LONDON, Ont. – The Mustangs' men's rugby team fell to the Laurier Goldenhawks Sunday afternoon by a 51-12 margin in their fourth game of the regular OUA season. The win will bring the Goldenhawks to a 2-2 record and drop the Mustangs down to 1-3.  
 
The Goldenhawks scored their first try of the afternoon 7 minutes into the first half with Western countering shortly thereafter. Outside-centre Connor Gibson went for a short run before touching the ball down to tie the game, but Laurier followed up with a spike in intensity. Four more tries were scored by the Goldenhawks before the end of the first half with contributions from Yaus, James, Sandisonk, and Gamm.
 
Quick ball movement and deft passes from the purple and white allowed them to sneak a second try past Laurier. From fly-half Mikko Vorster to inside-centre Keegan Matheson, a third clever pass then allowed hook Joel Abdel-Barr to bring up the score to 12-36 with a convert from Vorster. The Mustangs continued to demonstrate their ability to move the ball down the line as well as pre-emptively shut down runs from the Goldenhawks with their hard tackles.
 
When asked what they did right, as well as where they went wrong, assistant coach Josh Campbell answered, "We came out of the gate pretty strong… Initially we had really good line-speed, strong tackling, and good ball awareness, which was all working very well for us… Then we kind of decided to go off-script and it didn't quite work out in our favour." In order to succeed in their upcoming game against the Waterloo Warriors, Campbell said that the team was in need of changing its mindset. "The guys showed that for twenty minutes they can play a really structured game of rugby. That's great, but it's about being able to keep that strong mindset for a full 80 minutes."
 
Similarly, team captain Keegan Matheson commented that at a certain point in the game, the team lost its edge. "We lost our momentum, and we didn't switch back. That one mental lapse kept turning into a ball just rolling for [Laurier]… One missed tackle, one knock-on, and they would capitalize on it. What we need to be better at is taking advantage of the opportunities that they give us. But we also need to keep our heads up."
 
The men's rugby team is set to return to the pitch on Friday, October 11^th against the Waterloo Warriors on Alumni Field. The game is scheduled to begin at 6:00 P.M EST.