry in the final and took home the gold, while High Country proudly sported their silver medals at the bar.

In summary, Highcountry played some great rugby overall and earned medals for the trophy case. Once again, attendance was high and rookies and veterans earned valuable playing time that will only help come Matrix season. The team is definitely letting the Georgia Rugby Union know that it is a team to be reckoned with.