The National Small College Rugby Organization (NSCRO) has two of its four national men’s semifinalists decided with Eastern Connecticut State and Southern Indiana having booked their tickets.

For ESCU, it’s time to break out from the shadow of rivals New England College, who moved up to DIAA this season. They were relatively dominant in New England, pushing aside rivals Babson in a key mid-season game, and beating Maine-Orono 20-12 to win their region.

That put ECSU up against University of Rochester in the national Round of 16, and ECSU hammered UofR 49-0 to make the quarters. And then it was Upstate NY runners-up SUNY Plattsburgh, which had edged Main-Orono and slammed SUNY Oneonta. This was perhaps Eastern Connecticut’s toughest game of the season, but they prevailed 24-20.

“Our depth of bench, teamwork, and conditioning is what got us to the Nationals … and the fact that these young men just do not ever quit,” said ECSU Coach Ray Armani. “We have a saying at Eastern Connecticut Rugby: ‘All=1.’ We function as a unit, the entire team, on and off the pitch. These young men do community service together, eat together, study together and train together. …This year, 54 of them won the Northeast Regionals together.”

Of course, some are more equal than others. Co-captains Sean Manning and Demetri Voukounas were outstanding as players and leaders, especially as the team entered the playoffs.

Using the players’ nicknames, Armani said that “Kiwi and Jimmy raised the bar for what leadership is and what leadership by example can achieve.”

Now there’s more work to do before the final four weekend at the end of April in Glendale, Colo.

“Between now and Colorado we will continue to heal from a very long season, train, and lift,” said Armani. “Conditioning, conditioning, conditioning are the three most important words on the pitch here. During the long break, I hope these young men will be able to really enjoy what a unique situation they are in.

ECSU rugby takes pride in its community service, and once the players get back to school they will participate in the 5th annual Plunge for Hunger, an event the team started to benefit the Covenant Soup Kitchen of Willimantic.

The players collect pledges and then swim in the Willimantic River and last year they raised over $100,000. (see photo below from the 2015 Plunge.) Go here to donate.