Rugby at Ivy League colleges has been in the news quite a bit with rivalries heating up in NIRA and also te Liberty NCR D1, but there's another Ivy program to keep an eye on—Yale.
The Yale men are now 3-0 in the Liberty DIAA Conference, having beaten Rhode Island this past weekend.
That victory put the Bulldogs atop the conference having also beaten Colgate and Columbia.
To start the season 3-0, 4-0 overall, has been a real positive for a very young and inexperienced side," said Head Coach Craig Wilson. It's a testament, he added, to the work the players are putting in.
"We graduated 15 starters last season which left a significant knowledge gap," Wilson added. "However, the new players have really stepped up and taken to the challenge. We have 40 players at practice regularly which keeps the environment competitive."
Yale's 2nd team, the Bluedogs, are 2-1 and Wilson said "having regular matches helps build out the depth, which is vital as the season progresses."
Leading the way for Yale is captain Liam Varela and club president Aidan Stretch.
"Yale off-field is an extremely demanding place due to a rigorous academic schedule and the demands on the student's time, yet they both ensure that equally high standards are met in the rugby environment," said Wilson. "Both Liam and Aidan role model those behaviors perfectly. The group is really connected and will often be seen together around campus away from rugby. That's when you know you have a group of men who are invested through the peaks and troughs of a rugby season—particularly when mid-term exams are coming thick and fast."
