In its final game of the season on Saturday, Princeton Women’s Rugby was crushed 7–81 against Harvard (7–0 overall), capping off yet another winless season filled with losses by wide margins. The team has significantly struggled since going varsity four years ago, with a historical record of 2–31.
This year, women’s rugby has been unable to field a full 15 players for a whole match in five of their six games. There are no healthy recruited seniors or juniors despite each class starting with three. And since early September, the team has been led by their assistant coach, after their head coach was put on administrative leave.
There are growing pains in any new varsity program. Teams must build a competitive record to attract recruits, all while potentially relying on walk-ons and less experienced players. With fewer recruitment spots than most other varsity teams, though, several players fear that the tumultuous and injury-filled season will have lasting negative impacts on its ability to attract talent to the program — and that Princeton’s athletic department has not been sufficiently supportive in making the team a competitive one.
“We’re always saying that Princeton is striving to be great in all 38 varsity sports, but I guess [women’s] rugby has been left behind,” a first-year on the team told The Daily Princetonian. They spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of repercussions.
“We’ve been told by the athletic department that we should be happy that you’re even able to go out there and play with their team,” said another first-year, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of repercussions. “[It’s] just an embarrassment that we can’t even field the side, and they’re telling us that, ‘no, you should just be grateful that you can get out there and play.’”
“That’s not the mentality of a varsity team,” they said.
“In any sport, the process of building a varsity program from the ground up is a long one,” Chas Dorman, Associate Director of Athletics for Communications, wrote to the ‘Prince.’ “However, we remain as committed as ever to the long-term success of the women’s rugby program and to the positive experience of the student-athletes who are members of the team.”
There are 13 Division I NCAA Varsity Women’s Rugby programs as the sport emerges on a national level, including some of the Ivy League. Princeton currently has four recruits in the Class of 2029, up from three in the last three years — on par with peers like Brown and Harvard, who fielded, respectively, three and four first-year players with high school rugby experience four years after their programs went varsity. Dartmouth, on the other hand, fielded eight experienced first-year players four years into its varsity program.
This season, all other Ivy League universities with D1 women’s rugby teams have at least double the number of players with high school rugby experience currently on their team.
Women’s rugby relies on walk-on athletes to compete, and players say that the recruit to walk-on ratio limits practice capabilities. Coaching staff sacrifice building on recruited players’ skills in order to keep the walk-ons safe, First-Year One told the ‘Prince.’
Practices are “constantly reverting back to the basics,” with the level being “less intense” and “less efficient,” the same first-year said. The team rarely practices full speed, full contact drills.
Coaching changes have been another factor influencing practices. Head Coach Josie Ziluca was put on administrative leave on Sept. 2, with Assistant Coach Holly Abrams leading practices since her departure. Additional coaches have yet to be hired, though visiting coaches have assisted at some practices and matches.
Ziluca did not respond to several requests for comment from the ‘Prince.’ Abrams declined a request for comment from the ‘Prince.’
In a statement, the team’s captains said they were hopeful for additional coaches to further support the team.
“Coaching makes a significant difference in injury rates and we are working on getting additional coaches this fall, so that will be a great support,” senior utility back Malinka Kwemo, senior utility forward Samantha Handwerk, and senior fullback Ciara Loughran wrote to the ‘Prince.’
Players told the ‘Prince’ that there were fewer injuries last year compared to this fall, some pointing to lack of coaching support as a cause. “We haven’t had really proper coaching safety-wise,” a sophomore said.
Injuries lead to incomplete rosters, preventing the team from fielding a full 15 player side, putting players at risk of injury.
“That not only puts the individual players at risk, because we’re playing with everyone we have on the field, and then still having to make subs if somebody gets injured,” First-Year Two said. One player told the ‘Prince’ that injured players have been rostered in the starting lineup.
In early October, two senior recruits had left the team and the third had been injured. All three junior recruits were injured, and one sophomore was injured, leaving six healthy recruited players, according to the three players.
