This Saturday, at 11 a.m., the Loyola rugby team will clash with the Tulane Green Wave at their quad next to the Lavin-Bernick Center.

The rugby game is significant to Loyola’s standing in the conference.

“The winner of this match will be second in conference, for now. As long as you’re in the top two, you’re in playoffs,” said rugby coach Sam Brock, whose experience includes playing for 23 years at Minneapolis Rugby Club.

Brock would not go into detail about their strategy but did give a general idea.

“Defense is the key. We’re aggressive and will create turnovers,” he said.

The team is also looking to break the three-year losing streak against Tulane.

“We used to dominate before that,” said team captain Alex Weed.

Even though a few members of the team are dealing with injuries, Weed is positive that Loyola will be victorious.

“We’re going to get them. This’ll make every team think twice about us,” he said.

Although the team’s only loss this year came from the undefeated UNO, Weed believes it came from lack of experience.

“We made a lot of mistakes because we’re a young team. The freshmen didn’t know what was going on. They were still in their football mentality,” he said.

Lack of experience will not deter the Wolfpack players now that they have had more time to train. According to Weed, the team has improved since their first game and has the tools to beat Tulane.

After watching the Tulane vs. UNO game Weed said that he thinks Loyola is in better physical condition than Tulane.

“When it got to the second half, (Tulane) finally performed. They’re a second-half team. They were exhausted before they even got on the field,” Weed said.

Brock said that conditioning may be the deciding factor in this battle.

“The team has potential to make the playoffs. That’s why they’re busting their butts,” Brock said.

Michael Sanchez can be reached at [email protected]