Clemson and South Carolina played a barnburner. South Carolina pressured early and were in position to score but Clemson held on. Then the Tigers got a free kick from a scrum and the Gamecocks weren’t ready—Clemson broke through fairly easily and scored on an 80-meter run. 

Some impressive and desperate defense by South Carolina prevented the Tigers scoring again but they couldn’t break through in the first half. Center Dan Golden got really close on a nifty planned backline move after a scrum, but he was stopped just short of the line.

USC took a tap penalty after that but muffed up the passing, and the first half ended with Clemson still in front 5-0.

In the second half South Carolina found a little more space and a dummy coupled with some acceleration put wing Nick Dubois through to make it 7-5 with Kevin Lacy’s conversion.

Moments later center Grant Ruhlen intercepted a pass to run in and make it 12-5.

The rest of the game saw both teams have some prime chances, but unable to convert. Clemson finally punched one in at the corner, but the game ended 12-10 for South Carolina.

The Gamecocks improve to 2-0 in the SCRC.