Men's rugby began its season on Saturday with a unique day focused on its under 20 roster in round robin XV's and sevens action against three different squads at the Lou Fusz Soccer Complex in Creve Coeur, Missouri. The young Lions came away with a 36-3 victory over the St. Louis Royal Ramblers and a 26-5 win against Principia College in single half XV's play, then followed with a 54-0 shutout of Maryville and a 38-0 blanking against Principia in sevens.
Ironically, the pandemic has been a boom to the size of the men's rugby program as the team currently has the highest roster numbers in its history. This has changed how Head Coach Josh Macy has attacked the fall season. The Lions would normally start in October and then play an average of eight matches in total, but this year with 97 players, Macy has had to get creative. For the first four weeks of the schedule, he has gathered all the U20 players together to practice and learn the terminology, the culture, and how to juggle classes and training.
U20 captain Xavier Herbert was asked about the camaraderie of the young group
"In the past two weeks, the unit has come together better than I could have ever imagined," he said. "Everyone has been eager to learn and since we are all new, we have not had to deal with egos, which has been great."
This year, the entire program will play a total of 13 full matches with other sevens matches scattered throughout the schedule.
In the first action for the U20 Lions, they squared up against a much larger, and experienced St. Louis Royal Ramblers squad led by former Major League Rugby player, Jon Holden. The match started in a fast fashion with a quick try for the Lions by wing John Rink at the three-minute mark for his first of the day.
This was not a surprise as Rink had this to say about his mindset going into his first collegiate rugby match.
"I know there is a lot of talent on that team, and nothing will be given to anyone, he said. "I had to be competitive from the start and I will only improve from here."
Lindenwood continued to find success by bringing a physical style of play to the Royal Ramblers. Another quick try by Kyle Liebenberg at the six-minute mark gave the Lions a 12-0 lead. The Ramblers responded and started punishing Lindenwood for penalties and early season mistakes, and drove down to the Lions try line, but the young Lions held strong and even managed to flip the field and clear the ball from their own end numerous times with precision kicking from fly-half Brendan Mason.
That resiliency led Lindenwood to a great try by sophomore Alex Martinez-Tapia. After another try from Fink and a spark from the bench in Jonah Del Rosario, the Lions opened up a 29-0 advantage.
However, the Royal Ramblers did not go down without a fight and after a few missed tackles and numerous infractions by the Lions, the Ramblers took advantage by slotting a penalty kick. Lindenwood was able to string together some phases and place the Ramblers on their back foot and slot another try with a great heads up play by Michael Swanton. The conversion kick by Mason resulted gave the Lions their final margin of victory.
Lindenwood started its second contest versus Principia College by exploding out of the gates with a phenomenal team effort. Stealing a scrum deep in their own territory, the Lions 8-man Gonzalez Fontan picked and went to the weak side. After making a defender miss, he offloaded to All-American wing Nick Hardrict who made another man miss. This all set up supporting player and captain Xavier Herbert for an explosive try to set the score at 7-0.
That quick play awaked the Panthers as they did a great job of pressuring the Lions squad. Lindenwood spent the next 15-minutes of the match doing everything they could to keep Principia out of the try zone. The Lions were on the brink of being carded for continuous infractions on the offsides line when Principia took a penalty deep in Lindenwood territory and slotted a try in the corner. A missed conversation left the Panthers trailing 7-5.
The Lions responded after the Principia score with standout performer Fink adding his third try of the day to extend the Lindenwood lead to 12-5. After some physical play and continued pressure from the foot of Mason and Liebenberg, the Lions dotted down two more trys to finish with a 26-5 victory.
Following the XV's action, Kyle Liebenberg was asked about what he saw from his teammates on the field.
"From the start of the game, everyone was fired up to show their worth," he said. "The defense was great and we brought a lot of big hits from everyone on the field.
"Chemistry is a big thing in rugby and it starts with communication. Our boys were vocal with each other and that really showed. Our captain Xavier led by example and did a great job of keeping everyone in line. All around it was great communication from the boys especially it being our first game."
The young Lions continued their success in back-to-back sevens matches, both ending in shutouts. With the conclusion of the unique day of competition, all 37, U20 student-athletes for the Lions were able to see the field and get valuable game time.
Men's rugby returns to the pitch when they host Saint Louis University September 18. The opening kickoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday afternoon at the Lindenwood Track Complex in St. Charles, Missouri.
