The Maddawgs, the Mississippi State University Rugby Club, got their second win of the season Friday night, beating Ole Miss in a 36-13 victory.
Last year, the Maddawgs lost to the Rebels by 16 points. This year, the word “revenge” was whispered by many players before Friday’s game.
Ashton Yates, a senior majoring in kinesiology, said he thinks the Maddawgs won because of their growth in the past year. 
“It felt great not only to win, but to dominate them in the fashion we did,” Yates said. “As for the difference from last year to this year, it is absolutely the extra year of experience for our young team and the great coaching from Randy Pannell and Jeff Pilgrim.”
Yates, from Olive Branch, talked about how intense the Ole Miss rivalry is across all sports, not just scholarship sports.
“Losing to Ole Miss last year, especially in a blowout, has sat on my mind personally,” Yates said. “Although rugby does not get the same publicity as football does, the Egg Bowl rivalry is real for us, too.”
Assistant Coach Jeff Pilgrim said the Maddawgs’s strength was their offense. He said the players showed “great teamwork” with six tries by six different players. A try is the rugby equivalent to a touchdown and is worth five points.
Alexander Schultz, Alex Cox, John Detamore, Mikey Tominson, Andrea Melchiorre and Chase Phillips made the scores.
MSU’s record is now 2-1 after defeating Memphis 42-12 and losing in a “heart breaker” to Georgia, 19-14.
“It always feels good defeating the team up north,” Pilgrim said. “It was great to win our first home match against such a big rival and show our fans all the hard work the team has put in to produce such an explosive win.”
The Maddawgs next home game is against Kentucky on Sept. 30 at 1 p.m. The game will be played at the multi-purpose fields.