Goff Rugby Report may have Minnesota-Duluth at #2, but it’s hard to argue against the Fighting Penguins.

Nemuel Nyangaresi photos.

After all, they did win the Men’s DII College National Championships in 2013, and 2014, and 2015 … you get the picture. This year, Duluth had to work through some changes, including the graduation of their exceptional No. 8, Luc Desroches, and the stepping down of Head Coach Jeramy Katchuba. While UMD had shown an ability to reload after losing an important player, losing Katchuba was another situation entirely.

But, says flyhalf Trace Bolstad, the team, and new Head Coach Dean Walsh, handled it all just fine. It didn’t hurt that Katchuba was heavily involved in finding Walsh.

“We were pretty excited to have Dean come in,” said Bolstad. “And I think we had, too. He could see the energy, and we could see Dean’s desire to keep it going. Being part of this I think is not tough for him. He’s got a winner’s mentality, and that’s what we want.”

Duluth has some superb experienced players - Bolstad, Zach Schwartz, Randy Tanaka, Lars Anderson - and they’ve seen No. 8 Eric Eisner take over for Desroches andmake the position his own. But it’s more about how they prepare than individuals.

Nemuel Nyangaresi photos.

“For us, playing at this level, making the final four, never gets old,” said Bolstad, who started playing rugby as a middle-schooler in the Hopkins youth program in Minnesota. “It never ceases to bring the adrenaline.”

It’s all about intensity. Duluth practices like they play and it’s in the team culture to bring that gameday intensity to practice three times a week. 

“Duluth Rugby is more about our preparation on and off the field than anything else,” said Bolstad. “We’ve had players change and coaches change, but the principles haven’t changed.”

This year, Duluth started ranked #1 but slipped to #2 because their victories, while numerous, were not as overwhelming as in previous season. Bolstad says that’s because the competition is getting better, especially in the playoffs.

“These were the toughest round of 16 and round of eight games we’ve had,” said the Duluth flyhalf. “And North Dakota State is one of the most physical team’s we’ve seen all year. So we know it’s going to be tough. We never underestimate our opponents and we know that the [semifinal] against Furman is going to be a tough game. We just need to work our asses off.”