Women’s rugby faced off against sixth-ranked Lindenwood University in D1A rugby with a final score of 15-41 on Saturday March 8, Men’s rugby hosted Trinity Western, securing the win. The Wildcats put up 57-48 against the Spartans.
It was their first game in four months, and the Wildcats ran into injury troubles. Head Coach Matthew Ramirez believes doing the little things right will help the team move forward, “this team can be great when they decide to do the little things right, be the best at things that take no talent and that’s our challenge, so this week we can build up from there,” Ramirez said. The women’s team will take on Life University next Saturday, March 1, at 7:00 a.m. from Lupo Family Field.
Todd Thornely, the men’s rugby head coach is preparing for the wildcats matchup against BYU next week on March 15, in Utah, Thornely believes that while the team did poor on defense and discipline, the team did very well setting the tone of the game by scoring a try in the first two minutes of the game. Even though the Wildcats did well, they gave up opportunities to overwhelm Trinity Western. “You can start really well and be up two scores, but then you can continuously do your job and do the basics really well. Sadly we lacked a lot of discipline defensively in the first half,” Thornely said. “In the second half, we pieced bits of rugby, there was a two minute spill where we were really poor”.
Following the win, fourth-year senior Arona Tauiliili and sophomore Julian Ninulala reflected on the game. “When we are attacking, I’m focusing on looking to see if there’s space and calling it,” Ninulala said. Playing on the wing, during attacking phases Ninulala is in a good position to receive kicks from his teammates, creating isolation to score or for good field positioning.
“It was really cool to be able to watch my boys work, but we got a little bit more work to do, specifically, more defense-wise stuff, but it was a good game to watch and be a part of,” Tauililli said. The flanker came off the bench and went straight to work. Scoring a try for the Wildcats and setting the Spartans back in field positioning.
Both men’s and women’s rugby are on the road but will return to Ellensburg to face Brigham Young University (BYU), with the men’s team coming back on March 22 and the women’s team on March 29.
