BLACKSBURG, Va. - The Lander Men's Rugby Team faced what would arguably be their toughest test of the season on Friday as they faced the defending national champions and top-ranked Virginia Tech Hokies. The Bearcats would keep it within one score for most of the game but the Hokies' depth would prevail in the end as they pulled away for a 30-5 win.

Head Coach Buck Billings said, "We knew this was going to be a physical match, we watched film on the Hokies, and it was indeed a very physical match." 

An early Lander penalty resulted in a turnover which allowed VT to score an unconverted try in the 6th minute. On the ensuing kickoff, Lander was able to force a turnover of their own and regain possession. Handling errors were catching up with Lander on offense, but the defense was backing their teammates up stifling any Hokie attack. 

In the 16th minute, Lander committed a repeat infraction and VT scored a penalty kick to make the score 8-0. Shortly thereafter, the Hokies committed a penalty near mid field, Lander's Tomás Mussi tried a long-range penalty kick. Unfortunately, Mussi's 50m kick sailed slightly left and the Bearcats were held off the scoreboard. 

After the drop 22, on VT's next possession, VT committed a penalty. Lander kicked for touch to the 5m line. The forwards for the men in gold set up a maul where Jeremiah Rosenbrook touched down an unconverted try making the score 8-5. 

For the next 20 minutes the game was back and forth due to the strong defenses on either side creating a very physical match. While the bearcats had multiple scoring opportunities inside 5m, infractions and penalties kept them from scoring and the Hokies were able to score on the last play of the half on an intercepted ball from the far 22m to make the score 13-5 going into the halftime break.

In the second half, the score remained unchanged for the first 15 minutes of the half. However, the Hokies found paydirt again as they scored an unconverted try to extend the lead 18-5. As injuries began to amount for the Bearcats, Lander held the score for the next 20 minutes of play, then the depth of the started to show out as they scored two more tries to close out the game with a score of 30-5.

On the day consistently strong play from senior captain Hayden Bulwinkle, hard running and strong plays at the breakdown from senior Eric Burkett, and Tomas Mussi had a strong game with many aggressive tackles. Trey Runk had his highest work rate of the season, and freshman B-Rad McCaslan had his first start in his career delivering with stellar play. Ethan Syswerda provided consistent play in attack and defense at multiple positions and was named the Bearcat of the match.

"Virginia Tech showed why they were the defending National Champions, they were very physical along with great technical skills. I am very proud of my men, they played very consistent defense and despite the score, this was anybody's match until the end," said Billings. "We still have a lot of work to do but this match shows the progress we are making and how close we are getting to establishing ourselves in the 1AA level of play."

The Bearcats will be back in action next Saturday as they travel to Charleston to face The Citadel to continue conference play.