In week 2 of their league schedule, the Tritons Men’s Rugby team was back in action on the road at Azusa Pacific. Two weeks after their opening defeat to CLU, the Tritons could not muster much offensively and suffered greatly against a Cougar offense that wanted it more on the day.

UC San Diego had issues containing APU’s number 8 in the beginning of the game, as he scored 2 tries on the Tritons’ defense. All throughout the first half, UC San Diego constantly missed tackles, allowing APU’s player to roam freely behind the Tritons defense as the Cougars dominated with free flowing and offload heavy rugby.

In the second half, APU continued to put pressure on the Tritons, scoring another couple of tries right out of the gate. Despite having one of their players sent off on a yellow card for a late tackle, the Cougars clamped down on the Tritons on defense and blanked the visiting team in the A-game.

The Cougars and Tritons played a B-side game of 10 against 10. This game highlighted the Tritons backline’s speed as center Sam Lam pierced through the Cougars defense for a 50 meter try and winger Pierre Karpov scored another try off of a beautiful kick by fly-half Matt Vianni. Despite the effort, UC San Diego fell in that game as well, ending the day on a bitter note.

UC San Diego has a week off but is back on the road for week 3 of league matches against Cal State Northridge on Feb. 20.