The #11 ranked D1A Mother's Rugby at the University of Mary Washington traveled north to face #10 Mount St. Mary's on Saturday.

First Side recap - Eagles fall, 34-25

Mount started off the scoring by capitalizing off a penalty kick deep inside Mary Washington's half to take a 3-0 lead. Shortly after that Jack Joyce responded with a penalty kick to tie to score at 3-3. 

After a Mount lineout around midfield, they raced down to the corner to eventually score a try and conversion to make the scoreline 10-3. The Mother's responded nicely with a lineout maul try eventually finished by freshman Chris Cloete. The conversion after by Joyce was good to lock up the score at 10-10. 

Mount immediately responded off a deep kickoff and finished from a lineout and a pick and go to score. The conversion was good making the score 17-10 Mount. 

Mount applied pressure by kicking and defending well, eventually earning a scrum 5 m from goal and they capitalized 2 phases later to make the score 24-10.

The Mother's rallied to end the second half and Joyce made another penalty kick to make the halftime score 24-13.

In the second half Mount came out firing and scored quickly off a lineout from midfield making the score 29-13. On the ensuing kickoff, Mary Washington struggled to find the ball in the air and Mount found a good bounce and raced to the corner to score making it 34-13. This would be the last score by Mount with 35 minutes left in the match. 

With plenty of time remaining the Mother's started the comeback. Freshman Chris Cloete found the try zone again from a driving maul in the corner. Joyce converted to make it 34-20. 

Later in the second half after an attacking scrum for the Mother's, senior Will Lindsay found Junior Aiden Hayward who beat his man to the corner. Conversion was no good leaving the score at 34-25.

The Mother's had a few more opportunities to finish the comeback but fell short at the end leaving the final score at 34-25 to Mount.

Second Side recap - Eagles win,12-5

This was a back-and-forth contest that didn't find the points like the first matchup did. Defensive efforts from both teams frustrated both sides attacking plans. 

The Mother's opened the scoring with some good ball movement. Sophomore Ruaridh Woodland-Broome sent a pass to Senior Ace Cooper who scored in the corner making the scoreline 5-0.

With neither team finding their flow in attack the scoreline remained 5-0 through halftime.

In the second half Mount opened the scoring by breaking through the Mother's defensive line and eventually finishing in the corner- the conversion was no good leaving the scores tied at 5-5. 

Later in the half, Junior Harvey Payne took a quick tap inside Mount's 22-meter line and raced past the Mount defenders to regain the lead for the Mother's. Freshman Ronan Foley added the points after to make the lead 12-5.

Mount kept applying pressure, but the Mother's defense stood up to the task. In the final play of the match, Mount had a lineout 5 meters from the try line when sophomore Merlyn Williams stole their lineout. Foley eventually kicked the ball into touch and the final whistle blew. 12-5 victory for the 2nd side.

What's next-

3/28/26- Senior day and last double header at home for the Mother's 

12 pm UMW's 2nd XV will host James Madison University 
2 pm UMW's 1st XV will host #14 Penn State in a battle for the Sheehy Cup and to solidify their spot in the D1A playoffs. 

Please make a trip to the battleground to support our seniors and teams in their final double header of the spring.