After a tough two-point loss in the waning minutes of the Potomac Rugby Conference Championship game last weekend, Towson University rebounded to hold off a tough Virginia Military Institute to move on to the National Round of 16.

VMI fielded a very large pack of forwards and how Towson handled their attack was a key component of the game.

"One of the benefits of attending the coaching sessions with the Bay of Plenty coaching staff last summer was it taught us to evaluate our strengths and weaknesses each week and adjust our game plan to each of our opponents," said Towson Forwards Coach Tony De Cesare. "While our underlying pillars of passing, tackling and rucking never change, our attack and defense change weekly, and this week we needed to be lumberjacks on defense and chop down some of their trees. On offense, we ran and kicked to open space to make them adjust to our game plan. For the most part it worked."

VMI used their forwards to get past the gain line and their kicking game to pin Towson back. But Towson hit the ankles and tried to poach the ball, and the back three of Greg Dreibelbis, Vinny Minso, and Zach Fluke handled the kicks well.

Towson scored eight minutes in when Will Ngonga snatched up the ball and dove across right under the posts. The match see-sawed for a time after that until All American Pat McKenna took a lineout ball and bulled through the VMI defense. With one man to beat McKenna floated a pass to scrumhalf Eric Sweeney, who scored. Sweeney's second conversion made it 14-0.

On the ensuing restart, Towson took possession and moved it across the field to just outside their own 22, where the forwards started to pick-and-go. That led to a penalty in the ruck for diving onto the ball. The attempt at goal was hung up in the wind and hit the crossbar, bouncing into the hands of a VMI player, who raced in the score to make it 14-7.

Both teams kicked penalties after that and Towson led 17-10 at halftime. Hoping to spread the field more in the second half, Towson did just that. No. 8 McKenna picked from the back of a scrum and raced upfield, taking the last hit as he offloaded to Greg Dreubelbis, who sprinted to the corner. Towson lost both their centers to shoulder injuries, and had to move players around. Wing Zach Fluke was pulled into the midfield and did well, and as a center scored on a switch move that made it, with Sweeney's conversion, 29-10.

But VMI hung tough. They weathered a yellow card and then scored through their forwards twice, both on a eerie of pick-and-goes. Suddenly it was 29-20.

A VMI penalty put them within a try at 29-23. But Towson had the last word, winning the restart and sending the ball to Alex Walsh, who raced in to score the try that sealed the game.

It was a valiant effort from VMI, which used the weapons available to them effectively. But Towso put on a brave defense and exploited their superior speed out wide. They have little time, though, to recover from the hugely physical match

Towson next takes on Grand Valley State in the Round of 16.