The Gateway Conference kicked off with Washington U. and SLU both winning their openers.
SLU hammered Southern Illinois with Hugh Bukowski, Neil O'Connor, Ethan Gallant, Danny Garcia, Joaquin Martinez, Jacob Zorc, and Matthew Balbach all scoring tries. Flyhalf Dermot Hughes was a perfect 10-for-1o in conversions in the 70-5 win.
This is a solidly veteran SLU side.
Washington won a high-scoring battle with Maryville 62-34.
Good to hear from you. Yes, it was definitely nice to get off to a positive start.
Despite not being able to recruit Washington has seen a nice crop of talented athletes join the team. That influx prompted Coach Bryce Krug to say "this is one of the more complete teams I’ve seen in the five years I’ve been associated with the Griffins."
It was a good team effort with strong team leadership, as Washington won 62-34.
Prop Drew Wendler and lock Aidan Moriarty are hard workers, leaders by example, and do a lot behind the scenes for the team as well. Sean Kim, who cut his rugby teeth as a high-schooler in San Diego, is the club president and missed time last year due to injury. He is back now and playing well at scrumhalf.
"I see all these guys working hard all the time to shape the club to match their competitive vision, which is really gratifying," said Krug.
