Virtually five men down in recent weeks either because of injuries or sport-related trips abroad, the St. Thomas boys rugby team got back to full strength just in time for its senior night Friday.

The perennial power Eagles looked every bit that powerful, breaking open a close game with four tries early in the second half to ease by visiting Strake Jesuit 39-0.

Conor Mills and Todd Zdunkewicz scored two tries apiece for St. Thomas, which already has clinched the top seed for the upcoming Texas Rugby Association tournament.

“We had five players come back from England (where they were playing for U.S. national teams) this week and they brought back a lot of experience from that,” said Zdunkewicz, one of 12 seniors honored before the game. “We got a lot of ball possession on defense and offense and took care of it. Continuity was great. That’s what we have to do.”

Zdunkewicz and classmate Armando De La Garza scored touchdowns in the first half for a 15-0 halftime lead, then Zdunkewicz and Mills combined for three tries within the first 20 minutes of the second half to expand the lead to 34-0.

“They play as a team. They play hard,” St. Thomas coach Jim Wolfinger said. “They’re playing the pattern that we teach them. They’re playing rugby. They’re not playing individual ball … they pitch the ball around and everyone got involved (Friday night). They’re playing what I call total rugby and that makes a huge difference. All our guys can run and pass and they play together and play hard the whole game.”

A Mills kick made it 3-0 about six minutes into the game.

The Eagles nearly tacked on tries twice in the next seven minutes – one was nullified because of a penalty and the other because a Strake Jesuit player’s hand was under the ball. In rugby, the ball must be touched down on the field in addition to crossing the plane.

Another kick went wide right before St. Thomas – enjoying a man advantage because of a high tackle – made it 8-0 on Zdunkewicz’s try with about 11 minutes left in the first half. He escaped several tackles and snuck into the left corner of the end zone.

A similar play increased the lead to 15-0 about four minutes before halftime, when De La Garza broke free down the Eagles sideline. Mills made the two-point kick after missing an earlier attempt.

Zdunkewicz ran in virtually untouched about five minutes into the second half to start the scoring blitz.

“It was four (St. Thomas offensive players)-on-one, basically, and Colin just saw the read, skipped two of our players and got the ball to me,” Zdunkewicz said. “The whole game we punched it inside with our forwards, bringing more Strake guys into the middle, and that kept our guys open on the outside so we’d have an advantage.”

Mills celebrated his second try by leaping into the end zone with about 16 minutes to play.

St. Thomas hosts Coppell, from the Dallas area, in the first round of the playoffs at 2 p.m. April 19.

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