Anna Nelson

The men’s club rugby team finished the regular season with a record of 4-2 and it now must wait and see if it will be awarded a playoff berth.

The decision will be made sometime this week by the Wisconsin Rugby Union and the Midwest Rugby Union.

“I feel pretty good about making the playoffs,” coach Zachary Barlow said.

The players also believe they have a good chance.

“We deserve to get in,” senior Nick Pretasky said. “We’re one of the best in the state.”

If they do not receive a berth, eight seniors have played their last game at Bollinger Field.

“We’ll be a young team next year,” Barlow said. “We’ll be a strong team next season though.”

The regular season finished on a high note Saturday, when Eau Claire beat UW-Platteville 43-5.

“We played very well overall,” Barlow said. “We were able to put it together finally.”

They went into the game wanting to make the first hit.

“Due to our hitting, we were able to score plenty,” Pretasky said.

The size of the field also helped in the victory.

“We’re used to the wide field,” junior Adam McClurg said. “We’ve been playing on small fields lately.”

The team is built for that wide field.

“We have a lot of fast guys,” McClurg said. “The bigger the field, the better the chance we’ve got.”

Two Eau Claire players stood out during the game.

“(Junior) Kevin Riley tackled very hard,” Barlow said. (Senior) Andy Birner had a very solid performance. They rallied the team.”

The team has a few more things it needs to work on to get ready for its possible playoff matchups.

“We need to work on the little things,” McClurg said. “We need to keep improving and keep our high intensity.”