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2005 LAU Championship Game 1 Geogia Rugby Union 17, Florida Rugby Union 13 Report: Nigel Platt, USA Rugby South Collegiate All-Star Coach A sunny Saturday in Gainesville , FL saw some excellent performances by each LAU side. The first game between the reigning champions – Georgia and Florida was a taste of what was to follow. Georgia jumped out to a 17-0 half-time lead, and then took their “foot of the pedal”, as Florida poured forward in the search for points. Florida scored 13 unanswered points in the second half, but came up short, mainly due to good Georgia defense. The second game saw the ever-improving Palmetto union defeat North Carolina union 19-5, in a game they controlled from start to finish. The third game saw last year's runners-up – Mid-South take on Deep South . The game was fairly even until the second half, when the Mid-South team went up “another gear” and ran out 42-13 winners. The fourth game was an end to end affair with Florida just piping Palmetto 27-20. The fifth game was an upset with the North Carolina union defeating the Deep South 28-19. The championship game was a repeat of last years final with old rivals, Georgia meeting the Mid-South. The Mid-South jumped out to a 10-0 lead in the first six minutes. Georgia began to find their rhythm and unleashed their fluent and pacey back line, to score four tries to lead at half-time 22-10. Mid-South came out in the second half and kicked two penalties to bring the score to 22-16. But, Georgia had the final say with another back line move to make the final score: Georgia 29 Mid-South 16 All three of the South Collegiate All-Stars coaching staff was in attendance, and fifty players completed player profiles to be invited to the South camp in May 2006. LAU seeding 2006 1 Georgia Georgia v Palmetto |
