Brilliance from Parry, Thomson Lead American Touring Team to Sweep
Brilliance from Parry, Thomson Lead American Touring Team to Sweep
The National Collegiate Rugby All American team finished off their France Centennial tour 3-0 after beating French Universities 25-19 on the Fourth of July in Paris.
the tour was held in part to commemorate 100 years since the USA beat France in the 1924 Olympics to win Gold.
This final game was a close one throughout, and ended in dramatic fashion. Neither team was able to make too many breakthroughs, although in the first half the NCR team had more chances inside the French Universities 22.
Still, an early French Universities breakthrough did put NCR under pressure and only an excellent tackle from scrumhalf Remy Thomson (NDC/Walsh) stopped them. Right after that BYU’s Scholz Award-winning flyhalf Wyatt Parry launched a massive kick that was chased well by his teammates. The French kicked clear but Parry was right there to take the ball up and the French Universities team was penalized for not rolling.
Keelin Coyle (St. Bonaventure) slotted the goal for a 3-0 lead.
However, French University answered fairly quickly, earning two fairly quick penalties, both in the tackle area, to take two shots at goal. Both were successful and French Universities led 6-3.
They added to that a little bit later in the first half and led 9-3.
After tat third one, French Universities knocked on the restart, and then were penalized following the scrum. The mark was right in front of the posts and Coyle had no problem.
Finally, late in the first half, French Universities attacked down the sideline. They kicked into the NCR 22 but Mate Kvirikashvili (Kutztown) picked up and countered. After a couple of phases Thomson box-kicked nicely into the French half.
NCR kept up the pressure and almost scored a few minutes later but were held up in-goal. Finally, after some missed chances, captain Ollie Corbett (Brown) tapped back a lineout throgh near midfield. Parry drew a defender and fed Coyle, who broke through only to pop a nice offload back to his flyhalf, who was again in support. Parry worked his magic again, taking on the final defender at full speed before passing to Aaron Juma (Wheeling) for a 22-meter run to the line.
That put NCR ahead 11-9.
In the second half, French Universities attacked a little fast and wider and was able to zip around the outside on a well-weighted kick to the wing to retake the lead. With the conversion it was 16-11. NCR answered with a brilliant little try from Thomson, who took a return inside pass off a set move to scamper in. With Coyle’s conversion it was now 18-16. The French answered with a penalty to take a 19-18 lead.
Then Parry put his final stamp on the game. Already named the top collegiate player in the country, Parry showed why with a brilliant individual effort. He took the ball inside his team’s 22, sidestepped out of trouble and took off toward the halfway line. As the French defense converged on him Parry popped a chip kick from that landed just inside the French 22.
The French Universities players were at sixes and sevens at this point and Parry nabbed the ball on the bounce, and took an angle that saw him score on the left side. Coyle converted and that was it, 25-19, the Americans had won.
Overall it has been a good tour for this mostly NCR All American team. They beat the Belgium U23s 36-20 on June 23, and followed that up with a 17-7 victory over the French National Gendarmerie team on June 27. In that game flanker JD Farrell (Marian), Thomson, hooker Matt Conroy (St. Bonaventure), Juma, and prop Trevion Reed (Queens) were standouts.
The NCR team was augmented by three players from D1A programs, with Parry providing a field vision and speed of play that really helped them at flyhalf.
Thomson remains one of the best #9s in the college game, while Corbett was certainly the leader up front.