Coming off of a lopsided 85-0 victory over the Toronto Varsity Blues the Western Mustangs men’s rugby team was back in action Friday against the Brock Badgers. Despite racking up a number of penalties the Mustangs defeated the Badgers 39-20.

“We came here, we were in the right frame of mind, people showed up late and we just didn’t get going at all. That basically sums the game up,” said Western head coach Steve Thomas. “We were penalized heavily, I’m not going to blame the official, we gave away far too many penalties. We made silly mistakes and never looked settled in the game, but we won so we move on.”

With many players returning from injury and games with the Ontario Blues, the Mustangs spread the offence around with seven different players putting points on the board. Leading the way for the Mustangs with seven were Jack North and Conor Trainor, who both had a try and convert. Aaron Kennedy, Ade Ojo, Seb Pearson, and Eric Selvaggi each added a try while Mike Turnbull scored five points on a penalty goal and convert.

Although the Mustangs gave up a number of penalties Western controlled the play for major portions of the game and used long runs to score a number of tries including two back to back in quick succession in the second half.

With three games left in the regular season the Mustangs currently sit in fourth place, one point behind McMaster and two points behind Queen’s. Heading into the home stretch of the season coach Thomas says the team has a few things to work on before the end of the year.

“We just have to get a bit more organized. We gave away far too much in the breakdown, we weren’t organized enough, we weren’t secure enough. We gave away far too many penalties because we were just diving in rather than staying on our feet. It’s basic stuff.”

Next up for the Mustangs are the visiting Laurier Golden Hawks next Sunday. Game time is set for 4:00 p.m.