Dreams of the double and doing it for his dad: DURFC captain Marcus Rhodes tells all

Marcus Rhodes is by now a well-established and respected name in university rugby – involvement in age-group England set ups, two years playing professionally at London Irish and two years of being a permanent name on the Durham teamsheet.

Standing at a formidable 6ft and four inches, he has made the number 8 position his own and established himself as one of the best back rows in BUCS. Now going into his third year, Marcus is the new first team captain at Durham. The Tab Durham spoke to Marcus about his goals for the upcoming season, the task of balancing rugby with a degree, and the inspiration he has taken from his father.

Marcus Rhodes against Leeds Beckett University

Ambitions for 2024/25

“We’ve never won the cup. The last time we won the league was in 2022. The goal has always got to be to do the double – obviously that involves playing a league which is 18 games, and then winning a quarter-final, semi-final and final type of knockout cup.

“We’ve sort of underperformed over the last couple of years from where we want to be, but winning the double will always be the ambition”.

Despite strong top half finishes in the league competition, Durham have lost two home quarter-finals in a row in the cup. Marcus told The Tab Durham: “Because Hollow Drift is such a tough place to come and win, I think it’s such a big deal for teams when they do come up, especially in knockout games. You’re always in that position where because you’re the favourite, teams give you their best and you have to try and match that. The last two occasions we haven’t been able to deal with that pressure”.

Hollow Drift is an intimidating ground – not only is it very large in size, it is a long travel from the largely southern BUCS teams and is a much wetter pitch than average. Consequently, Durham have been known to play a physical, attritional and kicking-based brand of rugby that plays to their strengths. Despite this, Marcus wants to play a more attacking brand of rugby this year.

“I think that’s probably our commitment to ourselves as a squad that we want to play some exciting rugby and play some rugby we actually enjoy. You kind of need to as a player be in love with the direction of how you’re going to play – I think that’s probably something that we’ve got right going into this season”.

Balancing rugby with university

Marcus Rhodes

Marcus is a history student going into third year. History is not an easy degree: It may not be as time consuming all day every day as some, but it is academically rigorous and requires commitment. With so much time playing rugby, Marcus has learnt how to balance his time.

“Interestingly, I think it probably makes it slightly easier, because it limits the excuse of I’ve got all this time. I think it allows me to go – OK, so from 7-8am I’m in the gym, then I’ll have a meeting, then I’ve probably got four or five hours in the day to work. So it sort of allows me to be more efficient, but obviously it is tiring having less hours in the day.

“But then I suppose that is why I’m at Durham. I want to be a professional rugby player again – I want to go back to that, and it’s been going well for the last two years so hopefully that will continue.

“I wouldn’t really want it any other way, to be honest”.

Like most university sports, DURFC have a reputation for liking a night out and the opportunity to let their hair down. However, given their heavy discipline and schedule, this perception is often blown out of proportion.

“We’re trying to take ourselves seriously – that’s part of the sacrifice it takes to be the best. I know that if I go out too much, it’s going to affect my ability to train my body, all that kind of stuff. We do a pretty decent training block on Saturday morning, so being hungover then doesn’t really fly and it’s hard to train when you’re in that state.

“We tend to not have issues – the boys are very dedicated which makes it easy in terms of the leadership at the top to help people that really care and are committed to that”.

Doing it for his dad and difficulties faced

“I think a lot of people externally think I went to like a big rugby school – that I went to Wellington, sort of was always in an academy, thinking that it was easy but it really wasn’t like that. I started off when I was at Wellington playing in B teams and really had to find my way into games and the A team.

“Then, I get picked for England under-18s but COVID hits, so that doesn’t actually happen. So you’re kind of waiting – I didn’t know if I was getting a contract.

“It’s been hard work and it has been a lot about self-belief and determination. I did it kind of the hard way, if that makes sense. I feel proud of the way that I did it and hopefully that will continue”.

Marcus’ father has also been a huge inspiration to him and one of his biggest supporters throughout his life.

“My dad broke his neck playing rugby when he was sort of 17 or 18 and I have a ridiculously close relationship with him. I know what the sport can give to you but also what it can take from you so there is a massive motivational factor there.

“I want to make him proud – it’s about giving my parents those moments considering how much they have sacrificed for me to get where I have done, so giving them those moments would be the crowning glory for me”.

Images via Durham University Rugby Football Club (DURFC)

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