After a nail-biting, one-point loss to Old Methodist, Wesleyan’s men’s rugby team lost to the University of Hartford Hawks on Saturday, but it looks to step up the intensity as it heads into its final game of the regular season. A victory could take the team on an unprecedented trip to the playoffs, and on an unprecedented surge of confidence.
“Some of the best rugby I’ve ever been a part of has been within the past few weeks, and I’ve played for eight years,” said co-captain Obhi Hazaraki ’05, referring to the men’s recent success and their 2-2 record.
Even though their controversial 17-16 loss to Hartford put them in a less secure position concerning the playoffs, Hazaraki and fellow captain Dave Delcourt ’05 felt good about the team’s performance, considering the game well-fought, played with the confidence of a team coming off important victories over Roger Williams University and University of Rhode Island.
“I think we’ve played really well the last three games, and on Saturday we played especially well,” Delcourt said. “The result was kind of deceiving, because we had possession of the ball 70 percent of the time. We really should have won.”
Delcourt dominated the men’s offense on Saturday, scoring all 16 of Wesleyan’s points. His three successful penalty kicks left Old Methodist trailing the Hawks 10-9 at halftime. Delcourt’s try and successful conversion in the second half propelled Wesleyan to a 16-10 lead. Their margin was short-lived however, as the Hawks surged in retaliation with a try and conversion in the final minutes of the competition, allowing Hartford to walk away with the one-point victory. Along with the close game came controversy, as questionable officiating and possible unsportsmanlike conduct were hot topics after Saturday’s match.
“We played a cleaner game than [University of Hartford],” said Nick During ’06, who was one of many to question the legality of the Hawks’ style of play. “They got dirty in the rucks.”
“There were some scheduling issues, so the Hartford coach ended up having to ref our game, and he just let them do whatever they wanted,” Delcourt said. “But either way, we should have beaten them. We shouldn’t have let the ref play that big of a part in the game.”
Heading into the final league game of the season, Old Methodist hopes to continue its trend of improvement and increased confidence despite some of the obstacles that they face.
“A lot of the colleges love beating us up because they think we’re artsy-fartsy liberal arts kids,” During said. “But they’re always surprised that we don’t sit down for them. Even though we are often a lot smaller and less experienced than the teams we play, we definitely have grit. In our first game [against West Connecticut College], we got smacked because we were intimidated by their size. But since then, our confidence has risen a lot and our smaller guys are able to tackle their bigger ones.”
Hazaraki exemplified this increased confidence in aspects on and off the field.
“We have extremely good chemistry,” he said. “We are a variegated bunch from different spheres within the overall sphere that is Wesleyan. On the field the chemistry is frequently beautiful. Also, we are the sexiest team on campus… or at least in the running.”
The men hope that this surge of team-confidence and self-confidence can propel them past Wheaton College on Saturday and into their first-ever playoff appearance. The game begins at 1 p.m. at Upper Long Lane field, and fans are encouraged to make the trek over to watch the men attempt to make history.
“The games are great, as we have multiple tolerant, politically correct songs and cheers that get everyone into the Wesleyan spirit,” During said.
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