The injury bug bit the Rowan rugby team hard as they lost to the Salisbury University Sharks 36-10 on Saturday, Oct. 29. This was their second loss of the season, making the team fourth in the conference. 

One player, sophomore McKenzie Murphy, was able to return from injury and came back for his first full game since cracking his eyebrow open. He got his six stitches removed and was ready to go.

“My gameplay was all about reading the game and how the other team plays,” Murphy said. “So, for the first ten minutes we were getting beat out wide on defense. It was just midgame adjustment and communicating with everyone to figure it out and get everyone on the same page… I’m really hoping that everyone realizes how important the season is, even though we might not get into the playoffs. It is still nice to win out.” 

Head Coach Tim Smith announced at practice that he talked to the coach at James Madison University, and that the Profs will not travel down to Virginia. This gives the Dukes a 28-0 win over the Profs and points in the conference. 

For the Profs, they will have their next game at home against West Chester University on Saturday, Nov. 5. The team is on the verge of making it to the playoffs. If they win the rest of the games, they will tie St. Joseph’s University for the conference and will play the Hawks in the first round. Coach Smith explained how they will be ready for the Rams and how they are feeling right now. 

“We are going to take it as easy as we can for the practice this week so we can get guys healthy because they are just beat up,” Coach Smith said. “Most teams have a bye week pretty much in the middle of their season, we had a bye week the first week of the season when we weren’t beat up…They are down but we are going to pick them, they are young and had a lot of good things happen this year. They should hold their heads high, we have two losses and can finish with two losses.” 

When Coach Smith made the announcement regarding James Madison University, the huddle went silent. The beat up team that wants to compete knew they just lost a game because of injuries. Captain Joe Smith gives his input for how to move forward for the rest of the season. 

“That hard loss hit us all real hard and we really want to bounce back together,” Smith said. “It is really hard to see our season going this way after our strong start. I think we all really want to get back on track… The JMU game hurts us but we are still very confident that we can win out and beat these next two teams.”

With the week being shortened back down to two games, the push for the playoffs starts when they take on West Chester University at home.

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