The UW-Platteville B-side rugby team struggled through a tough Mudfest tournament losing twice on April 5 to two teams, UW-Milwaukee and Milwaukee School of Engineering. The teams played hard but struggled with consistency and the young inexperienced team could not muster the effort to beat two talented teams.

In the teams first match against MSOE, the Pioneers struggled from the outset. Coming out slightly flat and out of sync hurt them against a more experienced team. The Raiders were able to dominate the first half scoring two tries with relative ease to take a 10-0 lead at half.

“We came out flat and they were dominant and that’s why they lead at half,” senior Dan Meddaugh, said. “We really came out firing in the second half and quickly scored a penalty kick to get the score back to 10-3.”

“We were not playing to our advantage,” senior fly half, Tim Eickholt, said. “In the second half we capitalized on several plays and could have won.”

The Pioneers followed that score with a well timed try to bring the score to 10-8 and from there struggled to take advantage of the many chances they were afforded.

Things just didn’t fall our way, Meddaugh said, we played a hard fought game and it’s hard to come back from behind. The Raiders tallied another try near the end of the game to run the final to 15-8.

The team had a second game against UWM and as was the case in the first match UWM were able to use their experience against UW-P to win the game by the final of 24-7.

In this game, just like the first one, the Pioneers came out not playing their best rugby and the Panthers took full advantage of this using good passing and spacing on the field to move the ball up and down the pitch at will.

“We had a lot of young guys playing together for the first time and our lack of intensity showed against MSOE and UWM both,” Meddaugh said.

The Panthers were about to score four tries during the match compared to the Pioneers only scoring one. There were some very nice offensive sets for the Pioneers who just were not able to break through and score on a tough UWM defense. The valiant effort was not for naught who gained great experience for the young members of the B-side squad.

“It was good to see some of the rookies play well. We know we can play better but when you have young guys playing together for the first time it’s hard to win,” Meddaugh said.

“We played with a lot of inexperienced guys and against Milwaukee they scored an early try and we got down on ourselves,” Eickholt said.

“We played much better later in both games,” Eickholt said. “This shows why we need to start better.”

“We are getting more practice at a higher pace and practicing with more intensity,” senior hooker Connor Weisner, said. “We can work on our scrums and work in a new hooker to be a better team.”

The team looks forward to Ruck-a-Palooza, a tournament held on May 10 at the pitch behind Pickard Hall. This tournament is an opportunity for young players to get more playing time, experience and finally to show the veterans that the club will be in good hands.

“Ruck-a-Palooza is a chance to develop the team and show the older guys that the team will still be fine after everyone leaves,” Weisner said.

The Pioneers look forward to a busy spring season and hope to emerge victorious at Ruck-a-Palooza with a fine send-off for the seniors who have been with the club the longest.