Kentucky Holds Off Tenacious Marian
Kentucky Holds Off Tenacious Marian
A late penalty goal and a follow-up try secured a 27-18 victory for Kentucky over Marian Friday night.
With time winding down Marian led 18-17 when the Wildcats got a penalty near the edge of the field and about 45 meters from the tryline. Kentucky flyhalf Jack Phillips, who has been impressing many with his overall play and especially his kicking game over the last few years, smacked the kick over to put his side ahead.
A late try sealed it, but this was a very tight game.
“It took a full 80 minutes,” said Kentucky Head Coach Sam Enari. “Marian played at the line really well and forced us to make some negative tackles. They had a good kicking game and brought a lot of confrontation in the ruck area.”
To handle that Enari fielded the biggest lineup he could and the Wildcats worked to bring plenty of line speed on defense.
“We made some good double tackles and managed to do that without giving up penalties,” said Enari. Phillips was outstanding all day and early in the game set up the first Kentucky try thanks to a brilliant 50–22 that he launched from deep in his half. The Wildcats then won the lineout and mauled it over.
“That was a great play by Jack,” said Marian Assistant Coach Austin Robbins. “We needed to adjust to that for sure.”
The kicking exchanges were a big part of this game, with Phillips gaining ground for Kentucky, and the 9-10 combo of Zivan Mynhardt and Tommaso Lorenzetti for Marian also kicking with plenty of effectiveness.
John Dardis, Gage Curry, John Hall, and Andrew Weeks helped lead the defensive front in the first 60 minutes. Center Luke Keogh was, said Enari, “a monster.”
Flanker Mike Punzalane and prop Blaine Donion put in a strong shift, and Enari had some praise for his bench, which finished the game well.
“Having so many returners has helped us reload and we learned we can do it without the big runners we’ve had in previous years,” said Enari. “They executed the game plan well.”
For Marian, this was not a horrible result. They would have liked to have won, but they were right in there in what is still a warmup match.
“I think we were happy with our defensive folding and the boys showed some resilience to come back and take the lead.”
Clay Peters was a physical presence at center.
“We’d like to see better line speed on defense and we gave up some turnovers and penalties in set piece. Too many offside penalties killed our momentum,” added Robbins.
Next up for Kentucky is a SCRC league game against Alabama, while Marian takes on Rio Grande on Sunday, September 22 in their opening Big Rivers Conference game.
