Men's rugby traveled across the state to face the developmental side of the Kansas City Blues RFC and came away with a 64-0 shutout Saturday night at Hodge Park in Kansas City, Missouri.  
 
Lindenwood was able to get some players in the lineup who are returning from injuries and the Blues were able to get a look at their up-and coming young talent.  In the end, both sides were able to get exactly what they wanted out of the match.   
 
The Lions jumped to a quick lead with two tries from Eduan Van Heerden in the first seven minutes. Christopher Wallace also scored his only try of the day in the first half.  He proved to be a dominant figure in the match with punishing runs and imposing tackles. He also brought a force in the line-outs by using pin-point accuracy and the perfect loft on his throws. This precision gave Lindenwood flexibility to utilize all parts of the line-out and allow jumper and field captain Alejandro Martinez Tapia to pick his matchups at the throw. 
 
With tries from Ty Nelson, Byron Howe, and Siaosi Nauer, a former Kansas City Junior Blue player from the high school club of the K.C. Blues, the Lions built a 38-0 lead at the break.   
 
During halftime, assistant coach Stephen Duff was happy with the score, but not comfortable with how the guys were playing. He delivered a message directly to the wings, challenging them to do more.  

"Our wings were not aggressive enough and they were too content with letting the rest of the team play," he said. "I wanted to give them a task and see if they could rise to the occasion." 
 
That message was well received, and wing Carl Kawodza exploded in the second half with four tries. He was all over the field on attack and defense. This was noticed by Blues, forcing them to adjust their play to try to remove the presence of Kawodza later in the match.     
 
Lindenwood improved to 11-0 overall with the win.  The Lions face one of their biggest challenges of the season when they host Iowa Central Community College November 6.  The second XV sides square off at 1 p.m. Saturday afternoon at the Lindenwood Track, and then the first sides play later that day at 5 p.m. at Hunter Stadium in St. Charles, Missouri.   
 
Tries: 
Kawodza (4), Van Heerden (2), Nelson, Nauer, Wallace, Howe 
 
Conversions: 
Mason (7)