In the midst of a three-game winning streak, the Panthers will take on the Lindenwood Lions Thursday in a rescheduled match from Sept. 13. This match also comes after a record-breaking performance against Kansas State last Saturday.

During the first meeting between these teams this season, Eastern defeated Lindenwood 43-10.

Although they received the victory, Eastern head coach Frank Graziano said he believes they can do better.

“We missed a bunch of tackles and it caught us off guard,” Graziano said. “We addressed those issues, though; we do a lot better when we tackle well.”

The match will be played in sevens format, but not quite the same rules. The rugby teams will still use the rules for rugby fifteens, with the exception of the number of players and the game format.

“It is kind of like our hybrid version of sevens,” Graziano said. “It will be played in a series of three games like sevens, but it will be with fifteens rules and seven players.”

Eastern will keep the rules unchanged to avoid more problems that arose earlier in the season after starting 0-2 in the sevens format.

The one rule that the teams will enforce is the drop-kick rule. In rugby fifteens, a player kicks the ball while it is set on the ground. Rugby sevens, however, all players must drop the ball to the ground before a player can strike it.

This format change will bring sophomore scrum-half Carissa Burge back into kicking duties.

“We have had a lot of injuries,” Burge said. “So it worked out that both teams wanted to play sevens.”

Among those injuries is sophomore fly-half Nia Williams, who has been sidelined by an undisclosed illness. She missed last week’s game against Kansas State after being hospitalized earlier in the week.

Williams will most likely be out for this match against Lindenwood.

Graziano has decided to add another game to the rugby schedule. The Panthers will take on the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets on Nov. 11 and will be away from home for the sixth time this season.

Nicholas Ruffolo can be reached at 581-2812 or nfruffolo@eiu.edu.