Saint Francis sports history was made on Oct. 10 when the SFU Tritons Rugby Club played its first-ever home game against St. Vincent College.

The Tritons beat the Bearcats convincingly, 29-5.

“We’re really good at tackling, hitting and being very physical,” said senior captain, team founder and coach Glenn Beckmeyer. “Because we’re a newer team, we haven’t picked up all the tactical stuff.

“But the physicality is something I feel like you can’t teach and that’s what we have, so we use that to our advantage.”

Beckmeyer started the club during the fall of 2012.

“It helps us out a lot that we are a Division I school for sports, so when kids do come here for a sport and then stop playing it, we use that to our advantage (in recruiting them),” said Beckmeyer.

It wasn’t until the spring of 2014 that the team finally played in its first tournament.

The Tritons lost both their games that semester to squads from the University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown and the Greensburg Rugby Club.

In the fall of 2014, the team officially joined the Three Rivers Rugby Conference.

“It was a really cool thing to be a part of,” said Nick Servello, a sophomore who attended the game against St. Vincent.

“Rugby is a sport that not many Americans are familiar with, so it was funny trying to guess how the game works with the rest of the crowd.”

The Tritons return to action Oct. 17, when they travel to Clarion.