Even with temperatures reaching over 100 degrees on the field Saturday at O’Shaughnessy Stadium, the St. Thomas Rugby Club stayed cool and cruised to a 54-0 victory over Bemidji State Rugby Club.

Despite numerous obstacles, including a constantly changing start time, a last-minute four-hour road trip for Bemidji and each team playing down a man, both teams were expecting a hard-fought matchup.

Even with a landslide victory, assistant coach Liam Reilly thinks there is room for improvement.

“It was a sloppy game from us, despite the score,” Reilly said. “We didn’t complete as much as we needed. We had a lot of turnovers, a lot of drops.”

The Tommies, led by captains Ben Ferro and Sam Murray, scored on ten tries and built a 30-0 lead at the half. Three rookies, Charlie Kobussen, George Beatty and Luke Meluelpas, each scored once.

“We’ve got a lot of new guys coming out for the team this year,” Murray said. “This is one of the strongest teams I’ve been on.”

St. Thomas was able to score on the final try of the match, effectively icing the game and securing a win.

The team plays Sept. 23 in Winona against the Winona State Rugby Club. St. Thomas does not play another home game until Oct. 6.

Andre Gaubert can be reached at gaub0001@stthomas.edu.