University of Mary Washington rugby unfazed by loss against Army West Point

by THOMAS JACKSON

Associate Editor

Despite their loss against Army West Point by a score of 7–32 at home on Oct. 4, the camaraderie among Mary Washington’s men’s rugby team has reached an all-time high. 

“Going into each game, we have the mentality of trying to be better than the previous game. We have to say to ourselves, ‘we need to be better than we were,’” said sophomore physics major R.J. Berlington. “We tend to just keep the mindset of being better each week.”

The first half of the match against Army was uneventful for the Eagles’ offense, giving up a penalty early and a pair of tries plus conversions, going into the half down 17–0. UMW completed a try plus the conversion to get on the board in the second half. However, the Eagles were unsuccessful in evening out the score.

Junior business administration major Douglass Moscrop believes that this try after half was due to a difference in effort from the team after halftime.

“Different types of effort, we kind of got beaten down in the first half,” he said. “We started getting on the front foot a little bit, giving them a little bit of pressure.” 

When it comes to being on the field and staying focused, or sticking to the game plan, senior international business major David Fitzgerald remembers how hard he and his team have worked for these moments. 

“A lot of it is trying to reset, get a deep breath,” he said. “We’ve trained hard enough that we know our structure, we know what we need to be doing right, and it’s just a matter of falling back on that aspect when times are hard.”

Despite the eventual loss, the communication between teammates throughout the match and the confidence they give each other are what make it easy to keep competing every week.

“When you mess up, it’s like you feel bad or are down on yourself, but like one of the boys coming up and saying to you, ‘you made a mistake, but let’s keep going,’” said sophomore finance major Dash Long.

Moscrop could also see the determination and fight in each of his teammates. Even with the daunting score at half, none of the players gave up and continued to fight for the entire match.

“There were points where I could see in the boys’ faces where they all genuinely believed we were going to make the comeback; it just so happened to not quite go in our favor,” he said.

Even when the Eagles walk away without a win, Head Coach Andrew Spencer sees the opportunity to come back and grow from the experience.

“When we don’t get the result that we’re looking for when it comes to a win or loss, it’s when we’re coming back and we understand the mistakes that we made and the next week work on fixing those things,” Spencer said.

Spencer was hired as head coach over the summer, bringing in expertise from previous coaching experiences. Before joining UMW Athletics, Spencer took Nazareth University to the National Collegiate Rugby’s National 7’s Championship match. He hopes to instill in his players that before they can master the big things, the team must start by executing the small things perfectly. 

“Consistency in the little things,” he said. “We really put a premium on doing the little things right, being consistently good at doing the little things right and really breaking the game down to the basics and doing the basics really well.” 

At the time of the match, Army was ranked #7 in the country for Division I-A rugby, the sport’s highest collegiate level. This was the third match in a row this season that the Eagles have gone against a top-10-ranked team. 

While this may look like a schedule disadvantage for the Eagles, sophomore international business major Callum Emmans does not see the team as underdogs and instead sees an opportunity to go out and win every week against highly ranked opponents. 

“I wouldn’t say an underdog is how we feel,” he said. “We expect to go out and win every single game, regardless of who we’re playing, because we know we can because we’ve done it before.”

The Eagles’ next game at Penn State will be the first match this season where they will not have to face a ranked opponent. For some players like Moscrop, the important lesson to take from the Army game is to start the match strong.

“One thing to take into Penn State would be getting that get-go from the start,” he said. “Knowing what we can play and where we’re strong.”

For other players like Berlington, the biggest lesson of the season has been the importance of community and trust as the players rely on each other during difficult situations, both on and off the field.

“I have to trust my teammates to have the ability to get me through those tough situations,” he said. “A lot of the time I may not be on my best game so I have to trust that my teammates might pick me up and get me to get going. It’s all faith, I know my teammates have been working hard so it’s easy to trust them on the field.”

This trust comes from their shared experiences, as many UMW rugby players are international students learning and competing in the U.S. for the first time. 

“We are a lot of boys from different parts of the world, so you’d think it’s hard for us to bond, but working hard together especially going through tough times like the fitness, conditioning, we do a lot of contact drills, those things bring us together when we’re on the field because we remember how hard we worked to be in that position,” Berlington said.

Spencer echoes this sentiment, saying that while all the players may be unique in their own way, they come together to achieve a shared goal: winning.

“A lot of these guys are from overseas, so one of the things, maybe not rugby-wise, but just culturally—cultural differences—they’re all knuckleheads in their own way and it’s a good thing,” he said. “It’s one of the things that I think is a strength of ours, we have guys from literally all over the world, but we come together when we play for one batch.”

That connection, Assistant Coach Time Brown says, describes the team ethos. 

“There is a reason I’m here and there’s a reason that the guys we have here chose UMW and it’s the fact that you can be creative and you can be an individual, but there is a team ethos,” Brown said.

Bringing all of this teamwork and collaboration together, the Eagles’ next game is on the road against Penn State Oct. 18.

“We focus on making better men, not just better rugby players but better men,” Spencer said. “I care very much about how they do in the classroom and I truly believe the better you are in the classroom the better you are on the field. Keeping all your ducks in a row.”