The Eastern rugby team’s game against Grand Valley State, which was scheduled to be played on Saturday, has been postponed because there is no transportation available to take the Panthers to the game, but they are hopeful for a Sunday matchup.

On a typical Saturday road game, the Panthers would travel on a Friday, but Eastern coach Frank Graziano said all the buses were booked, leaving the rugby team without a ride.

Graziano said the Panthers are trying to get a bus available to take them to Grand Valley, where Eastern hope to reschedule its game to Sunday.

He said there would be more busses available on a Saturday or Sunday compared to a Friday.

The game against the Lakers was added to the Eastern schedule earlier in the week, because the Panthers last two scheduled games against Lindenwood and Michigan State were cancelled.

“Here we are two days before we are supposed to travel and we have no transportation,” he said. “Now it is almost like starting all over again.”

 If the game is moved, the team will have to change the dates they are going to stay in the hotel and Graziano said everyone’s schedule will change. 

The coach said he still has logistics to work out and the team still has options to where they will not have to cancel the game. 

Graziano said there are challenges to scheduling a game.

“It just takes time to do all of that,” he said. “In the mean time you are trying to get the players focused on playing. You keep them in the loop of what is going on and they don’t have to worry about the hotel and all of that.” 

This would be the second time the Panthers are traveling to play Grand Valley State. The first game ended in a 25-11 defeat for Eastern on Sept. 22.

Graziano said the team is really excited about another opportunity to play against Grand Valley State.

“The girls have worked very hard,” he said. “We have watched the Grand Valley game on film again. We are realizing where we went wrong. We are going to use this game as a nice test to see where we have improved over the course of the season. Practices have been very good over the last couple of days.”

Graziano said he hopes the Panthers do not get distracted over all of this and hopes they have put the cancellation of the Lindenwood game behind them.

It has been seven weeks since the Panthers have played the Lakers and Graziano said he expects the Lakers to be improved.

“When we are watching the film, we can see where Grand Valley is vulnerable, and now you have to expect they have fixed that vulnerability,” he said. “We have to be prepared for all of that. They are not going to be the same team. This could be a very good rugby game for us and a very good test to see where we are at the end of the season.”

Bob Reynolds can be reached at 581-2812 or rjreynolds@eiu.edu.