The Virginia Military Institute men’s rugby program is solid at #3 in the nation and kept that ranking thanks to victories over Virginia Commonwealth and Old Dominion to win the Cardinals Conference title.

VMI and ODU were, in fact, slated to face each other during the regular season, but the game was fined out. VMI Head Coach Wayne Howe said that didn’t both him much.

“It looked, the way the season was going, that it would be us and ODU anyway,” said Hower. “It was strange, because their games against the same opponents were closer than ours. But they certainly showed up Sunday.”

Saturday “went really well,” said Howe of the 58-0 shutout of VCU. ODU had to work very hard to dispatch Mary Washington 29-25. But Old Dominion used that test on Saturday to keep them focused for Sunday.

“We struggled with penalties,” said Howe. “At halftime it was 15 to 2 in penalties at the breakdown. We made mistakes, and we gave them a lot of ball and a lot of rugby. It was tough.”

So Howe advised his players to not contest at ruck, and just spread out and play defense.

“The nerves and frustration went away at halftime,” said Howe. “The players didn’t know what was going to work in the rucks. But we did better in the second half and we kicked better in the second half.”

Captain and No. 8 Mike Young scored five tries. The 6-5, 235-pound loose forward proved himself a difficult player to contain, and, said Howe, “close to the goal line he is tough to stop.”

His performance is all the more important because previous captain and No. 8 Evan Thompson has been sidelined with injury. Young stepped into both roles, and was brilliant.

Prop John Reeves is a powerhouse at prop, and in general the VMI pack led from the front.

It was an impressive performance, and they will need more once the playoffs start. VMI plays the winner of Coastal Carolina and Salisbury in the Round of 16. Most would pick Salisbury to win that game, but either way it will be a difficult proposition. If they win that, it’s the winner of UNC-Wilmington (ranked 7th) and RPI (24). Most would pick UNC-W, but either way it’s a difficult game. To get to the final four will mean beating some very strong teams. VMI, however, has taken care of some quality opposition already.