by Whitney Robison
The CMU Men’s Rugby team fought hard against Colorado College in their home opener on Saturday, but to no avail they came up short, losing 43-22.
For being the first game of the season, and having eight rookies in the starting lineup, the Mavs played a tough game. There were mistakes made and lessons taught along the way, but they played as a team and they were learning together.
“When it was on it was on,” head Coach Mack Lewis said. “The team tries were beautiful; the team runs were beautiful; the offensive rucks were beautiful; the majority of the tackles were beautiful, but we needed to do that for all eighty minutes of the game, not just a few moments.”
There were a handful of times throughout the match where the Mavs flowed well
together and looked like a solid rugby team. The tries that were scored were not by individuals per se, but they were made because of a series of beautiful passes and smart decisions by a majority of the players.
The score may have been closer if it was not for simple mistakes that were made in the try zone by the Mavs. Two times throughout the match the Mavs were close to scoring, but there was a knock-on in the try zone and in another attempt they had the ball get held up. These two missing tries could have made the game closer, however the Mavs still had some things to work on. One thing is for certain though, they learned to be humble, they will learn from their mistakes, and they will come back even stronger for the next game.
The Mavs will face off against the Air Force Academy’s B-side next weekend in Colorado Springs.
