M. rugby: Men’s rugby levels Titans 50-7
By William Kim
April 19, 2004 9:00 p.m.
As the music from Festival Latino kept the mood lively all game,
the UCLA rugby team trampled Cal State Fullerton on Saturday, 50-7,
at UCLA’s North Athletic Field.
With the steady play of Allen Chen, UCLA had the advantage of
field position and ball possession throughout the game.
Randy Lee Lionberger, interim head coach for the Titans as their
former head coach never returned from winter vacation, faced a
tough situation even before the game began as 9 of his 15 starters
were unavailable due to injuries.
It seemed as if the Bruins knew of the Titans’ bad
predicament, and they came out aggressively.
By halftime, the game was under Bruin control with a 36-0
lead.
As the second half got under way, Levi Fletcher and Zack Atkins
led the Bruins in finishing off an easy victory.
“Fletcher came out with a good work ethic, and it set the
tone for us,” UCLA coach Scott Stewart said. “Atkins,
one of our bigger men on the team, had a solid overall
match.”
The second half looked like a mirror image of the first half,
except that Fullerton got on the board. The Titans scored all of
their points late in the match.
“Today, overall, was a good day for us. This will prepare
us for the Santa Barbara tournament. We ironed out some kinks and
hopefully we’ll put on a good show at the tournament,”
Stewart said.
The Santa Barbara tournament, which takes place this weekend, is
the unofficial California state championship, but teams from many
other states will also compete.
Notable teams like California and Cal Poly, which are two of the
highest nationally ranked teams, will be in attendance.
