Spring 2004

April 3-4 Cherry Blossom Tournament (Washington D.C.)

Pool Matches
    Penn State – W 5-0
    SUNY Buffalo – W 5-0

Semi-final
    Army – L

3rd Place Match
    Harvard – W

April 17-18

A-side NERFU Select Tournament (Malden, MA)
    Northeastern – L
    UMASS Lowell – W

B-side Beast of the East Tournament (Portsmouth, RI)

On the weekend of April 17-18, Boston College Men's Rugby A side played in the Boston Select Tournament in Malden, MA hosted by the Mystic River Rugby Club. This tournament saw prop Hugh Galligan, hooker Stephen Morelli, lock Matt Waldron, flanker Sam Pond, eight-man Sean Hanel, scrum half Brian McGlinchey, fly half Mark Ciccone, and inside center Greg Tarca selected to the all-Boston team. The NERFU Select tournament was next and these players represented Boston against the other regions of New England. After Boston dominated the tournament, Galligan, Morelli, Hanel, McGlinchey, and Ciccone were picked to advance to the next level of cuts before the all-NERFU team was selected. All five were chosen to represent New England against the New York select sides. It should be noted that Waldron and Tarca were both injured and did not play in the NERFU Select Tournament. New England college rugby proved too much for the New York sides, and NERFU won both games.

From the tournament, all five BC players were chosen to attend a camp where they would be considered for the Northeast Rugby Union (NRU) Collegiate All-stars. After a tedious three days of rugby, Galligan and McGlinchey were selected to represent the Northeast in the All-American trials in Colorado. Those BC players not selected could not attend the camp due to previous obligations they had in the real world. If they had been there for the whole three days, they would have undoubtedly been selected. That so many BC players were chosen for different select sides is impressive since this is the first time in my four year career BC Rugby players had known of the all-star selection process.

From the beginning, representing the NRU was a great experience. When Hugh and I traveled out to Colorado I was prepared to be awed by the rugby players that were there. I was surprised to see those who played for Cal-Berkley and other national powerhouses were not the mythological monsters everyone thought they would be. They were not individually intimidating, but they were terrific team players. That sense of team play is something that I have also seen and felt at BC. Whenever I saw any BC player on the field with me at every level of our journey to Colorado, it reassured me since I knew that I had a brother on the field. Our team bond that put nine players on the all-Boston team, and sent two to All-American trials in Colorado promises to escalate BC Rugby to new heights.

April 24 Beanpot

Harvard – L
BU – W

May 1 Alumni Weekend

The seniors left BC Rugby in good hands as a new class of officers picked up where they had left off. BC Rugby had been improving and a real test of where it stood was the prestigious Cherry Blossom Tournament in Washington DC. BC had drawn two very tough schools to say the least, Penn State and the Mad Turtles of SUNY Buffalo. Yet the BC ruggers stayed confident in their ability and under windy and muddy conditions won two hard fought rugby matches against two very good sides.

BC won its pool and advanced to the semifinals to everybody's surprise but the BC ruggers. We faced Army in the semifinals and were caught on our heels in the first half of the match where Army scored all of their points. After being regrouping behind Coach Brendon Worley and Captain Hugh Galligan BC played an excellent second half which saw Army go scoreless and BC punch in a few scores.

However two good halves were required to win against such a side as Army and BC played Harvard for third place. In another great rugby match in awful conditions, BC pulled it out in overtime with a penalty conversion from fullback Drew Cronin. If the Fall 2003 season marked the start of BC Rugby's success off the field, it's coming of age was the Cherry Blossom Tournament in the Spring of 2004 where BC Rugby realized its' potential to compete with the best teams in the nation.

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