An old adage says, “The will to win is useless without the will to prepare.” The Saint Louis University Club Rugby team has taken that mantra to heart. An off-season filled with a rigorous workout routine prepared SLU for their grueling season against top-tier competition. The product of their hard work is an opportunity to compete for a National Championship.

SLU spent their fall season seeking the toughest competition they could find, squaring off against teams such as LSU, Arkansas State and Oklahoma, all of whom highly ranked in the Premier League division.

Consistently challenging themselves during the fall has paid dividends for SLU in the spring portion of their season. During the spring, they competed against teams from their union, or conference, such as Missouri, Washington University in St. Louis, Principia and Missouri A&M.

SLU finished 5-1 in union play, winning their union. However, they suffered their first loss in union play since 2007 against archrival Mizzou by a score of 20-15 this past fall. Losing to the Tigers would be acceptable for some other programs, seeing as they are consistently a top team in the country. SLU however, were prepared for the rematch in the spring. SLU showed no mercy, destroying Missouri 46-10. The match was tied 10-10 at the half.

Rugby team president Joe Andreoni, a junior, attributed the lopsided result to the team’s focus and experience.

“It is a pretty intense rivalry. We pretty much ran over them. We played a tougher preseason schedule, playing high-caliber teams, and it gave us more focus, and we have intense practices. That allows us to come back when our backs are against the wall,” he said.

Winning their union qualified SLU for the West regional, a four-team tournament in which the top two teams move on to the national tournament. SLU won their two games at the regional, defeating the Arkansas Razorbacks and the Rice Owls to ensure their third straight trip to the Sweet 16 of the national tournament. The tournament progresses much like the NCAA Basketball tournament, with the winner advancing each round in a single-elimination format.

SLU can attribute much of their success to a trio of seniors who provide a wealth of leadership and experience. Billy Andrakakos, Matt Strohm, and Kelly Mercer all bring talent and a strong pedigree from their high school programs to the SLU team. Mercer and Andrakakos are currently captains of the team, and Strohm captained the team his sophomore year. When Strohm studied abroad in England, his play earned him a spot on the prestigious London Wasps rugby club.

Despite the successes the team has had up to this point in the season, the team realizes that they have things to work on if they wish to capture an elusive National Championship trophy.

“Fitness is always an issue,” Andreoni said, “and we need to start better. We were tied up 10-10 against Mizzou at the half but ended up blowing them out. We need to turn it on in the first half instead of when we are down by two or tied. We need to come out firing.”

There are plenty of positive for SLU to draw off of heading to San Diego. One thing that the team does do well is work extremely hard in the days building up to games. With two games a weekend during Nationals, the team understands the need to perform at a high level on short rest. To prepare for Regionals, they practiced every day of the week leading up to their travel day. It worked: They won both.

“I think how everyone has stepped it up coming out of last semester has been great,” Andreoni said. “The Mizzou loss was a wake up call, and it allowed us to focus on playing our opponents tougher.”

SLU, currently ranked as the fourth best team in the country, faces the winner of the Southern Pacific union the weekend of April 16 in San Diego.