LONDON, ON – Mustangs Rugby opens season with a win over the Brock Badgers, 26 - 12.  
 
The 2022 season is underway for the Men's Rugby team, with their first home game of the season drawing in a crowd that packed the stands at Alumni Field on Saturday night.   

It was an intense game right from the start, with Brock opening scoring for the night 11 minutes in. The Mustangs fought back hard, and only a couple of minutes after falling behind, Western scored their first try of the game, bringing the score up to 7-7. 

The Mustangs then went on to score the only remaining points of the first half, pulling ahead with a solid lead and bringing the score to 19-07 to end the half. 

The team was working hard over the summer to make sure they better themselves from last season, with player Colin Bryan saying, "we know in the past this team hasn't lived up to expectations. we started this summer with off-season meetings on zoom, off-season practices as well, stuff that really kind of brought us together." He continued, "once we entered training camp, I think we really kind of gelled as a group."

Heading into the second half of the game, the Mustangs maintained a pretty strong defense and were doing a great job of holding Brock off the goal line. 

This defense is something that Mustangs Head Coach Ian McLeod mentioned the team had focused on over the summer. "A lot of defense, which I think was showing, which was great… just trying to attack a little sharper again tonight, but I think we can be so much better there, and that's the exciting part."

Brock only managed to score once more this game, halfway through the second half bringing them up to a total of 12 points, with Western holding a 7-point lead, up 19-12. 

The Mustangs scored again with only minutes remaining in the match, bringing the final score to 26-12 giving Western a win to open the 2022 season. 

Looking ahead to the rest of the season, McLeod is optimistic the team will do well, saying he wants them to "find the mental switch to realize they can win... they've had a few tough years in the past, and it's made it pretty difficult to think 'how do we win? How do we win?' but I think they're figuring it out." 

The Mustangs play their next home game against the University of Toronto at 1 pm on October 01, on Alumni Field.