The Bulls Rugby team was not intimidated by its Big 12 opponent as it cruised to victory Saturday.

The Bulls beat a much-improved University of Missouri-Columbia team 25-7 despite starting the game slowly.

"It took us 65 minutes to finally play our game, but when we did we dominated," junior Kevin Hunn said.

Head coach Bill Sexton said he agreed.

"We started sloppy, but improved throughout the game," Sexton said. "We played our best rugby of the season in the last 20 to 25 minutes."

Sexton said he thinks the team took Mizzou too lightly despite his warnings coming into the game because the Bulls beat the Tigers so badly last spring.

Sexton said the lack of discipline showed in the score of the first half. He said the disciplined play picked up in the second half and shows in the 19 points the team put up.

"In the last 20 minutes our fitness was better than theirs," Sexton said. "We could see them wearing down."

Senior captain Joe Donley said he recalls losing to Mizzou two years ago. The Bulls have dominated the Tigers since then, but Mizzou has been improving.

"They were a lot tougher than in past years," senior Luke Walczewski said. "They were pretty hard competition."

Walczewski, who usually plays inside center, had to play fly-half after the usual fly-half, freshman Sean Foley, sprained his ankle.

Sexton said losing Foley was hard because the team had to shuffle players around and even played with 14 guys until finding out whether Foley would be able to return to the game.

The Bulls ended the first half up 6-0 on two penalty kicks by Walczewski and went up 13-0 on a score by freshman T.R. Dilla.

That 13-0 score was cut to a 13-7 lead after Mizzou scored a try and a conversion, but scores by senior Joe Rothermich and Walczewski gave the Bulls their decisive 25-7 lead and win.

Sexton said the Bulls' defense has been strong this year with their new mantra: "One man, one tackle."

This week the Bulls travel to Lawrence, Kan., for the Heart of America Collegiate Tournament.

The Bulls play the University of Northern Colorado (Greeley) on Saturday morning, and if they win that game, they will play  the winner between Oklahoma University (Norman) and Northern State University (Aberdeen, S.D.).

Sexton, said he hopes to get some quality playing time out of some of his new players because the team has to play three games in two days.

"We have guys who are really starting to step up and figure out the game," Sexton said. "We hope to get some good playing time out of them. This is an opportunity for them to play at a higher level."

"We are expecting to play well enough to win, but we are not full strength," Sexton said.  "I think we'll be ok."

The Bulls' next home game will be the annual alumni game Oct. 12 at the rugby fields.

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