Seven brave souls journeyed to Tallahassee, FL over the weekend to introduce the SIRC competition to Memphis rugby. Memphis, new to the SIRC, was seeded 12th but worked up to a 9th place showing once the matches were completed.
Memphis took on Life University, a national caliber side, for its first match and held them to 14 points in the first half. This caught the attention of tournament officials.
Memphis lost to Central Florida next 33-12, and that was the last loss for the day. The Tigers took South Florida 26-7 to end pool play and was upgraded to 9th place.
Following pool play the competition was reseeding and the Tigers took on Kennesaw State, winning 33-19. To cap the day, the Tigers took on South Florida again following a one hour rain delay and outlasted them 19-17.
Tezmon Mosley used his speed to score 30 points in 5 matches. It was very difficult for defenses to figure out his running style. They could not shut him down. Justin Hale was the next highest scorer with 20 points on conversions and was solid at scrum half through the day.
Thomas Strickland took three tries. Cameron Walton scored his first points as a Tiger taking two tries in two matches. Josiah Shipley took two tries and Brandon Worley took one.
The brave 7 played with no substitutions, the only team to play with just 7 for 
the day. Kian Koleini set the pace for the day, keeping the players engaged, focused and ready for each match.
The strategy for the day was to punch the defensive line with the power runners, Brandon, Kian, Josiah and Cameron and to skip the ball to the wings for Thomas and Tezmon to exploit.
Memphis finished 9th place out of 12 teams in its first outing in SIRC 7’s play with only 7 players, a very impressive start.
I have never been more proud of any Tiger accomplishment that I have witnessed in my time as coach of the Tigers. I asked these men to step up and get the job done, and they did. The Tigers are for real in the SIRC and are looking forward to the spring where these 7 will lead their brothers against some rather stiff 15s competition. The spring schedule is set and will be posted soon.