Florida State won the South Independent Rugby Conference’s ribbon-cutting game 43-19 over Florida International Saturday in University Park, Fla.

The Seminoles scored early and often, racking up 33 points before the host Panthers got on the board. Junior fullback Steve Wertepny scored two of the ‘Noles' first four tries.

“He’s one of our main point scorers,” said FSU coach Kirk Swanner. “He’s a good one, and he keeps getting better.”

Also scoring a pair of tries on the day was flanker Greg Kraus, who spent last summer in Australia.  

“He’s been real consistent, and since he’s been back he’s been lights out,” said Swanner. “He gets around well in the loose.”

Florida State did surrender three tries after the game was well out of reach, much to Swanner’s dismay.

“Definitely try to have a gameplan going in, stuff like that. Today they just kind of went away from it. The plan, which is to play smart rugby, up 33 points they started making a line break and trying to finish every time. Just some silly errors. Some bad passes and bad decisions, and FIU was good enough (to capitalize).”

Florida State continues its South Florida league tour tomorrow at Florida Atlantic. Swanner said the big lead enabled him use all of his subs and conserve the energy of some of his starters.