METAIRIE, La. — The 2024 Major League Rugby season has been history in the making for the NOLA Gold, who earned their first-ever playoff berth with a 20-13 win over the Miami Sharks last Sunday.
The historic accomplishment is not lost on team general manager Ryan Fitzgerald.
"It was unbelievable.," the former U.S. Marine and NFL scout told WWL Louisiana. "I'm not going to lie. It was unreal. There's been a lot of blood, sweat and tears over the last seven years – Shaw High School to here, the growth of it, the development along the way. Some tough losses, some unbelievable wins to come up just short a couple years by one point in the standings – not one time, but two.
"COVID-year we had a great team, but COVID knocked that out," Fitzgerald continued. "All of that to get right here, and when that ball went in to touch in the 80th minute I was not jumping up and down until that whistle blew, and finally when it did, it took the life out of you for a minute. Knees buckled a bit."
With three games to go, including a road trip to California to play RFC Los Angeles (4-8-1), the NOLA Gold now look to reset season goals into something loftier.
"It's been our focus all year around, just staying above the line, being professional, coming to work every day and getting better," said first-year head coach Cory Brown, who took the helm in November. "I think we've done that really well, so it was an easy thing to reset and refocus. And the boys really want to win a home playoff."
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With the team currently sitting at 8-5, second in the Eastern Conference just one game behind the defending league champions, New England, the Gold are experiencing a wealth of good fortune under Brown.
The New Zealander brings international rugby coaching experience to a team that has galvanized under his leadership. It's a shift not lost on Fitzgerald.
"What I find amazing about Coach Brown, is that he's never too high or too low," Fitzgerald explained. "Our goal was to get in [the playoffs] ... and along that way, even when we rattled off 3 or 4 wins in a row, never too high, never too low – stay the course."
The always pragmatic Brown sees the team's success as a natural evolution given the roster's makeup and current mentality, but says there's still work to do.
"The dynamics of the group is a little bit older, a little bit wiser," he told WWL. "You get a little bit more experience and a little bit more quality. So that's probably been the change. But everyone's just really clear on on the purpose, on the why and what those goals are and how we're going to go out and achieve them.
There's still a lot left to go," he continued. "Yes, we've made the playoffs and we're happy with that, but we want more."
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With the playoff-bound Gold turning its attention toward a possible homestand in July, the team will need to avenge an early-season loss to conference rival New England when the first-place Free Jacks visit the 'Gold Mine on Airline' in Metairie next week.
But Coach Brown is not overlooking Los Angeles on deck.
"Really proud of the whole organization, the players and everything we've done," he said. "But we're now talking about making sure we get a home playoff, so the goals change slightly and now our focus is squarely on L.A."
For U.S. National Team veteran and Gold captain Tesimoni Tonga'uiha, who's been with the team since its debut in 2018, the playoffs were a must this season, telling WWL prior to Week 1 he'd "had enough" of missing out.
Now he says when it comes to NOLA making a championship run in 2024, "Don't bet against us."
"We got a helluva team," he said. "I've been saying this since our last interview. We just got to believe in one another and believe in what these coaches are doing. But, I'll take us against anyone in this league.
"I'm not going to try to jump to conclusions ... our mind is focused on L.A. and what we got to do against them," Tonga'uiha continued. "But I'll take this team against anyone any day."
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