VANCOUVER – In their return to the pitch for the inaugural season of the Coastal Cup Saturday afternoon, Trinity Western's men's rugby team dropped a 34-13 decision against UBC at the Gerald McGavin UBC Rugby Centre. 

Guiseppe de Toit (Maple Ridge, B.C.) scored both tries for the Spartans, while Keegan Marengo (Johannesburg, South Africa) added a penalty. 

The game marked the first-ever contest between the Spartans, who relaunched the men's rugby program at TWU in 2019, and the Thunderbirds, who have more than a 100 years of men's rugby history. 

AS IT HAPPENED 
After the Thunderbirds put the first eight points on the board – thanks to an early try and a well-struck penalty – TWU's Marengo slotted the Spartans first points of the afternoon with a penalty of his own. UBC responded with its second try of the day before du Toit (Maple Ridge, B.C.) tallied TWU's first try in the Coastal Cup competition at the 20-minute mark. An unconverted try in the 32nd minute from UBC saw the Thunderbirds take a 20-8 lead into the break. 

UBC scored early in the second half, going ahead 27-8, but a tireless Spartans side roared back with du Toit finishing for TWU to close the gap to 14 points. However, a late converted try from UBC rounded out the scoring. 

QUOTABLE
TWU Head Coach Andrew Evans 
"I'm incredibly proud of the entire group of players as a whole. We've put in so much work over the past two years to play a game against UBC. They've been a target for us. I'm just extremely proud of the work our guys have put in and the character they have and the men that they are. 

"We worked on defence a lot and I thought our team played some tremendous defence and put UBC under a lot of pressure. We forced them to make some errors and we were able to get some opportunities off of that. UBC has a history of putting a lot of points on the board against many teams and that didn't happen to us today. I was really proud of defence. They did what we asked of them. We put in a new defensive system this year and I think it's working and we'll continue to refine and be better at that."

NOTABLE 
•    Du Toit, who is signed with the Toronto Arrows (MLR) slotted into the playing side this year, as he is taking a Masters degree in Leadership, after coaching with the Spartans last year. 
•    The Spartans last 15s game was Feb. 14, 2019 when TWU hosted then No. 13-ranked Central Washington University, losing 76-10.

NEXT UP
The Spartans will now prepare to play Van East Rugby in TWU's home-opener Oct. 1 at the Willoughby Community Park.

About Spartan Athletics
As official members of U SPORTS, the Spartans currently compete in 13 sports in the Canada West conference, including women's and men's soccer, volleyball, basketball, hockey, cross country and track & field, as well as women's rugby sevens. TWU also competes as an independent team in men's rugby. Since TWU entered U SPORTS in 1999, the Spartans have won 12 U SPORTS team championships and 29 Canada West team championships.

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