Veteran rugby graduates go out as all-stars
By Ryan Rogers
Sports Editor
November 28, 2007
 The Lancer’s Rugby team had two of its graduating teammates announced as OUA West All-Stars last week. Lancers Graham Haigh and Captain Andrew Ziricino were honoured for their strong seasons, capping off long and rewarding careers in Windsor.
Haigh, awarded all-star status for his first time, said “People do pay attention to that. Some really good players have been named [all stars], it’s a first time for me, so it’s a little more special… It’s nice to get it in [my] last year.”
The two teammates reflected upon their time as Lancers and were happy with their choice. Coming to a team that had just switched from ‘club side’ to ‘varsity side’ meant that they would get the opportunity to play, even as rookies.
Ziricino admits, “I had a chance to start in my very first game of my very first year. If you go to a school like Mac (McMaster) and Western, I know guys that are great players, … but they only get onto the seconds team, and they play junior varsity games. Coming down here was sweet for me.”
Haigh said, “This was a school that gave us a chance to come here and play a sport that we love, to get an education and start and make a difference. Instead of being on a practice roster and playing seven games in four years we got to start from the beginning.”
But where football, basketball and hockey are heavily mediated sports, and the Lancer’s have perennial success with cross-country and track & field, rugby is a tough sell.
Haigh said, “I feel like the ‘throw-in’ sport, like they had a little extra budget money, they were convinced to give it to rugby, and they don’t really want to cut it now because they kind of put the effort in.”
Haigh said he never feels more like the black sheep than when the team is at the varsity year-end banquets. “The worst thing for me is there’s always the ‘Year-in-video’ at the athletic banquet and it’s like rugby doesn’t exist.”
Ziricino added, “We get some still pictures, but they’re same ones they’ve been using for years, of guys that aren’t even on the team anymore.”
In their first seasons, the team was still establishing a program after switching into the varsity ranks. “We were making a transition from what was a club program into what became a varsity program, and in three years it’s tough to do that. In my first year, which would be Andy’s (Ziricino) second year, I don’t know how we got through that year,” said Haigh.
Ziricino added, “We won two games all year and it was against York, who doesn’t even have a team anymore.”
Haigh, a native of Richmond, B.C. said “I’d come all the way out here… and I remember… we had all these huge guys and I was alright. I made a good decision. I’m glad I came out. And then we were on the field against Western and … it was like 50-nothing in 20 minutes. It was embarrassing.”
But the team went on to defeat Guelph, which was a highlight that season. “That was a game that really sticks out in my mind,” said Haigh, “because I remember showing up and playing and there was a big game and we ended up beating them by two points.”
Haigh continued, “[The Guelph] coach was so mad that they didn’t come out for dinner afterwards, they got right on the bus and went home. They couldn’t come out because they were so mad because they botched the win against Windsor, it was a big insult.”
But there wouldn’t be valleys if there weren’t any hills, and Ziricino and Haigh saw brighter times during their careers, too. In 2005, the Lancers qualified for their first time for the OUA playoffs with a group that Haigh called very talented.
They didn’t find out that they had qualified until after a match against the RMC Paladins. “We found out after the game,” Haigh continued, “I think I was in the shower, and they gave us a case of coke after every game and we all were drinking the cokes in the shower and I remember somebody came in and said, ‘Waterloo lost, you guys are in the playoffs.’ And I remember shaking the Cokes up and spraying them around.”
Ziricino confirmed it, “We were like seven year-olds. All I can picture is like 15 hairy naked guys with Cokes in their hands.” Looking back, qualifying for the playoffs that season was the highlight of their careers.
They had their low moments, too, especially when they almost lost funding for their team last March. Ziricino said, “The UWSA started to question where [athletic funds] went, and they started to ask for budget reports,…and eventually it came down to a vote, and we had like 35 guys and we organized this thing so we could go and listen. We knew [rugby] was on the cusp of being kicked out, and we got everybody.”
The dedication to the sport was evident that day, said Ziricino. “Trying to get guys out for training is impossible, trying to get them to buy tickets for a banquet, it’s like pulling teeth, but you find out that the program’s gone, everyone showed up in their uniforms. Guys that were recruits that hadn’t even played a minute showed up… They knew we didn’t want to lose our sport.”
Ziricino especially enjoys the culture of the sport; even after the two teams step on, punch and hit each other, they socialize together in the local pub. Ziricino said, “Afterwards you go to the bar, you shake the guys’ hands, and you buy him a beer… It’s like the whole social aspect of the game. I love to be competitive, I love to go out and I love to try and beat the other guy – but at the same time, if he plays better than me, or I play better than him, either way we can still go out and have a beer,” said Ziricino.
Visiting rugby teams are traditionally hosted by the home team. Haigh explained, “It’s just how it’s going to be. And it’s all a lot more fun that way.”
Haigh and Ziricino have a cumulative nine years of fighting for the Lancers on and off the field between them, and they will be remembered as the OUA All Stars that they were in their final season in Windsor.
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