In the midst of inaugural season where the Lions have dominated play, it would figure that the first taste of defeat on the pitch would come from another team named the Lions. That's what happened in an exhibition match on Saturday as the Chicago Lions rugby club, one of the top super league men's clubs in the nation, handed Lindenwood a 41-12 loss.
The veteran Chicago team proved its experience early in the game as they immediately put pressure on the Lindenwood defense, forcing several penalty kicks to take a 12-0 lead. Chicago continued with multiple offensive waves, but the Lindenwood defense repelled most of them thanks to the defensive efforts of centers Steven Duff and James Poli. Still, Chicago led at halftime 26-0.
The Lindenwood team kicked off the second half with a strong wind and with several damaging runs from Trevor Locke and Joe Shirley, had the Chicago forwards on their heels. Some quick thinking from flanker Tyler Black resulted in a quick pass in stride to winger Jake O'Neill who evaded three Chicago defenders to cross the line for the first try of the game for Lindenwood. Brendan Davis added the conversion to make the score 26-7 in favor of Chicago. After the restart, the collegiate Lions shifted the ball quickly down field and Duff and Poli linked up with fullback Lincoln Magee who dove for the corner to make the score 26-12. It appeared that Lindenwood had gained the momentum, but some slight lapses in concentration resulted in two tries from Chicago to make the final score 41-12 at the final whistle.
Lindenwood Head Coach Ron Laszewski was happy with the performance despite the loss. “We played pretty good against those guys,” he said. “They're a very good and very big team and we learned quite a bit from the experience.”
The Chicago Lions agreed with the assessment as they presented Lindenwood hooker Trevor Locke with the Man of the Match award for his unstoppable attack on offense and “bone shattering” hits on defense. Special mention was also given to Lindenwood winger Jake O'Neill for his efforts in the game.
The Lindenwood Lions will have a chance to prove what they learned on Saturday in a rematch with the St. Louis Bombers rugby club. The Lions stopped the Bombers 21-12 back in early September. Game time is 7 p.m. March 10 at Hunter Stadium.
