Photo by: Krishnan Collins | Sports Editor: Dante Bandoni carries the ball in A-State’s 38-20 loss to Lindenwood.

JONESBORO- The No. 7 Arkansas State rugby team held a chance to take down the opponent who knocked the Red Wolves out of last year’s postseason tournament, but A-State fell short Saturday morning. 

   The Red Wolves lost to the No. 3 Lindenwood Lions 38-20 in A-State’s opening match of the 2020 season. A-State struggled against the Lions over the past few seasons as the Red Wolves are 1-5 against Lindenwood over the past three years.

   Despite a tough loss in the opening match of the season, there were positives to take for such a young A-State team. 

   “In glimpses we showed some really good rugby,” A-State head coach Blake White said. “There’s flashes of what we’ve been working on and we’ve got a very young and new team. We’re still learning what we’re trying to do and having the ability to do that under pressure is what changes the game. We showed that we can do it, now it’s just how consistently can we do it.” 

   Experienced A-State forward Asa Carter pointed out the feel of newness to the Red Wolves’ roster.

   “We had a lot of new guys starting off,” Carter said. “This was their first game with Arkansas State. So, I think they have a good platform and they got a vision of what Red Wolf rugby’s about and what we’re going against this year. I think we have a good platform to go off of this year.”

   A-State actually held a 10-5 lead towards the end of the first half, but Lindenwood’s Emmanuel Albert scored a try after time expired, which following a successful conversion, sent the Lions into halftime with a 12-10 lead. This changed the momentum in the game. 

   “The big thing in rugby that we talk about is the last 10 minutes of the half and the first 10 minutes of the second half,” White said. “If you don’t win those minutes it’s going to really hurt you because those are those momentum killers we talk about.”

   For a period in the first half the Red Wolves looked unstoppable. However, A-State could not hold on to that period of dominance. As the season moves forward, the team should mesh better together and be able to implement itself as a stronger cohesive unit.

   “Positives are this is our first game as a team and our first game of the season,” forward Dale Hartmann said. “We had moments of brilliance. I would say there were 20-25 minutes where no team in the country could take us on. All it was we were playing for each other. We gelled. It’s the kind of chemistry we haven’t built up yet. It’s the first game of the season, it’s a long season. All it is is the more we play together, the more we practice together, this is our fourth week together so there’s still positives. We’re not going to be harsh on ourselves for small mistakes.”

   The first ten 10 minutes of the second half did not go in favor of the Red Wolves. Just eight minutes into the second period, Tinashe Muchena scored a try for the Lions and following a conversion, Lindenwood took a 19-10 lead early. 

   The Lions essentially closed out the game over the next 20 minutes as Lindenwood went on a 12-0 scoring run to jump to a 31-10 lead with 19 minutes remaining in the match.

   A-State’s Jason Scheepers played a good game for the Red Wolves and was a bright spot as Scheepers scored two trys late in the game. A-State missed both conversions after Scheepers’ trys and the Red Wolves clawed the game back to a 31-20 scoreline. 

  Though the game was most likely already out of reach, Lindenwood’s Cael Hodgson scored a try with just under four minutes left to play to seal the match. Evan Williams tacked on the conversion to close out the game 38-20. 

   A-State hosts No. 1 Life Feb. 15 in yet another tough matchup for the Red Wolves. Some sloppy passes and small mistakes need to be cleaned up in order to take down the best team in the nation. 

   “That chemistry (is what we want to work on),” Hartmann said. “You know we want to start doing more team bonding. We do team bonding things, but we need to spend more time together. This is a brotherhood. People don’t understand how tough it is out there. The stronger the brotherhood, the stronger the chemistry, and the better we’re going to play on Saturday.”

   Although Life poses a big challenge, Carter said not to treat the game as a special occasion. 

   “Treat them like any other opponent,” Carter said. “They’re just as good as us, we’re just as good as them. Rankings don’t really mean anything. It’s just some old guys that don’t play rugby anymore calling the shots. We’re going to treat them like any other opponent and play our hearts out.”

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