Mother's Rugby Falls to Radford 57-26

By RYAN FARRAR

It was a sunny yet chilly Saturday afternoon on Nov. 19 when the University of Mary Washington’s elite Mother’s Rugby team took on a fierce Radford University rugby squad at the Battlefield Athletic Complex. The UMW team fell to the Highlanders 57-26 to end the Mother’s Rugby season. The top Mary Washington rugby team ended their season with a 4-3-1 record.

The game was a rescheduled bout because of unplayable fields and a threat of lightning on the original date. Both teams came into the game very evenly matched, which made for a much anticipated game that many assumed would come down to the wire. In the beginning of the game, both teams battled back and forth answering each other’s scores. It was a rough match that was very intense to watch, as both teams doled out vicious hits and punishing tackles.

The game was even until Radford pulled away a little less than halfway through the game and never looked back.  Mother’s Rugby was trying desperately to counter the run Radford had put on them, but they just did not have an answer for anything Radford ran. The final score of the game was 57-26 in favor of the visiting Highlanders.

Mother’s Rugby had been battling injuries all year long, losing key players for significant stretches of the season. In the final game in particular, the UMW squad was without their premier speedster Todd Lancaster. Lancaster had dislocated his shoulder in a previous game for the second time in his collegiate career, which made him unfit to play the rest of the season.  Although not able to play, Lancaster was still present at the game, with his arm in a sling, cheering and helping coach his team.

“This game could have been a blowout by either team and it just so happen[ed] to not work out for us today,” Lancaster said. “I am still proud of how my team played and conducted themselves after the game was over. Now it is back to the drawing board and time to get better.”

Michael Biller, also sidelined due to a prolonged toe injury, was also available for comment as well.

“Today was a hard loss for Mother’s Rugby,” Biller said. “It would have been nice to have ended our season on a high note but it just did not play out that way. Even though we lost today, we still have a young team and have a great amount of potential to be great if everything goes according to plan. We still have our heads held high.”