Men's rugby dominated Iowa Central Community College in a 99-10 victory Friday afternoon at the Lindenwood Track Complex in St. Charles, Missouri. Although the Lions had a slow start, they delivered a remarkable performance overall and quickly took control of the match.
How it Happened:
Lindenwood opened the scoring seven minutes into the contest when
Dimitri Diakogiannis demonstrated his finishing ability. A successful conversion from
Byron Forword gave the Lions a 7-0 lead, but the Tritons quickly responded when their eight-man broke through the defense to score between the posts. When they added the conversion, the match was tied 7-7 after 12 minutes.
Two minutes later,
Eduan van Heerden struck back for the Lindenwood with a try, but Iowa Central kept it close with a penalty kick and it was 12-10 Lions at the 18-minute mark.
From there, the momentum shifted decisively in the final 20 minutes of the first half as the Lindenwood posted four unanswered tries. Diakogiannis added his second, followed by two tries from
Riley Richardson-Mould, and one from
Declan Ries. Forword connected on three of the four ensuing conversions and suddenly, it was 38-10 at the break.
The Lions quickly added to their lead when Forword scored and booted his own conversion in the opening minute of the second half to make it 45-10. Five minutes later, Richardson-Mould completed his hat trick, building the advantage to 50-10 still with 35 minutes to play.
As head coach
Josh Macy brought in some subs, Will Bentley made an immediate impact, scoring a try on his first touch after exploiting a gap around the scrum. Forword added another conversion to make it 57-10 in the 51
st minute.
Lindenwood continued its dominance by adding another six converted tries through the remainder of the contest. Van Heerden scored two more to complete his hat trick,
Jack McAllister crossed the line twice, Bentley added his second try, and Finlay
Chad Tinney closed out the match with the final score. Forword converted four of the final six tries, with
Jack McAllister converting two, sealing the emphatic victory.
Player Quote:
Byron Forword: "I was incredibly pleased with the performance and the result from the boys. It started off slow but once we found our rhythm we started executing a lot better. Thanks to all the boys and coaches involved."
Second Side Success:
After the first match, the Lions second side continued the success on the day, posting a 62-0 win in a shortened contest due to limited numbers from the Tritons second XV.
What's Next:
Men's and women's rugby will travel together to Southern Nazarene University for back-to-back matches against the Storm October 12. The ladies will kick-off at 11 a.m. with the men following at 1 p.m. at the SNU Rugby Pitch in Bethany, Oklahoma.
Scoring Summary:
7' Lindenwood Try
Dimitri Diakogiannis 5-0
8' Lindenwood Conversion
Byron Forword 7-0
10' ICCC Try 7-5
11' ICCC Conversion 7-7
13' Lindenwood Try
Eduan van Heerden 12-7
18' ICCC Penalty Kick 12-10
21' Lindenwood Try
Dimitri Diakogiannis 17-10
22' Lindenwood Conversion
Byron Forword 19-10
25' Lindenwood Try
Riley Richardson-Mould 24-10
36' Lindenwood Try
Riley Richardson-Mould 29-10
37' Lindenwood Conversion
Byron Forword 31-10
38' Lindenwood Try
Declan Ries 36-10
40' Lindenwood Conversion
Byron Forword 38-10
41' Lindenwood Try
Byron Forword 43-10
41' Lindenwood Conversion
Byron Forword 45-10
45' Lindenwood Try
Riley Richardson-Mould 50-10
50' Lindenwood Try Will Bentley 55-10
51' Lindenwood Conversion
Byron Forword 57-10
53' Lindenwood Try
Eduan van Heerden 62-10
54' Lindenwood Conversion
Byron Forword 64-10
57' Lindenwood Try Will Bentley 69-10
58' Lindenwood Conversion
Byron Forword 71-10
61' Lindenwood Try
Jack McAllister 76-10
62' Lindenwood Conversion
Byron Forword 78-10
68' Lindenwood Try
Eduan van Heerden 83-10
69' Lindenwood Conversion
Byron Forword 85-10
71' Lindenwood Try
Jack McAllister 90-10
72' Lindenwood Conversion
Jack McAllister 92-10
77' Lindenwood Try
Chad Tinney 97-10
78' Lindenwood Conversion
Jack McAllister 99-10
Lineup:
