The University if Indiana is rightfully basking in the glory of winning last year's Men's Big Ten Universities championship, and doing it in fine style in an exciting victory over Michigan.

But, as often happens in college rugby, a winning team that depended on some key leaders has seen many of those leaders graduate. Handling the turnover will be a big part of what IU does in the late summer and early fall, said club president Matt Saunders.

"We lost a few forwards to graduation, including team Captain Isaac Hall, our lock/8-man Jon Purnell, and flanker Sam Zivot," said Saunders. "We'll miss last year's senior leadership, but we have a core group of veterans who will step up and lead this year's team."

On the plus side, most of the team's starting backline, the backline that scored 58 against Michigan, returns. Wing Scott Denke has graduated, and flyhalf Jonathan Enari is recovering from an ACL injury, but, said Saunders, "his experience and rugby knowledge is valuable to our team even as he continues to heal."

With Indiana producing a large group of talented high-school seniors every year, IU should expect a strong freshman class, and Saunders said that, on paper, that seems to be the case.

"I know of several standout high school players who have committed to IU, and we look forward to seeing if they have what it takes to play at the college level," said Saunders. "Several incoming freshmen have the potential to make the starting 15, so I think we will be talented and deep at most positions."

With that, Saunders said the key thing is to not play as if they've already arrived. Coach Sarasopa Enari lit a fire under the squad last year, asking, and expecting, more from them. That worked wonders, driving Indiana to not only go 6-0 in Big Ten play, and not only secure bonus points for four tries in every game, but to also hold regular-season conference opponents to just 40 points.

"We had success on the field last fall, but Coach Sopa and our veterans will ensure that we begin our new season with the same attitude as a year ago," said Saunders. And that attitude seems to be pretty uncompromising.

As for our spring season, we are still discussing our plans.