Playing in their fourth straight USA Rugby D1A National Championship match, the Life U Men's Rugby team put on a gutsy performance to win 24-20 over Saint Mary's College Saturday in Moraga, Calif.

In a superbly entertaining and very tense game, Saint Mary's led early, but Life scored two quick tries early in the second half to get back in the game, and from then on it was a game of inches.

The opening 20 minutes of this game favored Saint Mary's as the team raced out to a 15-0 lead on the strength of an early penalty from Dylan Audsley and tries from wing Tommy Wallace and Audsley. With Aaron Matthews evading tacklers and the Gaels offense moving the ball quickly, Life seemed in trouble.

Cody Melphy slotted a penalty kick to make it 15-3 at halftime, but the Running Eagles still had a long way to go.

But the second half was a completely different story as the boys immediately seized momentum on a great run by Mitchell Wilson to put the Running Eagles into the Gaels territory. From there, Life sent Macui Koroi near the line, and Marcus Walsh finished it off by dotting down near center to make the conversion easy. That made it 15-10. Right after that, a high kick bounced free of the Saint Mary's defenders and center Harley Davidson raced in, took the ball, and was free under the posts. 17-15 Life led.

Life in green, Saint Mary's in red and blue. Photos Michael Geib.

Saint Mary's pushed the ball into Life territory, and looked to score in the corner. They were pushed into touch, but from that lineout the ball was overthrown and Vili Helu caught it and dove over to make it 20-17 for Saint Mary's. 

But Life put together their best sequence of the day and Alex Maughan finished it off from in close to lead 24-20. Both teams had chances to score, but little errors on a wet day killed those chances. Saint Mary's found Life to be very aggressive in contact and struggled to hold off the Life counter-ruck. 

Davidson was named MVP of the match not only for his momentum-changing try, but also his great work on defense.

Head coach Scott Lawrence said, "We had a bit of a rocky start, but the men finished the fight well. It was a gutsy performance and the team showed a lot of heart."

Life in green, Saint Mary's in red and blue. Photos Michael Geib.