Men’s Rugby defeats UMKC

The Pitt State men’s rugby team played a game against the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) and the Gorillas managed to break their losing streak. PSU won the game 80-0.  

Men’s rugby club president and senior in communication Ivan Walter says the teams hard work throughout practice last week and their preparation for the game paid off.  

“I saw us quick on all cylinders,” Walter said. “I saw all our hard work… We played really well all sides of the ball. It was a lot of fun.”  

According to Walter, the team played well, and it was shown by the fact that the UMKC team did not manage to score at all throughout the game. Any time a game can be won without the opposing team scoring a point is always a testament to how good the team played, and it is no different in this case.  

“We really played with a great intensity,” Walter said. “We were not afraid to hit their (players) and then we just did a really good job getting the ball out from the pack to the back line.”  

During the off season and throughout this season, the rugby team gained many new members. So, conditioning is a big part of practice according to Walter. Many of the new rugby players play other sports at Pitt State and they are typically more familiar with those other sports. Because they are used to other sports and not rugby, the team is constantly conditioning during practice so that they can get acclimated to rugby and how it is played.   

“I would say (that we) definitely got to work on our conditioning, always,” Walter said. “You can always be faster. But honestly, we just played really well… I would say (we need to work on) conditioning and just consistency. We got to keep it going…”  

Walter says that the next game, which is against the Missouri University of Science and Technology (S&T) men’s rugby team, is an important match for the men’s rugby team and hopes to pull away with a win.  

“Well, our next game is probably our biggest match of the regular season,” Walter said. “We are playing S&T who is always a really tough opponent…”  

According to Walter, the Gorillas are preparing and working at improving their rugby skills during the week so that the team is accurately prepped and prepared heading into this weekend’s game.   

“We plan on having a solid week of practice that is efficient because our opponent this week will most likely be our toughest match yet and we have to be prepared for that,” Walter said.  

The Gorillas next game is against the Missouri University of Science and Technology men’s rugby team on Saturday, Oct. 5.  

The championships are approaching for men’s rugby. The Gorillas have another match after the game against Missouri S&T on Saturday, Oct. 19, the University of Central Missouri. After that is the Collegiate Gateway Conference Championships in St. Louis on Saturday, Nov. 2.