LANGLEY, B.C. – Both Tamilore Awonusi (Dublin, Ireland) and Fynn Murphy (Surrey, B.C.) scored twice as Trinity Western fell 55-38 to UBC at Willoughby Community Park on Saturday.
 
The Spartans (1-4) got out to a 35-19 lead in the first half, but the Thunderbirds roared back in the second, outscoring TWU 36-3.

Lynden Duggan (Burnaby, B.C.) and Matthew Willemse (Pietermaritzburg, South Africa) were the only other Spartans who found the scoresheet. Duggan's score came in the form of a try, while Willemse went 1/5 on penalties, and 5/5 on converts for a total of 13 points.

AS IT HAPPENED
The Thunderbirds were the first to make their statement, scoring a try in the opening five minutes of the match. The Spartans answered back quickly as Murphy got in for his first of two tries to tie the match at 7-7.
 
UBC and TWU traded tries once more before the Spartans took off. Duggan's try, which tied UBC at 14-14, stood as a point of momentum for the Spartans as Awonusi would lead the charge, dotting down twice. TWU led 35-19 at the half.
 
The Thunderbirds proceeded to keep applying pressure, hemming TWU back into their half for the remainder of the match. The Thunderbirds outscored the Spartans 36-3 in the second half, wrapping the match's score up at 55-38.

QUOTABLE
Andrew Evans – Director of Rugby
"We've been focussing on having fun, and we wanted to score more tries this game. In video this week, we focussed on that and finished our session looking at the nice tries we've scored this season. We hadn't scored as much as we would've liked in our last two games, so scoring five tries in the first half against UBC is fantastic. They were all good team tries.

"We finished the first half down a man, but we were able to keep UBC out. They scored two tries off of our mistakes – and you can't do that against UBC. We got a red card with 15 minutes to play too, so UBC was able to score six tries in the second half against us. Discipline really hurt us, and we can't be doing that against UBC. We needed 15 men on the pitch. Our game management let us down in the second half too. We gave them more possession and gave them an opportunity to rumble with their forwards and their maul, then we couldn't keep them out. We need to tighten things up in our maul, and on the goal line so we can keep possession and let team have multiple threats.

"It's disappointing, but we're up there with some of the best in North America right now. UVIC and UBC are the best in North America and we're knocking on their door in narrow defeats – we're not there yet, but we'll keep working."
 
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 13 U SPORTS team championships and 32 Canada West team championships.
 
-TW-