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A bone-weary BGSU rugby team arrived back in Bowling Green on Sunday as they completed a 10-day tour of Ireland.

Bowling Green was one of only two teams from a field of over 60 applicants to be granted official tour status this year by the Ireland Rugby Football Union. The Falcons were chosen based on their record and past tour history of Great Britain in 1987, 1995, and 2000 and of South Africa in 2002.

As guests of the IRFU, the Falcons were assisted in finding accommodations, matches and given access to four former Irish national players who conducted coaching sessions and gave critiques following BG’#39;s matches. Bowling Green’#39;s tour party consisted of 24 players, two coaches and twenty wives, parents and BGSU alumni.

‘No matter where we went, the local people identified us as the American rugby team that they had heard about, ‘ BGSU head coach Roger Mazzarella said. ‘Rugby is one of three sports that are a cultural religion in Ireland and there was intense interest regarding our ability to play ‘their’ game.’

Bowling Green spent time in three of Ireland’s rugby hotbeds: Limerick, Galway and Dublin.

‘The teams in Ireland all have on-site showers and changing rooms and a clubhouse that usually just reeks of history,’ Mazzarella said.

The walls of the Irish rugby clubhouses are covered with the jerseys of famous players and visiting clubs. Hard looking men with handle bar moustaches stare out from team photos in the Landsdowne Road clubhouse that dates back to 1890. Clanwilliam, the Falcon’#39;s first opponent, founded in 1878, was playing rugby while the sport was still in its infancy.

‘I cannot even begin to list the small acts of kindness and consideration that were extended to all members of the tour party by the bus drivers, shop owners, security guards, the average person on the street and even the pub keepers,’ Mazzarella said.

Every club put on a meal after the match, which featured traditional Irish fare as the main course.

The trip wasn’#39;t all rugby either. Side trips included

a trip around the Ring of Kerry, viewing the famous Book of Kells, a visit to the Aran Islands, climbing the Burren and Conamara Mountains and a swim in the Atlantic. One of the trip highlights was a tour of the Waterford Crystal Factory.

‘I’d say that most of us did a nice job of helping out the Irish economy in the Waterford shop,’ said Kevin Barber, father of BG flanker Jeremy Barber.

‘The Ring of Kerry was just magnificent,’ Mazzarella said. ‘Imagine a bus and a herd of sheep sharing a cliff-side road that is 15 feet wide and wishfully marked for two lanes. Our driver, Paddy O’Donovan would joke that if we wanted lamb chops for supper, all we had to do was speak up. It was stunning scenery punctuated by moments of sheer terror’

Ranking at the top of everyone’s list of trip highlights was attending the Connacht vs. Parma, Italy major league rugby match.

The tourists joined 10,000 rabid green clad fans alternately singing, cheering and just having a plain good old time at what club advisor Martha Mazzarella called a Hollywood ending.

Despite being plagued by dropped passes and a hostile referee, the Connacht hung on to win 20 – 14.

‘We went with the purpose of finding just how we rank as a team with the rest of the world, to get ready for another national championship run and to show our guys what rugby as a sport could become in our country,’ BG’#39;s president Brian Knaupe said. ‘The scores don’#39;t indicate how much we learned or the value of the experience and how it will pay off for us later in the season.’

The BG community, used to seeing the Falcons stomp every opponent it faces into the ground, may be surprised to learn that the Falcons lost two of their three matches.

When asked to assess the level of the competition they faced, Mazzarella placed the opposition at the very best in Ireland.

‘Both clubs that we faced were a division champion and about ninety percent of the players were professionals,’ Mazzarella said. ‘Connacht is one of the main feeder clubs for the Irish national side. Seven of the Connacht players that took the field against us were on the national team.’

The Falcons split with Clanwilliam, winning the first match 10 – 5 while losing the second 24 – 6.

The Falcons hung tough for the first half against Connacht, trailing by a 5 – 0 score, only to be blown out in the second half 52 – 0.

‘I’#39;m proud of the way the guys never quit and never stopped sticking the opposition,’ Mazzarella said.

Indeed Bowling Green’#39;s ‘big hit’ defense was the number one item of discussion on the sidelines and in the clubhouses.

‘In twenty years of playing rugby, I have never been knocked around as roughly as I was tonight,’ said Connacht captain Ross Butler at the last post-match reception. ‘I assume it is your football background, but we just don’#39;t see tackles as hard as that in our country.’

Mazzarella singled out locks Aaron Slates and Ryan Deal, hooker Eric Nutter and flankers Bryan Kupper and Art Pietrangelo for ‘laying the smack down’ on the Irish ball carriers.

Mazzarella also praised backs Derek Imes and Fred Ackermann, Brian Farrell and Mitch Albers.

‘All four played rugby in high school and showed a maturity and ability on the field that helped us out in the tight spots,’ he said.

Mazzarella vowed to continue the touring program as long as he is coach.

‘I believe that it is one of the keystones of this club’s success over the past two decades.’

The Falcons open their regular season tomorrow at home against the University of Windsor and Toledo at the College Park rugby field at 1 p.m.