Battleship Rugby Tournament
Date: November 8-9,  2003
Venue: Battleship Park Mobile, AL

The Baton Rouge Rugby Football Club suffered its first loss of the season at the 25th Annual Battleship Rugby Tournament held this past weekend at the USS Alabama Memorial Park on Mobile Bay.  Baton Rouge was beaten 32 - 28 in the opening round by a talented Florida Collegiate All-Star team.  The Florida side built a 20 - 0 lead late in the first half and then fought off a furious rally by Baton Rouge which came up just short.  However, Baton Rouge was able to claim the consolation trophy with a 34 - 19 win over the Montgomery (Alabama) Rugby Football Club on Saturday afternoon and a 38 - 3 win over the host (Mobile) Battleship Rugby Football Club on Sunday.  Life University from Atlanta, Georgia defeated the Florida Collegiate All Stars 40 - 0 in the men's division final on Sunday to win the tournament championship.   Florida State defeated Tulane 18 - 15 to win the college division championship.

Baton Rouge's record stands at 5 wins with 1 loss for the 2003-04 season.  The next match is in Dallas on November 22 against the Dallas Area Rugby Club (DARC).  The match will be the first of eight scheduled matches against Texas Rugby Union opponents to determine the regular season champion and playoff seedings for the nine teams in Division II of the Texas Rugby Union.  Baton Rouge defeated DARC 41 - 9 last year and 22 - 0 in 2002, knocking them out of the Texas Rugby Union playoffs on both occasions.

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