Wayne State Rugby continued its early season dominance Saturday in the Rookie Rumble Vets Fumble Tournament, held at Tompkins Rugby park in Wayne. The men and women played well in their home debuts going 8-0 on the day, the only college at the tournament to do so.

“The tournament went smooth as silk, it was great to go 8-0, with four wins by the boys and four wins by the gals,” Darren Barner, Wayne State rugby coach, said.

In the first game of the day, the Lady ‘Cats were paired up against the Chadron State Eagles rugby team. The game started off fast for the Wayne State women as they scored barely even a minute into the game. This became a sign of things to come as Wayne State jumped out to a 30-0 lead before finishing the match with the 44-0 victory.

Sioux Falls women’s rugby team was the Lady ‘Cats next match, and the ‘Cats made quick work of them. After driving down the length of the field on the Cougars seconds into the game, the Wayne State women’s rugby team was stuffed on several different attempts at the goal line before finally busting into the end zone for the 7-0 lead. Throughout the game, the women used an upbeat offensive attack to complement a smoldering defense to claim the 50-5 victory.

In the last two matches of the day for the women, the Wayne State rookie team took the field in a rematch against Sioux Falls and against the University of Nebraska. The first game against Sioux Falls saw the women fall behind 12-0 in the first half, only to come back in the second half and score 24 unanswered points for the 24-12 victory.

Against Nebraska, there was no drama as in the first match and the Wayne State women rookie team took care of the Cornhuskers 48-0.

“The freshman gals really stepped up after the 72-0 win over U. of Wisconsin last week. They are starting to click,” Barner said.

On the men’s side of the tournament, the Wayne State rugby team started the day off against the Jackrabbits of South Dakota State. The game stayed close throughout the beginning, but after a fumble recovery in the end zone for Wayne State, the Wildcats were able to jump out to a 7-0 lead. From there, the Wildcats stayed in control of the game, winning a low-scoring affair with a final score of 19-5.

“We started off slow the first game but as the tournament progressed we started picking it up. Everything was starting to click and the team chemistry was getting a lot better. We played tough and confident,” Kelly Clifford, a Wayne State rugby player said.

The marquee match-up of the day, saw the Wayne State men take on the University of Kansas City. In a low-scoring affair, Wayne State saw themselves on the wrong side of the scoreboard throughout, trailing 7-5 with two minutes left. In an epic finish, Wayne State was able to score with a minute and a half left off of a reverse play to seal the 12-7 victory.

“It was so great to get that win,” Clifford said. “They were a solid team, and it was a hard-fought battle the whole game. We knew it was going to be a tough one. It was really great to see that when we got down, we kept fighting and didn’t give up.

“There are going to be a lot of tough games this year and it gives us all confidence that we are going to stay together and fight hard no matter what the odds are.”
Barner was proud of the men’s efforts, not giving up against a school much larger than Wayne State.

“We have a very big challenge playing a 25,000 enrollment school such as U. of KC,” Barner said. “The boys focused and played a very high-end team, and came out with a win. It was good to see, and looking forward to a big challenge playing Nebraska.”

The men and women look to ride their success from last Saturday as they travel to Lincoln next Friday for night games against the University of Nebraska.