The University of Central Florida men’s rugby club took home the DI-AA National Championship Sunday in Bowling Green, Ohio following a 27-25 win against Lindenwood.
According to Rugbymag.com, the UCF team was the only team in the Final Four without a paid coach and without a foreign player. The magazine says that the team resorted to social media to fund raise their way to Bowling Green.
“We’ve been labeled underdogs, the stepchildren,” UCF coach Jason Granich told Rugbymag.com. “Hopefully we’ve hushed all the critics by the results. We don’t have the money, we don’t have the resources, but we have a National Championship.”
The Knights were able to take the lead for the win in the last seconds of the game.
“When our scrummy started heading into the ruck, I started screaming for it because they were on their heels there a little bit,” team captain and No. 8 Gerhart Veit told Rugbymag.com about the final play. “I almost tried to take it in myself, but I did see their winger was playing on the inside a little bit more and our winger was on the outside, and I threw it out there and it worked out, man.”
