Bob Wilson and Dave DeSalvia threatened to make their team run extra sprints. Players wore shorts in the below-freezing temperatures. Someone yelled to a teammate, “Go kill ‘em,” as he lined up to hit another.

Syracuse’s Tuesday night practice, energized by its three front row players, had bigger stakes. Just like its playoff game on Friday does.

The Hammerheads enter unchartered territory as they match up with Notre Dame (Ohio) College in the American Collegiate Rugby Championship Bowl Series at 6:40 p.m. on Friday in Charlotte, North Carolina. This is the furthest SU has advanced in the postseason in recent memory in large part due to the success of its front row.

It’s a group of three players — hooker Greg Filgor, prop Alex Amico and fellow prop Mike Ordorica — that had never played their respective position before, but has improved to lead the scrum as the season progressed.

The trio has bought into the team’s system, which in turn built their chemistry and resulted in more effective offensive play.

“The chemistry within the scrum and the forward pack in general is absolutely there,” said Ordorica. “I think we will be able to make a big statement, … definitely make a name for ourselves at this bowl series.”

The three new front-row players have changed a team’s culture that was previously used to losing conference games by 30-plus points.

Captain Angus Bishop said losses like a drubbing to Stony Brook on Sept. 26 facilitated a change in strategy for the front row that included watching a professional men’s team from Syracuse, the Chargers, in order to learn what worked and what did not.

Wilson compares the line play of rugby to that in football: it establishes the tempo and offensive capabilities for the game.

The improved product was on display this past weekend when Syracuse won its conference title, 32-28, in a rematch with Stony Brook.

“(We have) three undersized front-row forwards. Early on we got pushed around a little bit,” Wilson said. “They kept working and working with our assistant coach Dave DeSalvia and came back … against a team that had pushed them around the field six weeks earlier and just took them apart up front.”

The revenge was made possible by technical adjustments in relation to spacing and gap controls. More discipline as well as the introduction of a specialty scrum coach from Argentina has given Syracuse momentum as it heads into the ACRC Bowl Series.

Amico said the front-row’s influence starts with the scrum and extends outward. The back-turned-prop likened the transition to switching from a football running back to a guard.

“Line outs and scrums are really where our forwards have been having the biggest impact and this has turned into big plays,” said Amico, who embraced his position change.

Bishop said that entering the season, scrums were a weak point for Syracuse.

Now, they’re a strength, because of three players embracing their role as SU heads into its toughest competition yet.

“… If (Bishop) needs be to play somewhere else,” Amico said. “I’ll do whatever it takes to get there.”

Published on November 20, 2015 at 11:49 am

Contact Jake: jafalk@syr.edu