Tommy Duffy Debut Win – Wheeling Jesuit University

Tommy Duffy hired as Wheeling Jesuit University Rugby Head Coach!

The Wheeling Jesuit Men’s Rugby team was coached by Peter Malcolm and Allan Hanson for the first three matches. In the interim, Tommy Duffy was hired as the new Head Coach of Wheeling Jesuit. While he has been only with the team for a week, his debut as coach was a success as Wheeling Jesuit beat a talented Lindenwood-Belleville team 30-14 at a neutral Indianapolis pitch.

Wheeling Jesuit’s Allan Hanson had the Cardinals on the board first after he slotted a penalty kick for a 3-0 lead. Kristen Poletti then tried to even the score, but the kick was missed.

After several phases, Wheeling Jesuit increased their lead to 8-0 as they added a try by Frank Rolf at twenty minutes.

Lindenwood-Belleville then attacked as Joel Droge broke through the defense and offloaded to Ben Martin, who was pushed into touch 5 meters from the try line. The Lynx won the lineout and JP Aguirre went in for the try, which was then converted by Kristin Poletti to narrow the Cardinals lead to 8-7.

Wheeling Jesuit would have another opportunity to add to their lead, but a penalty kick was missed and the score remained 8-7 at halftime.

The second half opened with a Wheeling Jesuit try from Hugh McAllister (46′), as their lead increased to 13-7. The lead soon changed hands as the Lynx added a try by Reece Smith and Polette converted to take a 14-13 lead.

Wheeling Jesuit then salted away the match with three additional tries, as Frank Rolf added his second try at forty nine minutes, Allan Hanson at 57 minutes and Benji Clipstone at 66 minutes.

With the 30-14 win, Wheeling Jesuit is ready to launch their Rugby East season next week against St. Bonaventure at home on Saturday, September 17 at 3 p.m. at Bishop Schmitt Field.

Tommy Duffy provided post match comments saying that “The Forwards for WJU had a solid performance with winning all offensive put ins and lineouts. Rucking was very strong as WJU won over 67% of offensive rucking and several takeaways from the defensive side of it. Allan Hanson was showed strong leadership on the back line as the inside running was strong and the Cardinals got it out to the corners on serval occasions. The Cardinal defense was stingy all afternoon and stopped the LU-B attack onside the 22 meter. Over all the Cardinals played a great disciplined ball.”

Lindenwood-Belleville, who began the season with a 30-22 win over Tennessee, takes the team and their 1-1 record on the road to Jonesboro, Arkansas. On a neutral site they will play Spring Hill College, who won 38-37 over Alabama this past weekend.

DJCoil rugby article: Tommy Duffy Becomes Wheeling Jesuit Rugby Head Coach