When our Varsity teams are preparing for the match of their lives against the University of Leicester, who better to prepare them than players from Britain’s biggest rugby club.
Come on #TeamDMU: (L-R) Laurence Pearce, Riccardo Brugnara, Chris Mutton (DMU Men's Rugby Chairman), Jack Roberts and Freddie Burns
With the men’s 1st XV and women’s 1st XV rugby teams are getting ready for action at Leicester Tigers’ 24,000 capacity Welford Road stadium, several first team players came to De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) to share some tips and advice ahead of their big games against the University of Leicester.
Laurence Pearce, Riccardo Brugnara, Jack Roberts and England International Freddie Burns held a question and answer session with members of DMU Rugby sharing their experiences of preparing for big games, handling the pressure of the occasion and not letting the large crowds get the better of them.
Laurence, a 19 stone No.8 for Tigers, said: “We’ve come to give them a bit of a rally and get them ready for their big game, we’ll go through our match preparation routines and see where we match and if there’s anything they can do to be better prepared.”
Italian born Riccardo added: “The players need to concentrate on the game and the job that they have to do. As long as they do their own job as well as they can then that’s the best they can do for the team.”
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Jack Roberts, who joined Tigers last year from Championship side Rotherham, said: “The important thing is that the players go out and enjoy themselves as much as they can and don’t let the pressure of the occasion get to them.”
Freddie Burns, who has represented the full England side on five occasions, said: “One thing to make sure of is to not let yourself worry about the score line, as long as you’ve trained hard and done all your preparation then the confidence should be there to get the win even if you find yourself a few points down.”
The professional advice on offer to this year’s Varsity squads should go some way to helping team DMU get the better of UOL, who won both fixtures in last year’s Varsity Rugby night at Welford Road.
James Newton, captain of the men’s 2nd XV at DMU, said: “To see actual players and hear about their pre-match routine and the amount of preparation they do is great, it’s amazing to see what level of commitment is needed at the top end of the game.
“I think the 1st XV have got a really good chance on the night, it’s a very strong squad and the season has had a really good finish so they’re looking good.”
For the visit of the Leicester Tigers players, members of DMU Rugby wore their #DMUPride t-shirts to show their continued support in the effort to rid sport of homophobia and to raise awareness of and celebrate the LGBT communities in DMU and across Leicester.
The matches take place on Wednesday 18 March with gates open at 6pm. DMU Women’s Rugby kick-off the action at 6.30pm, while the men’s game gets underway at 8.05pm.
You can buy your tickets for the Varsity Rugby crunch game from DMU players on the Campus Centre steps or in the Students’ Union for £5, as well as being able to buy them on the door at Welford Road.
Tickets can also be bought online from the Tigers website www.leicestertigers.com/varsity, using code DMU15 to claim your £5 tickets or alternatively call the ticket office on 0116 319 8888 and select option two.
Make sure you keep up with the twitter debate using #TeamDMU.
Posted on Wednesday 18 March 2015