LANGLEY, B.C. – Trinity Western took their first loss in B.C. Rugby Division 2 play on Saturday, falling 36-33 to the Surrey Beavers at the Willoughby Community Park.

The Spartans surrendered a 33-12 lead as the Beavers proceeded to mount a 24-point rally to take Saturday's match. 

Led by two tries from Lynden Duggan (Burnaby, B.C.), the Spartans also enjoyed contributions in from Connor Bernardin (Langley, B.C.), Erik Niebuhr (Surrey, B.C.), and Scott Bowers (New Westminster, B.C.) who all scored tries.

Keegan Marengo (Johannesburg, South Africa) converted on four of five attempts from the tee.

AS IT HAPPENED 
The Spartans were the first to strike in the first half, courtesy of Connor Bernardin's blistering pace down the left flank. Bernardin's try was followed by Marengo's lone miss from the tee on Saturday, moving the match to a 5-0 lead for the Spartans. 

The Beavers would quickly move to take their first lead of the match, scoring 12 straight points on two tries and one conversion. 

With the match tilting in favour of the Beavers, the Spartans would complete four consecutive tries with successful conversions to claim a commanding 33-12 lead over the game.

After the Spartans had the Beavers hemmed into their defensive third for a hearty portion of the match, the visitors proceeded to rattle off a 24-point run of their own with their final try, and successful conversion being completed with only three minutes remaining in the match to end Saturday's tilt at a 36-33 line in favour of the Beavers.  

QUOTABLE
TWU Director of Rugby Andrew Evans 
"We lost and we are not happy. We did not execute our game plan and we were not clinical on our opportunities. Surrey are a difficult team to play against, and will always punish those who are not sharp for 80 minutes and that is what happened today.
 
"Our leaders have identified that it is good that we lost today as another win without sticking to our tactics is detrimental to the team we want to become."

NOTABLE
•    The Spartans are 0-2 in their matchups against the Surrey Beavers, falling 31-13 on Nov. 22^nd, 2019 the last time the two sides met.
•    TWU is 4-1 in BC Rugby Division 2 ties. 

UP NEXT 
TWU will play their final tie in BC Rugby Division 2 on Apr. 9^th, taking on United Rugby Club. 

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.

-TW-