This Walsh team was made up largely of players from Notre Dame College, which closed its doors as an institution this past May. NDC's men's rugby team won NCR's D1 championship last fall, and most of the squad was able to transfer to Walsh, which welcomed the new sport with open arms.

The evening began with a large crowd coming in to see what this rugby team was about. Also there was a touching moment as the team and the crowd paid tribute to one of the former NDC teammates, Alex Taylor, who tragically died over the summer.

"It hurt,"

said flyhalf Lachie McDonald of the loss of Taylor.

"We focused on leaving the emotions out of it throughout the game and now we can all enjoy ourselves and be a bit emotional about our mate that we lost but at the end of the day we've just got to keep moving forward like he'd want us to."

Walsh was aggressive right off the kickoff, put Thomas More under pressure, got a penalty, and McDonald slotted the goal for an early 3-0 lead. Thomas More responded with a chance off broken play, but a potential big break was called back for stepping on the touchline. After that, despite the rain, Walsh showed they wanted to play fast and use offloads and smart ball movement to avoid unnecessary contact.

They coupled that with prop Joseph VanBuskirk powering through tacklers they had a good mix. A big surge from No. 8 Marcus Jansen Van Vuuren, with support from center Stephan Herbst, and then prop Tanner Smith, and then Herbst again had TMU scrambling. They were penalized, and Thomson tapped quickly and was over for Walsh's first ever try.
TMU answered with a nicely-taken penalty from flyhalf Francisco Cuscuna, but Walsh was in control of the first half. Thomas More hardly saw any sustained possession, and really struggled with Walsh's approach of not taking the obvious contact and instead adding that extra pass.
A really exciting movement seemed to set up a try for fullback Asher Hannon but that try was called back for a forward pass.

Moments later a lineout and maul set up a chance for Thomson to slice through for his second.

A stolen lineout, a big run from Van Buskirk, and another, set up a chance for wing Xavier Allen, who then popped the pass back inside to Thomson for the captains third in a row.

"The boys got us going forward; it was great,"

enthused Thomson.
TMU came close to scoring after that with a penalty, lineout, and maul, but the try was disallowed due to a double movement. That was about it for Thomas More in the first 40. A loose ball gathered by Nico Bitossi saw the wing race through for a try. A nifty break from McDonald set up a probe to the left and then good ball handling quickly back to the right where Allen finished it off.

McDonald was good on the conversion from the touchline and it was 36-3. Quick ball to Bitossi set up his second, and then a penalty, lineout, and maul sequence finished the first half off with a try for Hamish Watson.

In the second half, Thomas More came out relaxed and determined to secure some decent ball. A couple of reserves who came on, led by Malibongwe Mkosi, provided some spark. The result was a maul try for Sam Ray (converted by Cuscuna).

But Walsh didn't drift from their game plan and kept up the pressure. McDonald burst through a gap off a scrum to score under the posts. Then good ball movement set up Hannon for a try that wasn't called back.

Thomson was a standout player, crossing the tryline three times, while Bitossi contributed two tries. McDonald excelled in his kicking, successfully making 7 out of 8 attempts, and adding a penalty goal along with his try for 22 points on his own.

Coach Cornel Britz said he was pleased with how the team played—fast and with adventure.

"We just want to get back to [the NCR final in] Texas,"

he said.

The support from Walsh University's student body, along with having school president Dr. Timothy Collins on the sidelines, was a good message to the Walsh team that they were an important addition to the school. The players were happy to put in a performance.

"Even with this rain the stands were full and it was fantastic; Walsh has been greatly welcoming to us,"

said Thomson.