With the wave of new freshmen recruits, the Loyola rugby team said it is more united and determined than previous years.

Though they are still actively recruiting, Loyola’s rugby team has enough players for a full squad this year.

Team Captain Alex Weed, finance senior, said the team has incorporated new recruiting techniques. “I passed out flyers and talked to players interested in playing. These are things we haven’t done in the past,” Weed said.

New recruit Mike Donovan, political science sophomore, said the tactics worked. “Weed was heavy into recruitment this year. Because of him, we have very athletic freshmen that used to play rugby in high school,” Donovan said.

Among those athletic freshmen is Robert Nessler, general studies business freshman. A former wrestler, soccer, baseball and football player, Nessler joined rugby because of his curiosity. “It looked interesting. I never played but I’m eager to learn. I also wanted to stay in shape and hit people.”

Along with the athleticism, the skill level is higher than last year’s team, Donovan said.

“Yeah, they sucked (last year),” Donovan said, “I wouldn’t have played last year, but this year I saw potential to win.”

The team’s major goal this year is conditioning. The team wants to get in shape for the 45 minute halves.

“In the past, we focused only on the plays and conditioning was on various levels. The biggest problem was that every game was close because both teams were gassed,” Weed said, “The game turned sloppy in the second half. Better conditioning will give us the victory. If they’re beating us in the beginning and we’re still in shape, the game will change dramatically.”

The majority of the team is smaller in stature than previous years, but Weed said it will give them an advantage. “We’re able to cut faster than other teams and create gaps. We can travel a lot quicker — hit harder. What I want to do is have the upper hand on all the other teams, which is: speed, agility and better conditioning,” Weed said.

“Our strategy this year is to focus defensively and then evolve offensively. That’s why the All Blacks were so good. They had that along with communication, support and aggression. The same things we need,” Weed said.

Although, the rugby team has faced problems in the past, Weed said he’s working to fix them. “The problem in the past was no one wanted help and I’m more than willing to accept it,” he said.

Weed has been looking for experienced coaches to help the team this season. “I talked to a former Tulane coach who said he’d come out and see what’s going on. I talked to a coach from Southeastern Louisiana University and he wants to come out. They both sent me multiple contacts of friends and all of them offered to come by and help us for free,” Weed said.

Donovan said the rivalry between Tulane and Loyola can be seen on the rugby field. Donovan said there’s an animosity between both schools. “Besides them playing dirty, Loyola has not won many games against them. We’re ready to change that,” Donovan said.

Another change from previous seasons is the amount of rugby supporters.

“A huge Loyola community used to come out and watch the games. Loyola was notorious for heckling when I was a freshman,” Weed said.”If we were losing or even winning the game, our fans were getting more into fights with the other team than we were.”

Weed believes the the team will have an excellent season this year. “When I leave Loyola rugby, I want to see it be around. This year, we’re a threat,” Weed said.

Michael Sanchez can be reached at [email protected]