The story now is well-known; Iowa Central Community College was bumped up from DII to DIAA in the middle of the season—late in the middle of the season—and the Tritons still managed to win through, get an invitation to the DIAA playoffs, and make this weekend’s final.

It’d be no surprise that the players have a bit of a chip on their shoulder.

But they are just worried about playing some rugby.

“Being moved up halfway through the season was tough,” said Iowa Central flyhalf/center Rhys Smith. “But we couldn’t do much about that. We’ve received so much support, we’ve just fed off that. All we can do is let the coaches deal with those issues; our job is to get an education and play rugby, so that’s what we’re doing.”

This week the Tritons can do something special, and win a national title as a two-year school. 

“We’re approaching things pretty well,” said Smith. “The boys are excited. We’re training day-by-day, inch-by-inch. But always on our minds is the fact that we’re playing for a national championship, and we have a chance to prove ourselves.”

As a two-year school, Iowa Central has to work that much harder to create and maintain its culture. Players just don’t stick around that long.

“We do make relationships and that’s really important for us,” said Smith. “All the guys who are here are excited to be here and excited to be playing on this team.”

But they still need to work hard on communication. 

“If the whole team is talking around the field, that’s when we play our best,” said Smith. “Sometimes when you’re focused on the game, and rugby’s not an easy sport to play, you get quiet. But that’s when the leaders have to step up. We have been doing well with our defensive alignment, but we’ve still got things to work on, every team does.”

A varsity program in a two-year school, Iowa Central is a new breed of college rugby team. Having made the final four in DII a year ago, and now the DIAA fall final this year, maybe this isn’t the culmination of a weird season; maybe it’s just another step forward.