UNC-Wilmington won a key clash in the Southern Rugby Conference, Saturday, beating a tough Citadel team 41-31.

With the win, UNC-W moved to 2-1 in the Southern Conference Premier East, just behind 3-1 UNC Chapel Hill.

Inside center Jeffery Palmer scored twice for Wilmington and was huge on defense, while No. 8 Ben Savage had yet another monster game and also crossed the tryline twice.

Two more tries came from wing Dayton Whitley, who was dangerous on the counter-attack all day.

Wilmington did well to counter a larger Citadel team. While Citadel had the way of things in the scrums, UNCW worked hard to counter their size.

"The whole team played really well and stepped up against a bigger Citadel side," said Head Coach Jim Wiseman. "We did a great job neutralizing their big men crashing with good poaching and tackling low. Our forwards did a great job stopping their lineouts and had a couple of big goalline stops."

And with a fast backline that kicked smartly, Wilmington got the win. Also at 2-1 in the Southern Premier East is East Carolina, which shut out Coastal Carolina 50-0. ECU beat Wilmington 17-15 earlier in the season and that win could be crucial. Next week, ECU plays Citadel and Wilmington plays Coastal. UNC Chapel Hill has finished their league season. So we could see a three-way tie for tops in the East, and only two spots available for the semifinals.

In the West, Furman edged Belmont Abbey 17-10 to go to 3-0. Belmont Abbey dropped to 2-1, and we're waiting for the UNC-Charlotte-Appalachian State score to see if UNC-C has kept pace with Abbey for 2nd. Next week Charlotte plays Furman and Belmont Abbey plays Appalachian State. It's likely we'll see Furman and Belmont Abbey into the semis.