Additionally, less experienced players can lead to higher injury rates for themselves, their teammates, and even members of the opposing team, they said.
“People that are newer to the sport are going to have less awareness of both how their body is moving so taking a tackle and if they hit a person in the wrong way, that could cause serious injuries to both themselves and the opposition,” the first-year continued. In addition, new players tend to shy away from contact in their first several games, putting the physical burden on more experienced players.
“Rugby by its nature is one of the most physically aggressive sports for college students,” Kwemo, Handwerk, and Loughran wrote to the ‘Prince.’ “We don’t wear any protective gear besides a mouthguard, and as a result, injuries are not uncommon. We have great support from our coaches. Our athletic trainer ensures safety and rehabilitation and our strength coach incorporates injury prevention exercises into our workouts.”
Some on the team argue that the high-contact nature of rugby should give the team priority for receiving more recruitment spots. Football, which is rugby’s sister sport and the only other full-contact sport offered at Princeton, received 28 recruitment spots for this season.
“We’re making upwards of 10 tackles, sometimes 20 tackles a game, and that’s a huge comparison to football. And that’s normal for a single player to be making near that number in a single match, and you’re doing that every weekend,” First-Year One said.
As injury rates stay high, success rates stay low. The team did not win a match this year, losing 7–54 to Long Island University (2–5 overall), 7–74 to Lindenwood (7–1 overall), 5–76 to Navy (3–5 overall), 33–40 to Queens (2–5 overall), 7–76 to Brown (2–5 overall), and 7–81 to Harvard. Additionally, the team forfeited a match against Dartmouth due to a lack of healthy players.
“I know that there’s walk-ons in this team that I would trust my life with … but at the same time, you can’t expect a team full of walk-ons all to magically have super amazing rugby skills,” First-Year One said.
Some players, already frustrated at performance, are equally upset about lack of communication from above. Many players were caught off guard learning from an article online rather than from their coaches or captains that the team had declared a 7s postseason, meaning the team will not be eligible to compete for the NIRA Division 1 fall 15s championship.
“We're basically playing scrimmages, and the fact that we haven't had any conversations with leadership or coaches is insane to me,” one player said.
Whether the team will eventually have additional recruitment spots has not been communicated to current players.
“We [the athletic office] regularly have meetings between student-athletes and administrators throughout the year,” Dorman said, adding that “details pertaining to recruiting spots would not be shared with student-athletes.” In a meeting with players earlier this year, Director of Athletics John Mack ’00 said he would be happy to discuss walk-on spots, but did not address athlete recruitment, according to several players.
The struggles faced by the team this season could impact future recruitment years. Some players warned that Princeton is “off the radar” for some top recruits due to the struggles facing Princeton’s team.
“Rugby is so tight-knit and such a small community that everyone that’s played for a while long enough to have a really high rugby IQ pretty much knows everybody else that is at that level,” First-Year Two said.
“I know personally four potential recruits that were looking to come here in the following two years [that] have all reached out to me saying that they no longer want to come,” a sophomore on the team told the ‘Prince.’ “A couple of them have already committed to other places solely because of the issues we’re currently facing recruitment-wise, team-wise, safety-wise.”
The Athletic Department pointed towards the new Women’s Rugby facility in Meadows as “just one example of the University’s continued investment in the program and its long-term success.”
The team’s captains said that they “have been provided the best facilities of any women’s rugby team in the country by our incredible alumni, so our team has benefitted from that investment.”
The ‘Prince’ reached out to all upperclassmen on the team, but did not receive a response.
While hopes of improvement are expressed by the University and some players, the reality of gameplay remains largely uncompetitive.
“I came here to play D1 rugby, and right now, this feels more like a high school level,” said First-Year One.
Devon Rudolph is an associate News editor and staff Sports writer. She is from Fairfax, Va. and typically directs investigative coverage. She can be reached at dr7917[at]princeton.edu.
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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