Norwich men's rugby facing big school foes
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Brandon Binsfield, left, and A.J. Fitzpatrick are hoisted up by teammates during a practice for the Norwich University mens rugby team at the school recently. Jeb Wallace-Brodeur/Times Argus |
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By Anna Grearson Times Argus Staff - Published: October 12, 2007
NORTHFIELD – A rugby pitch is about the only place a small Division III school like Norwich University would compete against some of the most recognizable names in Division I athletics – University of Connecticut, Boston College, Army, and Northeastern.
"Every week there is no lull," Norwich coach Robert Weggler said. "In past years, we've beaten the UConns before, we've beaten the Dartmouths before, we've beaten the Northeasterns, we've beaten the Harvards of the world."
The Norwich men's rugby team faces these big-time schools nearly every weekend, and though the Cadets' fall 2007 record has more Ls than Ws, the experience of facing – and scoring on – those Division I programs has only made the Norwich tradition stronger.
"I'm very pleased with the way the guys have been developing," Weggler said. "We've condensed into this new league from 12 (teams) to eight, so it's very, very competitive, but at the same time, we've lost 25 players from last year's group. We started off with 40 freshmen, but a lot of them are brand new to rugby and have only been playing for three weeks."
Norwich competes in the New England Rugby Football Union (NERFU) with Army, Harvard, Dartmouth, Yale, Northeastern, Boston College and UConn. Four other schools – University of Massachusetts, University of New Hampshire, Amherst College and Brown – moved to Division II this year.
"It's really nice going to a small school and playing a D-I sport and going against schools that have 40,000-plus students," Cadets captain and scrumhalf Todd Howe said. "It's pretty exciting."
Howe and the rest of the Cadets stand at 1-5-1 after a 56-5 loss to No 22 Dartmouth on Saturday.
Norwich won its first game of the fall season back on Sept. 1, a 15-8 pre-season victory over Bishop at home.
"Pre-season we worked really hard, we had a 1-1-1 record and then we started off with Army, who hasn't lost in our league in eight years," Weggler said. "They aren't as strong this year, but they're still ranked sixth in the country."
Army won that contest 50-0 despite a strong effort by the Norwich defense. Senior Justin Aubin and returning talent Tom Hansen and Brad Panasiti led the Cadets in tackles inside the gain-line. Panasiti, a junior from Amherst, N.H., was named "Man of the Match" for his performance.
The Cadets went to Harvard a week later on Sept. 22 and was on the wrong end of a 64-5 match before playing at Yale last weekend. Norwich came close but surrendered a 29-22 contest to the Bulldogs.
"We made some young mistakes but they worked hard until the very end," Weggler said. "We lost 29-22, we had six lead changes in the first half and when you work with a young group, they're going to make certain mistakes that a young team does. That game could've been a 'W', but I am really happy with how they're working hard."
Weggler attributes a good portion of the Norwich success to Howe.
"He's a great leader by example," Weggler said. "He's a four-year senior, an engineer, commissioning Army, and his life dream goal is to be an astronaut, so it's a good type of leader."
Howe's job is made easier not only by fellow returners Justin Howard, Peter Beamer, Miley Massed and Ryan Molina, but also by a strong crop of freshmen, namely Brooklyn, N.Y. product Ryan Wunder.
Wunder, who comes to Norwich after winning a national championship with Xavier High School, is joined by two handfuls of other recruits who are making immediate impacts.
"It's more than just a couple recruits," Weggler said. "The nice thing is we have some numbers. We have the most numbers we've had. We have 60 players now, so it's a good group. That way we have a full first, second and third side every week. We've got some guys from the third side who actually moved up and have just been out playing for two or three weeks. We had a freshman start against Harvard."
The Cadets did, however, lose 25 players to graduation, but Howe sees the turnover as more of a building block than a road block.
"One of the big differences is we have a lot less superstars, per se, so I think that kind of brings more team unity to it," Howe said. "Everybody gets to play, but it gives people a chance to step up, and with all of the injuries we've had, we've had a lot of people stepping up and making some good progress."
On the other hand, because Norwich is first and foremost a military school, Weggler faces unique challenges in building this rugby program.
"It's a little bit harder to re-group because of the size of the school and different things that go on," Weggler said. "I've lost kids who have been deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan or they realize that the school isn't for them because it is a military school, and it isn't what they thought it was going to be from the beginning, so we have a lot of transition within our club."
The Norwich rugby program is starting to see some transition from the collegiate ranks to the national ranks as well. Most recently, former Cadets rugger Chris Eckerson, now with the Arizona National Guard, was invited to attend the All-Army Rugby Tournament Training Camp at Fort Benning, Ga. this month.
Spec. Eckerson, who spent four years in the Marine Corps commissioning program at Norwich and went on to join the Army in 2006 after a teaching stint in Gilbert, Ariz., was originally a keeper for the Cadets men's soccer team.
"They weeded through a lot of applications to find the best 36 players to invite to the camp," Eckerson said in a release issued by Blackanthem Military News. "Within a month, the best 25 players in the United States Army, Reserves and National Guard will be selected to represent the team to try and win the Armed Forces Rugby Championship."
Eckerson could line up opposite a former Norwich teammate, Paul Mitchell, at the tournament, which will be held Oct. 23-28 at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.
"Another kid who graduated and was one of my assistant coaches last year, he's in the Navy, and he got invited to the same tryout but for the Navy, so they could wind up playing against each other and they were teammates," Weggler said of Mitchell, who also served as the Cadets captain.
Mitchell assisted Weggler last season while waiting for his Naval assignment.
Norwich closes out the regular season over the next three weekends, hosting No. 19 Boston College and Northeastern and traveling to Storrs, Conn. to face the Huskies.
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