A fast and fierce battle between the two competitive rugby teams ended in a 53-22 victory for MMU down at Platt Lane on Wednesday night.
University College Doncaster (UCD) were off to a strong start as the first team to score a try, but despite conceding early, tries from MMU’s Ben Whelan and Felix Lorimer helped the home team to end the first half with a satisfied lead of 22-5.
Photography: Ellie Wright
Throughout the match, a pattern of small mistakes from UCD ultimately resulted in a loss. UCD missed three crucial conversions, which left the Dons as victims to MMU’s strong kicking game. Further tries in the second half from Cam Brown, James Phillps, Ben Whelan and Owain Williams also assured the victory for MMU.
MMU’s James Phillips took full advantage of the UCDon’s mistakes, which saw him score a tremendous try near the end of the match. He was gifted the try after UCD accidentally passed the ball straight to him, giving him the chance to run to score with no interception.
Photography: Ellie Wright
Although the match resulted in a win for MMU, there were times where it got tight between the two teams. MMU’s Oliver Powell said after the game: “As player tight games are more enjoyable, but we still did well to put 50 points on them and we were clinical when we needed to be.”
Powell was especially happy with his team’s set pieces: “They worked well in our favour, especially in the second half – the scrums and lineouts gave us a great platform.”
Photography: Ellie Wright
On the other team, UCD’s Captain Calvin Mitchell was disappointed with the loss, but admitted he found it a tough battle: “We were in the trenches all game.”
“We weren’t good enough in the red zone. We made a few mistakes with turnovers and lost balls.”
Photography: Ellie Wright
Mitchell praised MMU’s performance, saying “they executed and that is what you need to win a rugby game.”
You can watch the game back on the MMU Sport YouTube channel below.
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