Women's Rugby starts strong with new coach

By Michael Legere
Norwich Guidon Staff Writer

A new season is upon the Norwich Women's Rugby team, and working through the challenge of starting up late will only make them stronger as they begin the year with a new coach.

The new head coach, Robert Weggler, has 25 years of coaching experience, most recently coaching women's rugby for six years at Colby College in Maine.

"I'm looking forward to working with the girls here," said Weggler. "I can't wait to see them play. Their first game is homecoming."

According to a story on the NU web site, "Weggler graduated from Cornell University, where he played football and rugby."

The women's assistant rugby coach, Fiona Johnstone, had all coaching responsibilities loaded on her last year, so she is happy to have Weggler here to help her out.

"The girls are enjoying it a lot, and it's making life for me much easier," said Johnstone. In years past, the girls have done "pretty much everything on [their] own," said team captain Amy Hutter, 21, a senior international studies major from Louisville, Kentucky.

"Coach Weggler seems to be on the ball, and he's ready to take charge." Johnstone is confident that this year's team will be as good as last year's.

"We should do really well. We have a lot of seniors on the team, and we have a lot of freshman last year that played above standard," said Johnstone.

In addition, there were only a few seniors that graduated last year, so most of the team is returning. The ultimate goal this year is to make it to the "sweet sixteen," said Johnstone.

The team was close last year, missing the championships by just one game against Plymouth State. The team is predicting another tough challenge against Plymouth this year but is confident that they will walk away with a victory.

Norwich Women's Rugby players are known for their roughness. "We have a very strong, physical team and we play a strong, physical game," said Johnstone.

"If we can get them to play our game, there is no reason we won't make it to the championships. We will definitely be taking the game to the other team."

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