A year removed from an eighth-place at nationals, the St. Thomas rugby team watches the film and sees a lot it missed, like a hole here or scoring opportunity there.

And the coaches and players find themselves gnashing their teeth, if not kicking themselves once or twice, at missed opportunities.

The Eagles finished eighth a year ago in Salt Lake City, Utah. They played without their top three players and consequently shuffled several others, throwing off the chemistry of a team that finished second in Texas.

Entering this year’s National Guard Boys High School, Club, and Boys and Girls U-19 Club Championships, which begin Friday morning in Pittsburgh, St. Thomas has undergone a transformation of sorts. They’re more focused overall and are channeling their preparation based on the experiences of a year ago.

“The attitude change is, I think, we’re not satisfied with getting there. We expect to go there and win,” coach Jim Wolfinger said. “I think the team is physically fitter, has more endurance and is more focused. We’ve worked on that all year. And there’s more dedication.

“We have more team speed than we did last year from top to bottom. We have more depth. There’s no reason we can’t improve on our position.

“We lost three close games last year without two of our players, three really, and playing not our best ball. We had three single-digit losses … against top competition.”

The Eagles will fly to Cleveland Thursday morning, then bus 130 miles to Pittsburgh.

St. Thomas’ first game is against Gonzaga, a Catholic school from the Washington D.C. area, at 9 a.m. CDT Friday at Founders Field. A win puts the Eagles into a likely matchup with perennial California powerhouse Sacramento Jesuit at 2 p.m. CDT; that winner advances to the championship at 5 p.m. CDT Saturday.

All teams are guaranteed two games Friday and one Saturday.

This is the Eagles’ third nationals appearance. They finished 10th of 12 teams in 2002.

Though they won the West region three weeks ago in St. Louis, the Eagles are seeded fifth overall in Pittsburgh because West teams did not perform well in the 2007 national tournament.

“We’re hoping to prove that fifth seed is not a wise move,” Wolfinger said.

Not knowing much about the rest of the field, Eagles captain Conor Mills based preparation for nationals on his own team.

“We know guys have got to focus more in practice,” said Mills, who captained the team as a sophomore. “We didn’t focus as much as we could have last year. We just have to have everybody healthy and playing at their best.”

Said Wolfinger: “They’re not tense but they’re confident. We learned our lessons from last year. We’re preparing better – when to do what, how to train without overtraining.”

***
One final step
WHAT: National Guard Boys High School, Club, and Boys and Girls U-19 Club Championships.
WHEN: Friday and Saturday.
WHERE: Founders Field, Pittsburgh.
OPPONENTS (all times Central): St. Thomas opens against Gonzaga, from the Washington D.C. area, at 9 a.m. Friday. If the Eagles win, they’ll play again at 2 p.m. Friday. The championship game is scheduled for 5 p.m. Saturday.
UPWARD SPIRAL: The Eagles finished 10th at the national tournament in 2002, then placed eighth last year when the event was in Salt Lake City, Utah.

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