The Men’s Rugby Club at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville traveled to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee for their first game of the season, Sept. 6.

The Pioneers gained procession of the ball early in the first half and took it down the field. The team held the ball at the 22-meter mark and subsequently obtained a penalty kick to score the first three points.

Soon after, the UW-Milwaukee panthers scored taking a two-point lead.

The Pioneers affectively responded with an interception performed by sophomore scrumhalf

Mason Labuda, who took the ball down the field a total of 90 meters.

“We had some good plays,” said Kevin Schmidt, junior civil engineering major and team president.

“We were doing well until we got the ball stuck within the 22 meter nearly the entire second half.”

The Pioneers were unable to score again despite having the ball on the opponent’s side of the field during the concluding moments of the game. The panthers scored twice more ending the game 15-10.

Senior criminal justice major and rugby team caption, Danny Douglas, said that there is much to improve on.

“Things that we can do differently can start with showing up to practice everyday on time,” Douglas said. “Next comes with working on procession within the 22 meter line and red zone offense.”

Both Schmidt and Douglas said that, as per usual, the team is using this first game as a learning experience and that they will focus on the areas that need adjustments during practices, which normally consist of a warm up, ball ends, drills, conditioning and scrimmages.

“I think that we have a lot of potential for this season,” Schmidt said. “It’s nice that rugby has become more popular because it sparks more interest, especially in high schools nationwide. We have two rookies starting this year.”

An expected stand-out player for this season is freshman prop Max Muller, who assisted high school team rugby team in winning state last year.
The Pioneers go against the University of Wisconsin-Stout at home Sept. 13.