The UW-Platteville Men’s Rugby Club traveled to Delafield, Wis. to play in the Milwaukee Cup. The Cup took place on April 18 including eight college men’s teams, two  Milwaukee Rugby Football Club teams and four high school boy matches, according to the Milwaukee Cup Web site.

UW-P played against UW-Parkside in the first game, Marquette University in the second game and, long time rival, UW-Whitewater in the championship game but was unable to pull through.

Platteville started off sluggish against Parkside but were able to come through in the second half and defeat Parkside by more than 30 points.

“Parkside was in the lead for a little in the first half and in the second half we really pulled everything together and eventually pulled away over Parkside with a convincing win,” Zizzo said.

In the second round of the tournament, UW-P was up against Marquette. Once again, the ruggers had a slow start against the Golden Eagles and were down going into the half. Platteville was able to pull it back together in the second half to defeat Marquette after a 30 point run.

“Our team was faced with a few speedy players from Marquette, but as soon as we caught on to their game plan we started to get good hits again to come out with the win,” senior rugger Conner Wiesner said.

The championship was between rivals UW-P and UW-W where, in the end, Whitewater came out with the win. UW-P was once again down in the first half but were able to pull within five points with five minutes left in the second half.

“At half, we discussed what we needed to do and we went and played at a skill level that was very impressive,” Zizzo said. “During the whole second half we played great. No matter what we did wrong in the first half we really capitalized on it in the second.”

The game ended on a penalty and the sir [referee] stopped the game, giving the win to Whitewater.

“When the lead was within a try [five points] with under five minutes to play, we really started to take it to them [UW-W],” Wiesner said. “We had the ball on their side of the field for all of the last five minutes, and we had three or four good scoring opportunities but couldn’t capitalize on them. The game ended on a couple questionable calls including an illegal one to end the game. The penalty was awarded to us, and the sir stopped the game.”

The ruggers off the bench contributed greatly to the success of the Men’s Rugby Club.

“The biggest impacts were made by some of our subs, like Cody Black, Travis Rudesill and Justin Horack,” Wiesner said. “The ability of our team to have fresh, experienced players in the game who could make an impact was imperative to our success.”

UW-P  hosts the annual Alumni Tournament Saturday, April 25.

“I was disappointed that we didn’t win the tournament, but I think that overall we had an awesome day,” Wiesner said. “Teams know now that we are back and in full-force and I am excited tosee what the future brings for this team.”