Southern Nazarene Wins Wayne State Clash in Nebraska
Southern Nazarene Wins Wayne State Clash in Nebraska
Southern Nazarene kicked off their men's rugby season Friday afternoon with a well-taken 24-3 win over Wayne State.
While Wayne State already had a game under their belt (see here>>), where they won, their offense did not catch fire this time around.
This was a reversal of last year's meeting between the two, in which Wayne State won 20-13.
But a very high percentage of SNU returns for this season and they are all a bit more experienced and seasoned.
"Size in the SNU pack and experience and pace in the backline was the difference," said SNU Head Coach Aric Gilliland.
With the powerful front eight, the Crimson Storm was able to deny Wayne State secure possession. When they got the ball, the Wildcats did threaten.
"We were able to apply pressure most of the day, but it didn’t feel like a game where we only gave up three points," said Gilliland.
Several times Wayne State was able to get down to the SNU goalline only to be held out bby a tenacious goalline stand.
"Boys were physical and had decent line speed most of the game," added Gilliland.
This is a cross-organization non-conference game for both teams. SNU remains an independent in NCR and their season includes teams from conferences such as NCR's Big Rivers (D1), Gateway (D2), and Lonestar (D1AA), as well as CRAA's Midwest (D1A), Rugby East (D1A), and Heart of America (D1AA). Wayne State, meanwhile, moved from NCR's D3 to CRAA's Heart of America most because of travel considerations and because of NCR policies surrounding school-supported teams.
We won NCR D3 in December and NCR told us we could no longer player in D3," explained said Wayne State Head Coach Bryn Chivers. "We were looking to move up anyway as once we had won the division; we didn’t want to be that team that keeps beating up on the other teams just to win a title. But then NCR said that promotion wouldn’t be to D2 and that we would have to play in D1AA, despite the closest NCR D1AA team being 680 miles away. We approached the Heart of America, and the Mid America GU, about joining them and they were really welcoming. While the competition was still going to be D1AA, it dramatically eased the strain on the program by reducing the travel requirements. Even with Missouri in our half of the conference the average away game is 280 miles, unthinkable in the Northeast but the norm for a good game in the Heartland. "
