Simson Garcia | Sports Editor

Saturday evening, Nov. 4: cool, calm and then collected were the Western women’s rugby team as a few of the members, coaches and players, coalesced into a group to watch the men’s team rally to get a tough home win against Willamette University.
Despite the ladies losing earlier that morning to Willamette, spirits were high as both Wolf clubs have recently returned to the field from an offseason with lots to look forward to.
But even with the difference in outcome between the two teams, what was seen on the field on Nov. 4 was rather a family affair as the women’s team cheered the boys on.
While the men played, plenty was happening on the sidelines.

A confident expression of “no worries” was uttered by senior lock of the women’s team, Maddi Fagnani. Many of her teammates and coaches wore cheerful countenances, as did she. Many of them huddled together two or three at a time to keep warm in the frigid cold with large blankets.
And still, there was a battle, a game plan, something to work on and keep in mind for on and off the field.
“We need to improve on our defensive structure,” said assistant coach Emily Applegate. “(Willamette) didn’t break through our defensive line, but they beat us on the outside, and we need to improve on our scrums; we need to get a little bit lower.”
Perhaps something of a weapon for future foes, however, was the tackling.

“We were really nailing our tackles,” said Fagnani. “We had a lot of light bulbs click, and in rugby, it takes a lot to get the light bulbs to click. For that, I’m proud of my team.”
Chalk up a win from their spirits and motivation, but the battle was only half won until the men made due.
Close, up until the end, the boys would seal their victory with a final try, with two minutes left in play.
“This is a good starting point, and we’re going to build on it and hopefully become better each week,” said sophomore forward Matthew Cornish.
Still room for improvement, junior fullback Bernard Barber felt that the spreading needs to improve and that Willamette “capitalized and got out on the outside. But we were able to stop them and rally back.”
For what was a fight, battle, tooth and nail and eventual win, so too was a moral victory spread around to everyone that night.

Contact the author at journalsports@wou.edu