Rugby South Carolina held their Boys HS semifinals this weekend, with South Greenville and Wando winning in the DI semis.

Wando defeated Irmo 45-10 while South Greenville edged Greenville HS 17-8.

After losing a large portion of their team to a graduating senior class last year and a season filled with highs and lows, South Greenville Rugby Club battled back to the state final by beating Greenville High 17-8 in a comeback victory. After falling to an early 8-0 deficit, South Greenville rebounded when Cade Weston broke through and scored after a long defensive goalline stand by Greenville High. Sid Shoop converted the try and the teams headed to the break with the score 8-7 for Greenville HS. 

The second half was a back-and-forth battle with both sides seeing healthy opportunities to score. But it was South Greenville that would capitalize. Jake Tingom scored off a nicely-executed maul, and that put South Greenville ahead 14-8 with Shoop's conversion. South Greenville did suffer an injury blow as Zion Morrow was assisted from the field after suffering a suspected concussion during the second half.

South Greenville kept up the pressure, and a penalty from Shoop gave them some breathing room as they held on.

South Greenville faces Wando in the final next week.

Wando just came off a 29-0 shutout of Greenville HS, and this weekend defeated Irmo 45-10 in the semis. 

"Last week against Greenville, our game plan was to use our big mobile forwards in our backline, and they scored all four of the tries," said Wando Head Coach Tod Shepherd. "This week against Irmo, our game plan was to spin the ball and move the massive Irmo pack around the pitch, and use our speed. The strategy worked well and we scored only three minutes in."

Having a nice wide pitch to play on helped, and in the Wando backs scored seven of the team's tries.

Scrumhalf Charlie van Vliet scored three tries and was player of the game. Flyhalf Caleb Calandra scored two, while centers Josh Cummins and Huw Meredith scored one each. Van Vliet kicked four conversions for a personal points haul of 23. Meredith added a conversion. Wing Thomas Glasson did not get on th scoresheet, but hurt Irmo with some long runs, and lock Joe Griffin was a force all day.

"The entire team played great," said Shepherd. "Irmo had some very solid runners, especially their inside center who was about 6-2, 250, and very elusive, including a nice side-step. Josh Cummins was incredible in defense, making numerous solo tackles while being outweighed by 90 pounds. Our forwards were exceptional, rarely missing a tackle, and a huge reason for our success." 

The Wando pack stole four scrum put-ins and won all of their own pack-downs. 

Meanwhile, in the DII semis Spring Hill defeated the Charleston Ravens 36-18, while Wando's B team was dominant, defeating Columbia 43-5. Jack van Vliet at scrumhalf was excellent, leading the team and sparking several big plays. Daniel Brinson was player of the game while wing Ross Jaeger set the tone with an 80-meter run for a try. Center Josh Novak only played 20 minutes but scored two tries.

It was an impressing showing from a team that is getting better each week.

The finals for DI and DII are next weekend.

-- Additional reporting by Andrew Kingdom