Notre Dame Embraces Challenge
Notre Dame Embraces Challenge
Varsity rugby program Notre Dame College wanted to make the DII top four last year, and just fell short. They remember losing to Wisconsin-Whitewater in the open round of the national playoffs last year, and resolved this year to get further along.
They have made it, and face off with those self-same Warhawks Saturday, but this time in the national semifinals. In doing so they achieve a rare feat of making the national top four men and women in the same year. It has been done before - Penn State, Northern Iowa, Air Force, Temple, and BYU have done it (and probably some others, but it doesn’t happen often.
It also wasn’t easy. The Falcons edged Furman 17-15 and Salisbury 18-15 to make it this far. They did it without one of their most explosive backs, as Marcus Tupuola was at the USA U20 camp. Head Coach Brian McCue has repeatedly credited his team’s playing strong DI opponents early in the season for preparing his players for tough games ahead.
“We’re anticipating some hard matches, but we’re mentally prepared,” said McCue. “It’s great to ave Marcus back. He brings an extra dimension to our attack in the midfield. But we always support players trying to play rep-level rugby, so we supported his going to the camp. What was interesting was how our team stepped up and didn’t let that adversity get in the way.”
Central to all of that might have been the play of flyhalf Ronan Forrestal. The sophomore was out injured for part of the season, but his return a month ago helped stabilize the backline. Since he came back, things have just fallen into place.
With finals coming up McCue has been running him players through early-morning workouts and another workout in the afternoon. They hit it hard the wary part of this week and eased off later. Meanwhile, the players have been studying hard and a few will have to take coach-proctored finals while they are in South Carolina for the championship weekend.
The school, said McCue, has been very supportive of the team’s success. The players simply remember what it was like last year, and are looking to turn the tables on Whitewater this time around.
“The team committed themselves to getting to this level,” said McCue. “It’s been a goal they’ve had since last December.”
