*This is part of a short story athlete feature series written for Instagram*
Merlin M'Cloud and the University of Victoria men's rugby team arrive at Wallace Field and head to the warm up pitch before the first game of the 2023 season.
M'Cloud, a fourth-year engineering student, is a back-row starter for the Vikes, but it wasn't always that way. In fact, when he arrived at UVic, he wasn't even on varsity or junior varsity. He started with the Saxons—the Vikes development team where young but talented athletes go to gain experience. As a walk-on, he didn't start a single game that year.
When M'Cloud started playing rugby in his hometown of Montague, PEI, population 2400, he recalls his team losing every game and getting throttled "like 100 to nothing."
When he decided to make the cross-country move for UVic's engineering program, he wanted to continue playing. Having represented PEI at the U18 level, M'Cloud had experience, but not to the same level as the athletes out west.
Over the next three years, M'Cloud and what is now a core group of his varsity teammates, climbed their way from Saxons to Norsemen to Vikes, eventually earning their spots in the starting line-up. He says he "doesn't really know what happened" and credits his teammates, coaches, and the program's culture for the glow-up.
"It's been a rewarding experience to see my teammates, who all ground it out together on the Saxons in our first year, steadily rise through the ranks and become leaders on the team," saod M'Cloud.
M'Cloud remembers what it was like to be a kid playing against men.
"Most programs only have one team, so if I showed up as a first year, I would have just got cut. But in our program with three teams, there is a lot of inter-team training and chances to improve. I remember the older guys would get frustrated with us dropping balls and stuff; it was terrifying. Those guys were like gods to me, [most of them] wearing Team Canada shorts—but that kind of pressure makes you better," he continued.
M'Cloud spent the summer in New Zealand training with Sumner Rugby Football Club alongside former teammate
Gabe Casey. This season, he will help the Vikes as they look to bring home a Canadian university title.
