Xavier headed north to Ontario for their Easter break tour with a mission to right the ship after losing on the final play of the game against Gonzaga April 1, and playing below their standard against St. Ignatius. 

As all tours do, it gave the players time to focus on skills and strategies as well as develop closer team bonds.  

With a slightly reshuffled lineup, Xavier rebounded from their St. Ignatius loss with a 79-0 thrashing of Northern Secondary School.  Playing his first match at flyhalf, senior Eoin Sansavero led the team with good tactical decisions that opened up a lot of space for the Xavier backline.  Also making a positive impact in his first start was tighthead prop Omar Mtarfi. While Xavier was happy with their attack, the coaches were even more happy with the tenacious defense that recorded the shutout despite, even with 13 substitutions made throughout the friendly match.

The key match of the five-day tour, however, was Xavier’s clash with Uxbridge Secondary School.  Uxbridge is the reigning Ontario Provincial Champion and is the only school in the extremely competitive AAA league to have won that title more than once in the past six years.  Adding to the challenge of the match was that it was scheduled during Uxbridge’s School Pride Week with a crowd of close to 1,000 attending the match.  The Uxbridge student body formed a tunnel from the school to the field,  both teams were led through the tunnel by a piper, and both national anthems were sung by the Uxbridge student body.  To say the least, Uxbridge put on a show and were excellent hosts for the American tourists.

The match was a tense, physical, hard fought battle.  Despite sloppy conditions caused by two days of rain, both teams played smart, clinical rugby, with few knock-ons or dropped balls.  As such, the tackle count for both teams was massive. Uxbridge drew first blood as their mammoth tighthead crashed over from inside the 5-meter line after a sustained ten-phase assault on the Xavier line.  The conversion gave them a 7-0 lead.  Xavier struck back later in the half when fullback Damon Anderson squeezed in for a touchline try after a scrum deep in Uxbridge territory.  The score at halftime - 7-5, Uxbridge.

Xavier drew first blood midway through the second half.  A huge 30 meter break by loose-head prop Alex Botwin brought ball inside the Uxbridge 22.   Six phases later, Anderson dove over for his second touchline try and put Xavier ahead 10-7.  Uxbridge, however, struck back immediately after and found some daylight in the otherwise tight defense to score and take the lead 12-10.  

Under pressure against a strong team and a big crowd, Xavier responded with hustle and cool heads and dominated the last ten minutes of the match.  First, scrumhalf Connor Buckley quick tapped at an Uxbridge penalty and scampered 20 meters for the score.  Richie Terranova’s conversion made the score 19-12 to Xavier.  Moments later, Terranova chased down a penalty kick that was misplayed by the Uxbridge winger at midfield, toed the ball ahead and dribbled the ball to the in-goal where he touched down for the security try.  Xavier finished the match 24-12.