• Home
  • Posts
  • Greenwich Rugby Prepping for Rivals Xavier on April 23

Greenwich Rugby Prepping for Rivals Xavier on April 23

ghsrugbyxav-4-15
The Greenwich High School rugby team will be playing in the Jesuit Classic this weekend and then rivals Xavier on April 23. (Paul Silverfarb photo)
The Greenwich High School rugby team will be playing in the Jesuit Classic this weekend and then rivals Xavier on April 23. (Paul Silverfarb photo)

Greenwich High School’s Cardinal Stadium will be electric on April 23, as the two best, and most historic high school rugby teams in the Northeast will once again clash in what is sure to be an epic battle.

For both Greenwich and Xavier high schools, it’s hard not for them not to get hyped up for the event.

“It’s a major rivalry and certainly be one of the major highlights of our season,” Greenwich High School head coach Joe Kelly said. “One of our goals this season is to beat our arch-rivals. We prepare for it and look forward to it. If we win, the euphoria is high and if we lose, the disappointment is low.”

And on April 23, one of the best high school rugby match-ups in the Northeast will take place at Greenwich’s Cardinal Stadium, under the lights and in primetime.

“Xavier is a really good team,” GHS senior captain Soh Nakayama said. “I’ve been playing against for three years. We lost by three points my freshman year, my sophomore year was at home and we lost by a couple and last year we lost by only one point. We just want to beat them this year.”

And this won’t just be a typical game, as the GHS rugby program is pulling out all the stops for its 30th anniversary season.

Leading up to the contest, the rugby program at GHS contacted a plethora of alumni to get them back to the high school for a reunion and to cheer on this year’s squad.

“I announced before the season to all the alumni that if you go to only one game this season, this is the one to go to,” Kelly said. “A lot of the alumni go to this one and the atmosphere is festive. It’s enjoyable, intense and exciting.”

Before the varsity game, the freshman game will be held on Field 7, located next to the GHS softball field. The junior varsity game will also take place on Saturday night, at Cardinal Stadium, prior to the start of the varsity game, which will take place at 7.

Even the youth in town are getting involved, as Kelly invited the Old Greenwich Riverside Civic Center rugby program will possibly come out and play a quick halftime game.

“With the alumni being there and hopefully we will get all the school support from the Cardinal Crazies and maybe the band will come by,” Kelly said. “The Connecticut State Rugby Association put an announcement, hopefully expecting to see a lot of other teams to come down and watch the game. Everything is lining up to be quite exciting.”

While history isn’t on Greenwich’s side, as the team has beaten Xavier only once, four years ago, it doesn’t mean that Big Red just hopes to have a good game. They are expecting a victory.

“We have the skill positions and we have the depth,” Kelly said. “Basically, in my opinion, it just has to be our day. And if it’s our day, and if it is, we can come out with a victory. Both teams are coming into this match fully expecting to have a very hard game and each team feels like they have to win this game.”

Leading up to the big matchup at Cardinal Stadium will be interesting. Earlier in the season, Xavier lost its lone game of the season as of press time to the top-ranked team in the country, Gonzaga High School.

If everything goes according to plan this weekend during the Jesuit Rugby Classic, which will be hosted by Gonzaga High School at Morven Park in Leesburg, Va., Big Red will meet up with the same Gonzaga on Sunday in the finals.

“Hopefully we get to play them if we get through the tournament as we hope to,” Kelly said. “Then we will understand where we are with them as quality of play. We will play the No. 1 team in the country on Sunday and Xavier already played them. Should be a good game and we are looking forward to it.”

Unfortunately for Xavier, and quite possibly Gonzaga as well this weekend, the Cardinals are playing angry and motivated right now. Early this season, Big Red was crushing opponents. They upended one team 95-5 and blasted last year’s Tier II national champions 101-0.

However then Greenwich battled the Faifield Rugby Club. In Kelly’s six years at the helm of GHS, the varsity rugby program has not lost a game within the Nutmeg State.

“Fairfield was a better team that day,” Nakayama said. “We didn’t play like we should have played. We were thinking we could beat any Connecticut team and that’s not the case. After the game, we weren’t depressed about it. We knew what we had to do and we have been very focused and sharper in practice.”

That was until the Fairfield game earlier this month.

“We have never lost to a team before in Connecticut and we lost on a night where it wasn’t our night,” Kelly said. “Fairfield Rugby Club deserved the victory, shocked the Greenwich High School program and I am hoping that the shock is just enough to get the boys motivated. Hopefully this is a loss that we definitely needed to do to shake up every one, from our props to our speedy backs to our wings and our skill position scrum half and fly half. I am hoping this brings a new level of intensity to the new games we have coming up.

“Victory is something expected here at Greenwich High School, especially with the local teams,” added Kelly. “Now that we know that we can be challenged at any given game, maybe that’s enough to wake up the boys and help us prepare for Xavier like we never have before.”

And to top things off, this game on April 23 might not be the last meeting between Big Red and Xavier. During the weekend of May 19, both rugby programs will be competing in the High School National Championships, played at the Rugby Athletic Center in Charlotte, North Carolina.

“It will be quite interesting because if we beat Xavier and our record remains strong for the rest of the season, our record will be higher than them in the National Championship,” Kelly said. “That will give us an edge, starting against a lesser team rather than a stronger team.”

But for right now, it’s all about that first meeting on April 23 and to say that the team is fired up is an understatement.

“This is going to be a challenge for us, like every year,” Nakayama said. “It’s a big game. Beating this team would make a big difference in our team. I remember what it was four years ago when they beat Xavier. It seems like yesterday and I remember everything about that game. I want to make it like that.”

Related Posts
Loading...