LANGLEY, B.C. – It was a massive 37-26 victory over Pacific Pride for Trinity Western at the Willoughby Community Park on Saturday. Tamilore Awonusi (Dublin, Ireland) led the Spartans with two tries while Matthew Willemse (Pietermaritzburg, South Africa) converted on all four TWU tries to go with three penalties for a team-high 17 points.

Both TWU and Pacific Pride stand at 1-1 in the Coastal Cup standings.

Tries from Erik Niebuhr (Surrey, B.C.) and Genaro Gandolfo (Buenos Aires, Argentina) filled out the remainder of TWU's scoring.

With the Spartans down 21-0 in the 25^th minute, a try from Niebuhr in the 36^th minute would spark a massive comeback for TWU. Awonusi would score from the wing in the 40^th minute, dotting down at the half's end to bring the score to 21-14 favouring Pacific Pride.

The second half saw the field tilt in TWU's direction as Gandolfo would tie things up in the 45^th minute.
 
The Spartans would never look back after Gandolfo's game-tying try, outscoring the Pride 16-5 for the remainder of the match. 
 
TWU Scoring Plays
1^st half
36' – Niebuhr try, Willemse conversion
40' – Awonusi try, Willemse conversion
 
2^nd half
45' – Gandolfo try, Willemse conversion
53' – Willemse penalty conversion
61' – Willemse penalty conversion
68' – Willemse penalty conversion
80' – Awonusi try, Willemse conversion

QUOTABLE
Andrew Evans – Director of Rugby
"Above all, thank you Jesus. This win means everything. We've been working so incredibly hard for three years. We speak about faith all of the time – and faith is putting hope in the unseen, but eventually there is evidence. Today is some of that evidence. The boys have been putting in so much humble work. We've had a lot of losses, so the way that we won today means everything.
 
"We've learned from last week. We took penalties early in the first half, so they got behind us with their lineout. They had some good carries to score three tries – putting us down 21-0. It was nice to have our captain Caleb Gerth (Langley, B.C.) on the bench encouraging the boys and relaying some adjustments from the coaching staff.
 
"We had a lot of impact come from our bench early on. Grayson Hardie and David Wegert put in some really good minutes early in the match, so that enabled us to have more come off the bench earlier in the game. Once Caleb Van Til and Ethan Jurgeneit came on they injected a lot of energy. At half time we made some more subs to pick up the pace even more to come out of the deficit, built a lead, then keep a lead.
 
"Matthew Willemse played a solid 80 minutes. He helped us build our lead with some massive penalty kicks. It was quite windy today, so he got off to a slow start kicking, but he figured it out and helped us build a solid lead. Our front row did a great job in scrums today. The [Pacific] Pride are a fantastic program, so to win some scrum penalties against them and front up against the national program is something special. Credit to all the forwards for the shift they put in. Caleb Van Til was a maniac at the end of the game, tackling everything and adding a poach as well. That work-rate showed what you have to do at this level of rugby we're playing at.
 
"There were so many positives – I could go through the whole list."

NOTABLE

• The Spartans now own a 1-1 record against Pacific Pride. The Spartans took a 46-17 loss the last time they played Pacific Pride on Oct. 30^th, 2021.
• Tamilore Awonusi has scored a total of four tries in TWU's two matches against Pacific Pride.
• The Pacific Pride is Rugby Canada's National Development Academy team based in Langford, B.C.

 

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UP NEXT
TWU heads to Vancouver to take on UBC at the Gerald McGavin UBC Rugby Centre on Sept. 24^th (2:30 p.m.).

TWU Roster 
1. Favour Olaniyan, Gibsons, BC, Capilano Rugby Club
2. Scott Bowers, New Westminster, BC, United Rugby Club 
3. Grayson Hardie, Chilliwack, BC
4. Martin Zubiri, Pergamino, Argentina, Club Atletico del Rosario
5. David Wegert, Langley, BC
6. Erik Niebuhr, Surrey, BC, Bayside Sharks
7. Nate Schroeder, West Kelowna, BC
8. Genaro Gandolfo-Brignoli, Buenos Aires, Argentina
9. Fynn Murphy, White Rock, BC, Bayside Sharks
10.. Matthew Willemse, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, Langley Rugby Club
11. Tamilore Awonusi, Dublin, Ireland, Clontarf RFC 
12. Guiseppe Du Toit, Maple Ridge, BC, Victoria
13. Ethan Bernardin, Langley, BC 
14. Lynden Duggan, Burnaby, BC, Burnaby Lake Rugby Club
15. Jan Lourens, Smoky Lake, AB, Clansmen RFC 

16. Seth Klassen, Surrey, BC, Bayside Sharks
17. Ethan Jurgeneit, Bracebridge, Ont., 
18. Tim Zimmer, Fort St. John, BC
19. Josh Halladay, White Rock, BC
20. Caleb Van Til, Delta, BC
21. Keegan Marengo, Coquitlam, BC
22. Sam Wegert, Langley, BC, UBC
23. Oliver Clarke, Duncan, BC

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.

About Trinity Western University
Recognized for quality, TWU has received seven consecutive A+ rankings for Quality of Teaching and Learning, holds three Canada Research Chairs, and wins national championships in CIS sports. More importantly, lives are changed at TWU through its whole-person, Christ-centred approach to education. With a wide array of undergraduate, graduate, and adult degree-completion programs, TWU equips leaders of character and competence to make a positive impact in the lives of others.  

-TW-