With strong play against tough West Coast competition fresh under their belts, the men's and women's rugby teams will look to continue their winning ways this weekend at the USA Rugby Collegiate Championships. On Friday, the No. 19 Big Green men will face perennial powerhouse No. 2 Brigham Young University in Marietta, Ga. The women will travel to Sanford, Fla., to take on No. 3 Pennsylvania State University.
Women's co-captain Michelle Dunn '09 said that although Penn State (16-11) is favored to win the match, the squad expects it will be well contested.
"They're very physical, very fast, and very fit," she said. "One strength we do have is in our lineup, as we've been working on unit play. Also, we're the underdogs. They don't really know what to expect, so we have the element of surprise against them."
Penn State has posted a strong record so far this year and has a winning history in the national tournament. Excluding last year, the Lady Ruggers have been in the national championship finals every year since 2004, winning in both 2004 and 2007, and falling to Stanford in 2005 and 2006. Penn has gone well over .500 since the beginning of the fall season and has won five out of its last six matches.
Ivy League competition, however, has in the past presented a challenge for the Ruggers. When both Dartmouth and Penn State faced Brown in October, Dartmouth was defeated 10-5, while the Ruggers fell 14-12.
In recent practices, the Big Green women have been particularly working to improve their scrums, as the team found that many of their problems in recent play against the University of Massachusetts, Amherst came in that area, Dunn said.
"We're working on fixing that up," she said. "Also, we're working on following our teammates, the ball carriers, into contact."
Dunn said that, although confident, the team is somewhat daunted by Penn State's strength.
"There's still kind of an intimidation factor that we need to get over," she said. "That's one of the bigger hurdles of our team -- not to be in awe of Penn State, and to just come out ready to play."
After a strong showing in California over spring break, the Dartmouth men (13-3) seem prepared to take on the tough competition from BYU (14-0).
"I'm very confident," captain Conlan O'Leary '09 said. "I've been playing rugby now here for four years, and this is by far the best team I've been a part of."
The Cougars have made it to the championship game the past three years, though they have never managed to win it all.
One of BYU's greatest strengths, O'Leary said, is the team's physicality and size.
O'Leary noted, however, that Dartmouth's forwards are also very strong, and said that the team's backs are some of the best in the country, calling them "creative and dynamic players."
"While we're not as big as them, we've proven that we can match any team's physicality and violence," he said. "They've coasted through their league without a lot of pressure, so it'll be a rude awakening, and we'll make it painful for them to gain yards."
When Dartmouth faced BYU in the first round of the national championships last year, competition was tight until the last few minutes. The teams were tied at the half, and with about 20 minutes to go, the Big Green was down by only a single try.
Then, O'Leary said, they let the game get away from them.
"We can beat BYU," he said. "We need to maintain the intensity and effort throughout 80 minutes and play the entire game, not just in spurts."
Dunn said that the women's team has been detail-oriented in practice this week, preparing to face the specific strengths and weaknesses that Penn State will present.
"We've been watching game film from games they played last year and nationals and watching our own film," she said. "We're developing a strategy just for them."
O'Leary said that the men have also been using game film as a tool in their preparation for BYU, but have not made significant changes to their normal training routine.
"We really just stuck to what we've been doing, but toned it down in terms of how grueling the practices are so we have fresh legs for Friday," he said.
After focusing on fitness this season, the Big Green is ready to defeat BYU and make it to the finals, O'Leary said.
"We're in a better position this year to not only play with them for part of the game but to beat them," he said. "Player for player they might be bigger, but if you hit someone hard, they'll go down just like anyone else, and they're not going to like it."
The Ivy League Championship falls in the middle of the national tournament. If the team is able to defeat BYU and advance to the Final Four, therefore, the Big Green will be forced to make some choices about which players will compete in each tournament.
Last year, Dartmouth overpowered the competition in the Ivy tournament, holding their opponents scoreless. O'Leary said that the team will therefore most likely use a reserve side in the Ivies.
"We're pretty confident that a reserve-side team can win the [Ivy League] tournament after last year, although we'll insert key players if absolutely necessary," he said. "The priority is winning the national championship. We want to win Ivies, but we think we can do that while giving key players rest."
