CAMBRIDGE, Ont. - The Sheridan Bruins men's rugby team (1-0 OCAA) kicked off their 2017 campaign and the tenure of new head coach Rick Bria in impressive fashion, earing a 38-7 road win at Conestoga.  

"I'm incredibly happy with the way the boys have been practicing and developing," Bria said. "We have an excellent vibe on this team. We had seven guys play their first OCAA game tonight and they all did incredibly well. With the experience of the players we had coming back, along with some of the guys coming on board that have club and post secondary, it's a really good blend between experienced players and a lot of hard working rookies, and you saw that in the performance tonight."

Third-year centre Jad Hamade scored two tries for the Double-Blue, while Owen Schimpl, Justin Tota, Matt DaCosta and Tristian Hylton each scored one. 

Schimpl also connected on four converts to round out the Bruin scoring.

The 38 points, six tries and 31-point margin of victory all established new single-game team records.

While certainly pleased with not only the result, but also the performance of his club, Bria did mention that they now have a short week to prepare for their home opener -- a date with Seneca on Sept. 17 (1pm). 

"We do have some stuff to tweak over the next few days," he said. "We need to get better on our line outs, our running lines in the backs need to get a little better, and even though we played fairly good defence, we need to work on that as well."