V ’12: Rugby League set for toughest test

Warwick’s Rugby Union club have the privilege of proclaiming to be unbeaten against their former-polytechnic rivals for over two decades. However, our Rugby League team has battled hard in recent years against an undeniably strong Coventry side – their fierce rivalry culminating in a gripping 12-10 victory for Warwick at last year’s Varsity.

The sweet success of last season, however, is now long-forgotten. Warwick’s two encounters with Coventry so far this season have produced enthralling demonstrations of the sheer physicality of rugby league as a sport, yet both ultimately resulted in disappointment. A narrow 16–12 defeat in November was, by all accounts, harsh on Captain Dave O’Connor and his men, as controversial refereeing decisions took their toll. Genuine misfortune played an even greater role in their more recent 30 – 4 loss in January of this year: “our usual pack was almost completely out of action due to injury,” says O’Connor, “it was definitely an unfair result, we can’t do ourselves justice in a game like that.”

Two cruel defeats to their greatest rivals, then, has left the captain feeling like his team have a point to prove this year more than any other, and a look at their season so far seems to confirm this. Fifth in the league, with four wins and five losses, he concedes that this year “has been a bit of a disappointment,” but insists Warwick’s pre-season expectations of a top three finish were, and still are, achievable.

O’Connor immediately dismisses the notion that Warwick go into Varsity 2012 against an unbeaten Coventry as underdogs: “none of that matters, it’s just about that day, and us and Coventry.” Any suggestion of ill-discipline during the game itself was similarly rejected, despite the extremely physical nature of Rugby League. “I have complete faith in the team,” says O’Connor, “I trust every single one of them.”

Throughout the course of our conversation, his confidence in the natural ability and mentality of his team becomes plainly evident; individuals such as newcomer Sean Neville, the hooker Alex Kennedy, and first-year “playmaker” Joe Halpin, will ensure that this year’s Rugby League Varsity could be the closest, most intense yet.