A-State Hands 99-0 Loss to Arkansas in Men’s Rugby
JONESBORO – Seventh-ranked Arkansas State University hung some big numbers on fellow instate program from the University of Arkansas as the Red Wolves defeated the Razorbacks, 99-0, in collegiate rugby Saturday afternoon in Centennial Bank Stadium.
The victory puts the Red Wolves at 4-0 overall and drops the Razorbacks to 1-3. A-State leads the overall series, 6-0.
Mazvitaishe "Beefy" Nuamarebvu (with ball) outruns Arkansas defenders for the try. — Photo by Rich Carvell.
“Overall, I think today was a good showing for what our young players can do,” A-State’s third-year head coach Blake White said. “Obviously, there is still plenty to work on and we will see that in the film and our guys will own it and correct it.”
Arkansas State made its presence known early when Tanner Kaulbars raced down the sideline for the try to give the home team the 5-0 advantage. The Razorbacks made a strong run, but Dale Hartmann snagged an errant pass and sprinted the opposite direction to add another try. Beefy Nyamarebvu’s conversion upped A-State’s lead to 12-0.
James Leucke added two consecutive tries with successful conversions by Nyamarebvu to lift the Red Wolves to the 26-0 score. Three more tries by Keagan Barratt, Nyamaretvu and Cameron Crane followed to close out the scoring and send A-State in with the 47-0 halftime score.
Arkansas State continued its assault in the second period, scoring less than a minute in with a try by Jon Karlsson. The conversion by Nyamarebvu put the Red Wolves up, 52-0. Jake Ray kept the pace moving when he scored the next try and the conversion elevated the Red Wolf lead to 59-0.
A-State kept the lead rolling behind tries by Javier Munoz, Stewart Fay, a second try by Crane, Aidan de Villiers, Devon Devost and a third try by Luecke to close out the scoring for the day.
Nyamarebvu turn in a conversion performance, connecting on 11 of 13.
“Playing in front of our fans was a great experience for our players,” added White. “I’m confident today was a great example of’ if you build it, they will come.’ Having a locker room for the guys to change in before and after the game as well as having our half-time talk was incredible. I’d like to again thank Terry Mohajir (Vice Chancellor for Intercollegiate Athletics) for allowing us to use the football facilities.”
Arkansas State will play the Heart of America Selects, Saturday, Nov. 23
