Newsletter 4/9 - Maine Cup recap and club update

Hello BRFC Family! We are now well into the spring 7’s season, and we’ve just come off of our third tournament. If you missed the last newsletter, I’ve decided to tighten up the newsletter format as I realized we don’t necessarily need to give a play-by-play recap of every tournament. Again, though, if that’s what you want to see, shoot me an email at hsvigals@bates.edu

On Sunday, we went to Bowdoin College for the Maine Cup, which hosted all of the major Maine collegiate rugby teams. Although it was planned for Saturday, the snowstorm on Wednesday night and Thursday pushed it back.

Compared to our last tournament, which did not go very well, the Maine Cup had a much better result for us. With many of our guys who were too injured for the last tournament back, we came into the Cup feeling much more prepared. This confidence wasn’t misplaced, as we won two of our three bracket matches, and ended up placing second in the tournament after a tough loss to Bowdoin (although we did beat Colby). Unfortunately, we ended up sustaining a considerable amount of injuries compared to other teams, which we’ve noticed is a bit of a pattern. As leadership, we will be working on ways to mitigate and reduce the level of injury we endure, and implement these practices for future tournaments and trainings. Our next tournament is the NERFU Lighthouse 7’s tournament, which is the biggest one of the season and has a potential Nationals qualification at stake. It is this weekend on both April 13th and 14th, and will be hosted by Babson College.

In the last newsletter, I mentioned the alumni game’s planning being in the works, and I am happy to announce that we have a date: May 18th! More details are to come, but be prepared for a fun-filled day of eating, socializing, and of course, rugby. If you are on this newsletter email list and know any alumni who are not following the BRFC’s Instagram or Facebook, let them know they should come!

Thanks for your support of Bates Rugby! Be sure to check out the rest of the website, as well as our socials which are linked. If you have any suggestions or questions about the club (or just want to chat!), please do not hesitate to reach out.

Best,

Hudson Svigals

Alumni Liaison

hsvigals@bates.edu

UPDATE: Due to a variety of concerns, leadership has decided it is in the best interests of the club to not attend the tournament at Babson.