The Warthogs, Western's men’s rugby team, improved their league record to 4-1 on Saturday in Tacoma following a decisive 66-7 victory against University of Puget Sound.

Puget Sound was short by one player for a forward position going into the game, so the Warthogs offered to lend them a player from their team, Western freshman Prestin Mo.

During the first half, Puget Sound was unable to get any offensive plays off of a solid Warthog’s defense and fell behind 38-0 going into halftime.

In the second half, the Warthogs continued their offensive onslaught while giving up one try.

The try came during a phase when Puget Sound was able to keep the rugby ball on their offensive end. During the third phase, the ball was dropped and retrieved by Mo, who was able to force it over the goal line.

“It was interesting to see Mo serve as one of the best players for [Puget Sound] and be the only one to score for their team,” Western rugby head coach Corky Foster said. “It was nice to give Mo an opportunity play the entire 80 minutes on their team instead of the usual 30 or 40 minutes on ours.”

Western sophomore Matt Jensen led the Warthogs with three tries.

“We took it to [Puget Sound] right from the start,” Western senior Brian Jensen said. “We had four or five different guys scoring and didn’t let up.”

Foster said the game provided a good opportunity for first-year players to get some practice in.

“The University of Puget Sound has an inexperienced rugby team, so we were able to let everyone get a chance to play,” Foster said.

Assistant head coach Craig Brown said he was impressed with the Warthog’s focus throughout the game and he believes they are ready for the playoffs.

“It’s easy for players to get sloppy when the score gets so high,” Brown said. “It was nice to see all of our players play hard for the entire 80 minutes.”

On Feb. 13 the Warthogs traveled south to compete in the Las Vegas Invitational rugby tournament, where they were defeated by the University of California-Berkeley and the University of Colorado-Boulder.

Jensen said the tournament helped prepare the Warthogs for league play.

“Getting to play against some of the best rugby players in the country was a great experience,” he said. “It really helped us focus on our game and the results show.”

The Warthogs will travel to Seattle on March 13 to play Seattle University before the playoffs, which begin March 20 in Monmouth, Ore. against Western Oregon University.

Going into the playoffs, the Warthogs are ranked 16th in the nation. Western Oregon is ranked 14th.

“The game against Seattle University should be easy so we’re going to treat it as a practice game for the playoffs and experiment with different plays,” Jensen said. “We’re gunning for Western Oregon because they beat us last year."

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