Men’s rugby is down players

By Nicholas Schlotterer
November 20, 2019

“Never practicing with the players, we received a huge challenge because everyone plays rugby a different way. Either they are contact heavy or speed. We only had 30 minutes to practice and go out and play as one team,” said the Prop, Matthew Lawson.

Photo from: Cabrini University Rugby Football Club’s Facebook page

Men’s rugby has much to talk about as a new competitor in the Seven Series, coming out in third place at the end of their very first tournament.

Cabrini’s rugby team went to Holy Family University for a tournament on Sunday, Nov. 3,  against Holy Family, King’s College’s A and B team and Washington College. When the boys arrived to Holy Family, they arrived with a team less than the maximum allowed on the field and half of them new to the sport.

The Men’s rugby team is a smaller crew of 12 players when they should have at least 15 players to fill the field but was even smaller than that during this tournament because of an injury at the previous tournament. They would go to play with 5 of their players and then they filled up the rest of the team with players from the other teams.

The team had lost their leading scorer Rod Gonzalez who plays as a Scrumhalf.

“We only brought 5 of our own guys and had to get players from other teams so we could play in the tournament,” Lawson said.

The team now only knew 5 of their teammates and how they played and relied on solid communication from their other borrowed players.

In a post-tournament interview with the Founder and President of the Men’s rugby team, who also plays as a flyback on the field, Ryan Pfanders, he talked about what was going through his head before going into the tournament.

“I always try to anticipate the variety of outcomes throughout a match without getting too excited over it. As a whole, all I wanted was to improve on our record and build onto our previous performances and training sessions,” Pfanders said.

Pfanders also said that during the game they had many barriers to overcome because all the squads they were up against had more experience than they did.

“Experience is key in rugby. You can be the best athlete on the field but if you don’t know what you’re doing then it’s all for nothing,” Pfanders said.

“Anytime a new team places within the top three in a tournament is incredibly exciting. What we were able to do going into Swarthmore was impressive considering the barriers we encountered. There were plenty of standout players who never gave up, fought hard, played good defense, and flexed into varying roles to help the team succeed,”  Pfanders said.

Picture of the Men’s Rugby Team. Photo Credit: Holly Pfanders

The Men’s rugby season ended after their last game at La Salle on Monday, Nov. 11. Pfanders said for right now he thinks the guys right now should focus on their classes, weight room and their mental health.

Before going into next season though Pfanders said, “As a team; we all need to improve our individual fitness, strength and skills. Our next tournament as a team is in the Spring and will be against much tougher sides, we need to be ready for that.”

The Men’s rugby team is always recruiting new players to fill their squad up. “We need new players. As a continuously recruiting club, we always welcome new players regardless of experience or ability,” Pfhanders said.

If you are interested in becoming a member of the Rugby team please contact, Ryan Pfanders via email at rjp334@cabrini.edu.

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Nicholas Schlotterer

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