Rugby Players Tour California

This spring break, 41 Xavier rugby players continued a time-honored, decades-old tradition—the team tour, this time to California.

Each year, the team travels domestically or internationally in search of challenging, competitive matches. This year’s tour featured four match-ups against the San Diego Mustangs, the Tri-city Dragons, Poway Youth Rugby, and New Plymouth Boys High School (New Zealand). The Knights proved victorious in three out of four matches.

“The local competition is not very strong [in New York], and we therefore make every effort to secure good opposition that will test us in preparation for stronger opposition later on in the season at nationals. Finding strong opposition to play against is always a goal,” said head varsity rugby coach Greg Norris. “Being tested and finding our own weaknesses in order to improve is a definite must on any tour. We definitely succeeded in achieving this goal.”

The rugby tour also gave players the opportunity to meet with Todd Clever, the USA Eagles captain, and enjoy dinner with alumni Demien Farrell '91 and Joseph McCarthy '89, who collaborate on a restaurant venture in San Diego. Other highlights included trips to the San Diego Zoo and a fantastic team-building ropes course at the University of San Diego.

“Students were challenged to encounter their own fears and strengths, but more importantly, they learned how to rely on each other in difficult situations,” Headmaster Michael LiVigni said of the ropes course. “Although this exercise could readily be applied to their play on the athletic field, it was far more important to us that they learned something about themselves and came to understand that they could rely upon their Xavier brothers for physical and emotional support in a very stressful situation.” 

“I saw the quietest students taking charge simply because they had to, and I saw other students learning that they could rely on others and that they were not in a situation alone,” Mr. LiVigni continued. “This kind of experience was so valuable that I am trying to figure out how to give the faculty a similar experience.”

The rugby team’s season continues as they work toward the national championship in Utica, N.Y., in early June. To learn more about the team, visit the team website.