Bio

Head Coaching Tenure

Tenth season - seventh with rugby sevens
Overall Record: 69-22-2 (.753)

OCAA Postseason

Titles: 3 ('16, '18, '21)
Record: 7-3 (.700)
Postseason Appearances: 5 ('16-'22)

OCAA Season

League Record: 62-19-2 (.778)
Division Titles: 4 ('16-'19)

About

Dale Essue, Humber rugby's longest-tenured and winningest coach, enters his tenth season at the helm of the program in 2022. Essue owns a 69-22-2 overall rugby sevens record, including a 62-19-2 mark in OCAA league-play.

Essue was named the Humber women’s rugby head coach by athletic director Ray Chateau in 2013 after serving three seasons as the assistant coach. During that time, the Hawks captured three straight OCAA banners in their first three years of existence.

Essue's teams have produced 17 All-OCAA League selections and three OCAA Player of the Year recipients. 

Leading rugby 15’s for three years, Essue accrued an all-time record of 21-3 (.875), finishing the 2014 season undefeated to capture his first title as head coach.

When the OCAA transitioned to rugby sevens in 2016, Essue and the Hawks continued their provincial dominance. In the fifth match of the inaugural season, Humber scored an OCAA record nine tries in a victory over Mohawk. After clinching the regular-season title, the Hawks rolled through the postseason, defeating Seneca, 52-0. Humber’s 52-point victory in the final continues to stand as the largest margin of victory in a rugby sevens final.

The Hawks reached new heights in 2017, becoming the first program to finish the regular season with a perfect record. Humber scored a conference record 531 points, extending its OCAA-record win streak to 27 consecutive matches. Christina Branch became the program’s first scoring champion, finishing with an OCAA record of 180 points. In the spring, the Hawks crossed the Peace Bridge and won the 2018 Battle for the Border in Buffalo, rolling through five NCAA university programs to win the title. Humber finished the tournament with a perfect 5-0 record, outscoring the competition, 230-0.

Humber's success carried into the 2018 season, as the Hawks captured their second title in three seasons. Trailing late in the OCAA final, Hayley O'Donoghue made an incredible game-saving tackle, preventing the Thunder from scoring. The Hawks responded with time running out, as a streaking Cheyenne De Luca ran over 60 metres untouched to win the match. 

For the fourth straight season, Humber finished the season as the highest-scoring team, winning its fourth straight division title and earning its fourth consecutive postseason berth in 2019. De Luca became the first player in league history to win the OCAA scoring title twice, while 2019 OCAA Player of the Year Christina Branch finished her career as the league's all-time leading scorer with 537 points.

After the COVID-19 pandemic cancelled the 2020 season, Coach Essue and the Hawks claimed their third title in five years, defeating the unbeaten Durham Lords on their home field, 36-14.

Essue’s Humber ties run deep, dating back to his playing days on the men’s rugby team in 2003. As a rookie, he led the program in scoring, finishing with a career-high 32 points. Essue concluded his four-year career by helping the Hawks capture back-to-back OCAA provincial titles and in 2006 he received all-OCAA recognition. He currently sits seventh all-time in scoring for Humber rugby.

At Applewood Heights Secondary School, Essue was a five-sport athlete, competing on the football, basketball, rugby, baseball, and track teams. He later returned to Applewood in 2010, leading the girls’ rugby team to ROPSSAA and OFSAA titles in 2011.

In 2009, Essue graduated from Humber College with a recreation and leisure services diploma and currently holds a Level 1 Coaching 7-a-side-Rugby certificate.