Wheeling, W. Va. - On Tuesday night, National Collegiate Rugby (NCR) released their weekly NCR DI Coache's Poll and the Wheeling University Rugby team continued to climb the ladder. They jumped four spots from last week's rankings and moved into the top 15 in the country, finishing #12. They picked up a big win over Adrian College this past Saturday 43-16 that helped clinch them a spot in the Big Rivers Rugby Conference (BRRC) playoffs as they play for a chance to get into the NCR 15's playoffs, which start the following week.
Rugby's big win came courtesy of a big day from the Cardinals offense as they scored six tries in the game and never trailed once. Aaron Juma got the scoring started 43 seconds into the match and the Cardinals offense would never relent. The Cardinals had 26 points, including three tries and three conversion kicks, to head into halftime ahead 21-6. The 21 first half points were the second most scored by the team this season as they looked to continue their second half success. They didn't disappoint with three more second half tries and a total of 22 points. The Cardinals went on to win 43-16 and will now host the same Adrian College team in the 2/3 game of the BRRC as the teams battle for a spot in the NCR 15's playoffs.
The leader of that offensive attack was freshmen Aaron Juma, who put together his best game of the season, scoring three tries on the day. He got the offense going with the first two tries and came back with another try in the second half, solidifying the strong performance. Over his last four games, Juma now has seven tries and leads the team with 10 tries in four games this season. His speed and his size play well into the Cardinals offense and help them move the ball down field. When he is not scoring, Juma also plays a big role in the Cardinal's defensive game, coming up with big stops on that side.
After putting together a few strong weeks in a row, the Cardinals defense once again played big, allowing just 16 points on the day. After a slight hiccup against Iowa Central, the Cardinals defense got back on their trend of allowing 25 points or fewer, doing that for the third time in the last four games. Wheeling is looking to use that defense to their advantage as they look and make a long run in this year's playoffs and get back to the national stage.
Brown University took the top spot in this week's pool, followed closely behind by St. Bonaventura and Indiana taking the top three spots. The rest of the coach's poll looks like this:
1. Brown 11. Fairfield
2. St. Bonaventura 12. Wheeling
3. Indiana 13. Adrian
4. Thomas More 14. Nazareth
5. Queens 15. Marian
6. Notre Dame College 16. Iota
7. AIC 17. Mt. St. Mary's
8. Kutztown 18. Sienna
9. Dartmouth 19. Mary Washington
10. Notre Dame College 20. Iowa Central
The Wheeling University Rugby team returns to action for their regular season finale on Saturday, October 29th, when they head to Davenport University at 1 PM.
