After losing a close game to the Kansas City Cougars out of Shawnee Mission, Kan., St. Thomas Aquinas bounced back with a 54-7 defeat of Park Hill South this past weekend.

STA led 40-0 at halftime, and, with an eye toward developing depth for the Boys NIT in May, Head Coach Tim Kluempers subbed in as many as he could.

We bounced back from the worst rugby game my team every played vs Shawnee Mission Northwest and beat Parkhill South 54 to 7.  We were up 40 to 0 at half and I subbed out 9 guys to bloody more players to get ready for Nationals.

Kluempers said his team’s 20-15 loss to the Cougars was “the worst rugby game my team every played.” 

Across the border in Missouri, The Kansas City Junior Blues logged wins over Olathe (58-7) and Blue Valley (38-7).

The Blues did have an open weekend coming up, but the Cougars have stepped in to provide some stern opposition.

“It should be a good game,” said KC Jr. Blues Coach Chris Lawler. 

And that’s actually the need in the Kansas City area. Too long the Blues and STA have been the top of the heap. The Cougars are trying to make it a hierarchy of three. 

With their win over STA the Cougars are 3-0, ahead of the 3-1 Aquinas team in Kansas. Cougars Coach Kevin Kelly said his frontline players are strong, but he is still developing their depth.

“We are definitely targeting a state championship,” said Kelly. “We expect we’ll be seeing Aquinas again.”

The Cougars are led by four-year starter Matt Thorman at flyhalf and Cole Wynn at scrumhalf, who has spent his summers in New Zealand (where his parents are from) and built his game nicely as a result. Flanker Alex Quinn has been a defensive terror.

KC was coached by Kelly and Pat Clifton - co-host of RuggaMatrix America along with Goff Rugby Report Editor Alex Goff. Clifton has since taken a job as Head Coach of Lindenwood-Belleville in Illinois, where he is building a program from the ground up. But what he helped build is still going strong.

“We have a good junior class,” said Kelly. “But it will be interesting to see how we recruit this year. We know teams like Aquinas and the Junior Blues was tough competition that they don’t have to travel several hours to play.”

Not only are the Cougars happy to provide that competition, the other two are finding out that they want to win those games, as well.