Brujos fall 34 to 22 in a hard fought opener to the spring season.

Despite leading the game at half and tying it up in the second half, the Brujos failed to come away with any points in a very hard fought battle against a much improved El Paso team, falling 34 to 22. El Paso edged away from the the draw in the last 20 minutes of the game with a very controversial try that looked to clearly have been knocked on from 10 yards out. Then sealed the deal 5 minutes later with an excellent break away score that no-one could complain about. Despite setting up camp on the opponents 5 yard line multiple times in the last 15 minutes the Brujos could not find a way to come away with points as El Paso made several goal line stands.

Jeff Smolensky earned the "Hammer" award for a great try saving tackle that drew gasps from the home support and the Brujos front row / forwards turned in another top shelf performance in the scrums and lineouts.

Scoring / Substitution Log:

6 min: El Paso Try / Conv

15 min: Brujos Pen (J Smolensky)

22 min: Brujos Try (J Smolensky), Conv (J Smolensky)

24 min: El Paso Try / Conv

26 min: Brujos Try (J Smolensky)

1/2 time: Brujos: 15 - El Paso: 14

43 min: El Paso Pen.

48 min: El Paso Try

55 min: Brujos Try (Tom Cloonen), Conv (J Smolensky)

65 min: El Paso Try

67 min: El Paso Try, Conv

Final Score: El Paso 34 - Brujos 22

Next up for the Brujos, a match with the Santa Fe Santos this Saturday, March 4th at Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta Park.

In other rugby news around New Mexico, The Albuquerque Aardvarks were victorious Saturday with a 62-12 victory over Las Cruces Horny Toads .