It is has been 20 years since the last time the men’s rugby team made the playoffs. After last Sunday’s come-from-behind 24-17 win over Iona, the team’s wait is finally over.
“To do it in the final three minutes was unbelievable,” said captain Ed Mazzaferro ’08, who explained that, according to the alumni present at the game, Iona had always “beat the crap” out of Fairfield.
“The alumni were more excited than we were,” he said.
Mazzaferro, from the beginning, anticipated that this year would be different than any of his three previous years on the team, even after a tough start.
“We were 1-3 at first, and then we made the playoffs,” he said of the club that finished 3-4 overall on the season. “At one point, we were six starters down out of 15.”
Men’s rugby is the longest-running club sport on campus, introduced in 1963. For first-year coach Matthew Leonard, a chiropractor from Fairfield who practices with his team, he could not have asked for a better group to lead.
“They’re playing because they love to play the game,” he said. “It’s a lot of commitment for them and they don’t get anything [scholarship, varsity sports attention] from it.”
And he has seen the improvement from a team that took some tough losses early in the season.
“We came a long way during the season,” said Leonard, who was impressed by his team’s mettle, especially during the final minutes of last week’s game.
“These guys really fought hard ’til the end and made their own breaks,” he said. “It was the biggest game in a long time for these guys.”
Players have seen a difference in the team as well.
“Last year, we had not as many upperclassmen and a coach who had to leave in the spring because of personal reasons, so running the team was difficult,” said Bob Haller ’09. “[This year’s team is] much more intense than ever, serious and focussed on playing games instead of just having a good time.”
For Mazzaferro, the experience of watching the team grow this year has been particularly rewarding.
“It’s been a great experience with a great group of guys, a great sport, friendships that will last a lifetime and then making the playoffs to top it off,” he said.
Fairfield will be playing Rutgers on Sunday, at 11:30 a.m. at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
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