VANCOUVER – Trinity Western's men's rugby team lost 40-17 against UBC Saturday afternoon in a Coastal Cup match at the Gerald McGavin UBC Rugby Centre.
TWU's
Keegan Marengo (Johannsburg, South Africa) dotted down early in the second half and
Matthew Willemse (Pietermaritzburg, South Africa) slotted the conversion to give the Spartans a 10-8 lead, but shortly thereafter the game turned UBC's way.
The Thunderbirds scored a try in the 49th minute to go ahead 15-10, sparking a stretch in which UBC tallied 32 straight points.
A late try by TWU's
Lynden Duggan (Burnaby, B.C.) rolled the scoreboard over for the Spartans, with Marengo hitting the conversion, but a UBC penalty on the final play of the match iced the T-Birds 40-point afternoon.
Willemse opened the scoring in the 23rd minute putting a penalty through the posts, before UBC equalized in the 32nd minute with a penalty of their own. A T-Birds try in the 37th minute put the home side up 8-3 at halftime.
UBC's second half points came via four tries, three conversions and two penalties.
TWU Scoring Plays
1st Half
23' – Willemse penalty converstion
2nd Half
42 – Marengo try, Willemse conversion
80' – Duggan try, Marengo conversion
QUOTABLE
Andrew Evans – Director of Rugby
"We came out of the gates a little flat and UBC was really aggressive and hungry for the full 80 minutes. Our game management and execution wasn't great and we ended up getting some penalties that snuffed out any momentum that we were going to get.
"I think UBC played exactly how we thought they would. I was surprised with the way we came out. We didn't have the defence that we showed that we can play against the Pride last week. This week, we let them run at us and they're good ball carriers if you let them get running at you. I'm not sure why that was. I'll have to figure that out. They had some really good carries by their forwards and they definitely defended our lineout really well, especially in the first half. They were very good at getting the ball wide, but those are things that they've shown already. It's about us needing to execute on defence and execute on the attack.
"UBC is very good. They lost some games prior to this win, but if anyone was second guessing UBC, we saw today that they are very good. Congratulations to UBC. I thought they did a lot of positive things.
"This Coastal Cup is fantastic. We have so many good, young players from Canada playing in this competition and working hard every week. There's a Canada 'A' tour coming up and I definitely think (Canada coach) Kingsley Jones should be picking some of these boys. There are definitely individuals who can make a difference for Canadian rugby on all four of these teams. We have big games coming up but we want all four of these teams helping with a solution for Canada to turn the corner in men's rugby."
NOTABLE
• TWU is now 0-2 all-time against UBC, having lost 34-13 in their first-ever meeting a year ago in the Coastal Cup.
• Last week, the Spartans took home a program-defining victory (37-26 W) against Pacific Pride – Rugby Canada's National Development Academy.
UP NEXT
TWU travels to play the Pacific Pride Oct. 1 at Starlight Stadium in Langford, B.C. at 2:30 p.m. (PT).
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.
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