Notre Dame College continues the programs independent DIAA schedule with a game against another team that has moved up from DII, James Madison.

The Falcons are 4-0, having beaten four DI teams by an average score of 55-9. Things promise to be tougher going forward as Davenport and Navy are on the Falcons’ slate. But right now they have seemingly get past this weekends first opponent - Hurrican Joaquin appears to be moving east and slowing down, sparing the Mid-Atlantic states.

There will be plenty of rain, though. 

“We will need to tighten it up and really concentrate when it comes to ball handling and passing,” said Notre Dame College Coach Jason Fox. 

So now JMU and NDC can just worry about each other.

“We are excited to play JMU again with both of us moving up,” added Fox. “They are a quality team with excellent coaching. We have been working on eliminating mistakes are playing more technically sound rugby. I thing our players our buying into personal responsibility as far as doing what they need to do individually to play mistake-free, so that the team will improve from week to week.” 

The progress has been good, said Fox, and his comments could well have come out of the mouth of JMU Coach Mark Lambourne.

“I am pleased we won,” said Lambourne of last week’s shutout of Millersville in Keystone Conference play. “And certainly I think we have surprised some teams in DI. But we also struggled to keep our concentration and we should have been tighter.”

The team needs to play up to their potential, not at the level of the opposition, said Lambourne.

So a tough test for both teams.

Added Fox: “This weekend should be a good test to see where we are as a team.”