The Eau Claire rugby team came to Saturday’s match against Platteville trying to get revenge on the Pioneers, who had beaten them in their two previous games.

However, Platteville had other ideas as they scored 11 times en route to a 65-14 victory.

On a rainy day the Pioneers made it worse for the Blugolds as they scored eight times in the first half while keeping the Blugolds scoreless in the first half.

“We took it to them right away,” Pat Gardner said. “It felt like they laid down and died in the first half. I think Eau Claire is kind of afraid to play us anymore. We scored so many times that they got frustrated with each other and started yelling at each other.”

The Blugolds came out firing in the first half as they scored first, but the Pioneers quickly responded on two scores from Jeff Smith.

The Blugolds responded with a goal of their own, but Gardner responded with a 20-yard score that saw him weave his way between defenders.

Gardner and Smith accounted for seven out of the 11 goals for the Pioneers with Gardner scoring four times and Smith getting a hat-trick.

“We expected more of a competition from them,” Ireland study abroad student Charles Robinson said.

Coming into the game, it was built up as a rivalry game between Eau Claire and Platteville.

“I think the rivalry is pretty much done,” captain Jeff Moyer said. “We took it to them pretty hard. On the plus side it was a good chance to get our b-team in the second half, and they took it to them too.”

The Pioneers will take their undefeated 2-0 record to Kenosha on Saturday, Sept. 30 where they will be playing against UW-Parkside.