LONDON, Ont. - Andrew Crow scored three tries in front of over 300 fans at the UWO Rugby Field on Sunday afternoon, leading Western to a 38-10 win over the the Laurier Golden Hawks.

Cody Thistle added 10 points on a pair of tries, while Jesse Kliman collected one try in the win. Tom Bridger added four converts.

After both teams spent the opening 10 minutes to settle, Western (2-0) looked to be the stronger team both fundamentally and physically for the remaining 80 minutes.

The Mustangs opened up a 14-0 lead on a pair of converted tries, and then seconds before the opening half expired, Western extended the lead to 21-0 and looked comfortably in control.

In the second frame, Western benefitted from an early Laurier turnover, as Crow pushed the ball over the touch line to stretch the lead to 28-0 on another converted try. Western used it's physical advantage and excellent push from locks and props to create opportunities.

Midway through the second half, the physicality of the game picked up with high tackles, late exchanges behind the play and hard hitting.

Laurier seemed to benefit from the change in style.

"We got sucked into something that was not in our gameplan," said Steve Thomas, Western's first-year head coach. "It started as a very fast-tempo game. The change in style slowed the game down. We got distracted and they scored on a couple of plays catching us off."

The Golden Hawks scored their first points of the game, catching Western focussed on retribution at the physical end.

"We have still got some issues with confidence in each other and in chemistry," Thomas said.

But Crow scored his third try of the game to calm his team down, converting on great field position off a Laurier defensive miscue.

Eric Santos added the other Laurier try ending a nice run off a Western turnover at midfield, stretching the Mustangs defence and capitalizing on a missed Western tackle early in a series of stretch passes toward the wing.

Western showed sure tackling in the closing minutes, including a bone-crushing Rory Tomlinson hit on James Stewart which drew a chorus of "ooohs" from the crowd.

Cody Thistle and Tomlinson both showed great defence in the match for the host Mustangs.

"Generally it was a solid performance today," Thomas said. "Our forwards played well, our defence was good. And it was a better performance than the other night (a 19-0 road win over Guelph)."

Next the Mustangs visit Queen's in Kingston, Ont., on Saturday Sept. 25 in a battle of undefeated teams.