University Park, PA – This past Saturday the Penn State Men's Rugby team traveled to South Bend, IN to take part in the Big Ten Universities Rugby 7s Championship. Traveling two teams to the tournament, the Team secured the double, winning both the JV and Varsity Championship with an overall 9-0 record and an astounding 342 points for and only allowing 33 points against.
With two pool matches followed by a 3-round playoff, the 1st Team opened the day with a slow start against a physical Purdue team but still managed a 32-12 victory. These 12 points were the last the team would give up until the Final against Indiana. Defeating: Ohio State 33-0, Nebraska 36-0 and Notre Dame 40-0. Indiana had been similarly dominant on the day, and a nice rivalry has developed between the teams after last year's 7s series. The final went down to the wire, with scores tied in the 14th minutes, finally after 3 minutes of extra time Player of the Tournment Ian Roudybush streaked away for the final score and 19-14 victory.
PSU's 2nd team were just as dominant in their performances throughout the day, allowing only 7 points against them in 4 matches and those points didn't come until the final match of the day. The B-side Bombers, as they nicknamed themselves dispatched: Purdue 41-0, Wisconsin 42-0, Nebraska 57-0 and finally Michigan in the Final 14-7. Andrew Whiteman was named player of the day accumulating 30 points through 6 tries over the course of the day.
Next up the 2 teams head to Ohio State for their annual Gavin Gill tournament in the final preparation for 7s Nationals in Houston, 6-7 May.
