The UNC Wilmington Rugby Club team won their second straight Southern Conference title on April 14, crushing Coastal Carolina 47-5. That win keeps UNCW undefeated this season as they have won four league matches and two scrimmage games against the Cape Fear Rugby Club team. This season is just the latest in a strong past couple of years for the resurgent rugby squad.

“We wanted to play real physical with them and use our size advantage,” said senior and team Captain Graham Joseph on the conference championship game. “We were putting a lot of pressure on them making them play on their own half of the field and trying to make them go the whole field in attacking us.”

The UNCW Clamdiggers took the lead at 19-5 heading into halftime. They didn’t let up the pressure there; however, as they came out of the gate swinging in the second half, scoring 28 unanswered points on route to a 47-5 victory. Head coach Jim Wiseman had a simple game plan for his team heading into the final half of competition.

“I just told them to keep persisting and playing our style of game,” Wiseman said. “I put in some fresh substitutes who came in and they really helped bringing in a higher level of play to the game.”

Just like Joseph, Wiseman has also been with the Clamdiggers for four years. As the two leaders of the team played throughout their time at UNCW, they both agreed that the team this year definitely stands out from the other three years.

“We keep improving each year and it’s the fourth year that we’ve meet on campus,” Joseph said. “Each year, the team gets stronger and a little deeper, getting better athletes each year.”

Coach Wiseman agrees, but also adding in the fact that a lot of the players have been playing together for a long time and it’s helped them develop team chemistry and performing on the field. According to Joseph, there’s a lot of strategy involved in the game of rugby, but players also have to adapt during the game. Joseph knows what needs to be done in order to face their next opponent, James Madison in the tournament for the national championship.

“At this point of the season, I’m just trying to stay healthy,” Joseph said.” I need to stay in shape and just keep practicing and getting out here and drilling in all the technical stuff. So, I’ll be ready to go next week.”

As for Coach Wiseman, he’s confident that his team will consistently perform heading into the big game.

 “We’ve been looking at James Madison,” Wiseman said. “I guess our main game is to play the hardest defense we can and try to put them under the most pressure as they can.”

Wiseman knows that his team is mentally prepared for the game, but to make sure their prepared physically, he’s making his team do one simple thing:

“Running them a lot, just trying to get them in the best shape that they can,” he said. “These guys are pretty prepared for the nationals, so a lot of it just comes down to fitness.”

The Clamdiggers will face James Madison in Knoxville, Tennessee on April 27^th at 9 a.m. in the Sweet Sixteen of the national championship.