ST. CHARLES, MO – The Principia Thunder Chickens played their first "home" match of the season as they hosted the Marian University Knights for a conference battle on Saturday. Due to construction on the rugby pitch on the Principia campus, the match was played on the field of local club team, the St. Louis Royal Ramblers, at the St. Charles Soccer Complex.
Marian came into the match 3-0 and ranked #8 in NCR Division I, so Principia knew this would be a great test in their new conference. Warmer than usual temperatures for a late September game made for tough, humid conditions.
The game stayed 0-0 for the first 20 minutes until the Thunder Chickens finally broke the deadlock when a scrum at the goal line led to a series of offloads that sprung
Tobin Blair out wide to score in the corner. The Thunder Chickens would score two more tries in quick succession with good passing off scrums as
Charles Luhanga and
Dean Crouse each carried the ball into the try zone. Principia's #9
Tinashe Dobbie and #10
Damir Conci steered the ship well throughout the match with solid distributing and kicking out of hand. Conci also made three conversion kicks on the day that were key to victory.
After Principia jumped out to the 19-0 lead, Marian showed resilience and kept fighting to get back in the match. The Knights would score on the last play of the first half and again early in the second half to cut the lead to 19-14. Principia would answer back midway through the second as the Thunder Chickens' forwards overpowered their Marian counterparts and pushed a maul over 20 meters into the try zone with
Francisco Alessio carrying the ball.
Now down 26-14, Marian would not go quietly as they were able to score again with less than ten minutes remaining to cut it to a one score game. However, Principia kept their resolve and held strong with resilient defense to close out a huge 26-21 victory. The Thunder Chickens move to 2-0 in Big Rivers play and currently sit atop the conference standings.
Up Next: Principia will look to lock up the top seed in the conference tournament with a win next Saturday at Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, MI. The match will kick off at 1:00 pm ET.
