By Zach Waltz
Assistant Sports Editor
The men’s rugby team is preparing for its match against Rutgers this Sunday at 1:30 p.m. in New Brunswick, N.J.
Head Coach Clarence Picard said Rutgers should present one of the easier matchups for the Bonnies this season.
“Not to knock Rutgers, but they’re having a more difficult season,” Picard said. “We’re going to start a few guys at different spots, and we’re going to give some young guys playing time. We’re really looking at these young guys stepping in who are future very strong players for the team and who are right now making good plays. They deserve to play, so we’re actually really excited to get out there against Rutgers.”
Picard said he made the lineup changes with the hopes of giving the team a push towards the end of a long, grueling season.
“We had pretty solid practice all week,” Picard said. “We’re trying a few new things with the lineup just to see if we can get a spark to finish the year.”
Junior lock Justice Koonce said the Bonnies are going into the game with the intentions of winning big.
“We’re starting some young guys, but they’re pretty talented,” Koonce said. “I have faith in every fiber of my being that they’re going to absolutely destroy Rutgers. We’re just going in with the mentality that ‘I’m going to do work, and then I’m going home.’”
The team is coming off a last-minute loss to the conference-leading Stony Brook Seawolves. Even though the Bonnies lost their first regular season match, they got bonus points for the close loss, so they stayed the same in the standings.
Picard said the Bonnies had a hard time coming together and avoiding penalties.
“It was a really tough game,” Picard said. “It was just one of those things where we couldn’t get out of our own way, as far as penalties go. When it comes down it, we didn’t tackle as well as we can tackle, and we didn’t really stick to the game plan like we hoped we would.”
Koonce said the game was especially brutal, as he suffered a separated shoulder and a large scar on the right side of his face.
“Stony Brook is a sore subject,” Koonce said. “It’s usually one of those games you look forward to every year, but the game last Saturday was just really violent.”
Picard said traveling across New York for the game had a negative effect on the players, as they were not adequately prepared to play their best.
“It’s always difficult on those cross-state trips, and if you don’t show up and play well, then you’re just going to have a really tough time getting a win,” Picard said. “It was a back-and-forth game. We had a 22-10 lead at halftime, and then they came storming back and scored one right at the end to get the win.”
The winner of the Empire Rugby Conference advances to the American Collegiate Rugby Association quarterfinal, which is essentially the Fall Championship with the new playoff format. However, the second place team will receive a bowl bid to a game on the first weekend of December.
Picard said the Bonnies are not out of the running to win the conference if the cards fall in the right place.
“We still definitely have a very good shot of getting second in the league, if not win it,” Picard said.
