The Loyola Wolfpack Rugby club is slowly building itself up after the loss of several graduating seniors in the last few years.

“The first meeting we had sixteen brand new guys and four returnees. This semester, we have a lot more new guys and we were more prepared. We now have a back line, which is new. We just (have to) keep playmaking, and people are getting excited about rugby which is a big thing. I was pleased with the excitement, people are really starting to like rugby,” said Lloyd Greenfield, head coach and history senior.

In their second meeting against the Tulane Green Wave, Loyola lost their match Saturday 41-5.

Greenfield said that although they lost, the team was very proud of their overall effort against Tulane, which was able to field more than twice as many players.

“It was fun. We did good, we had some good hits and I think they weren’t expecting that,” he said.

The team played aggressively until the final whistle, giving them momentum and allowing them to point out areas that need improvement for their upcoming games.

Tulane was on the attack for most of the match, and won the first scrum of the game. After missing a field goal, the Green Wave scored a try after kicking the ball down the field and sneaking past the Loyola defense to scoop it up in the try zone for five points.

Tulane added another try after a tough goal line shortly thereafter. Tulane followed with a goal to make the score 12-0 in their favor.

After a Tulane player received a penalty for talking to the referee, Loyola gained possession of the ball only to lose it once again in a ruck.

This led to Tulane scoring another try, followed by a field goal, to make the score 19-0, ending the first half.

The second half was not much better score-wise for Loyola, although the effort was there. However, it was an uphill battle all day for Loyola, as they were severely outnumbered by the competition in amount of players.

In order to compete against schools with as many players as Tulane and LSU have at their disposal, the Loyola players must improve their overall game and play near-perfect in all aspects; committing to rucks, taking hits, getting the ball before rucks, and solidifying good drives.

Refining these important techniques will make it easier for Loyola to stay in the game and keep it close against larger universities.

“We need work on our tackling, we need to work on our scrums, and our back line attack,” said Greenfield.

Shelly Jenkins, visual graphics senior, scored the Wolfpack’s lone try of the game, fighting through the Tulane defense after receiving a pass while on the ground.  Jenkins echoed Greenfield’s sentiments on the overall effort the team put through in the game.

“We just need more games in and more experience. Everyone basically just came off of Christmas (break) and we just don’t have that feel yet.

The first half we started to build up momentum, and the second half we came in and played hard,” said Jenkins.

Loyola was successful at moving the ball downfield, but had trouble capitalizing on good field position to get the ball in the end zone.

 “There are so many little things that we’ve worked on, and it’s kind of like we don’t know what to do once we get past them (the opposing team),” said Greenfield.

The team looks to improve their scoring difficulties for their next game against Louisiana-Lafayette this weekend at Gretna.

Dan Pitta can be reached at [email protected].

Political Science freshman Warren Oliver gets lifted to catch the ball during a match against Tulane on Jan. 17.