For two hours, three times a week, the rugby team steps onto the overgrown grass at the intramural field and prepares for practice. Of its 34 members, many had never played or even watched the game until joining. On a typical day of practice, Southern accents question rules, techniques and drills. Experienced players usually explain with the patience of someone who was recently just as new to the game.
Team leader, senior math major Dylan Turner, was introduced to the game after being approached in the Union by the former rugby coach. Four years later, he is the captain of the team and looking at rugby as a potential career path.
“I wanted to be team captain because we have a lot of young guys and inexperienced guys who didn’t know what they were doing,” Turner said. “I’ve been to a lot of camps over the summer and gained a lot of knowledge being coach certified and being selected. I figure I have this knowledge, it’d be good share it with the young guys and help them be better rugby players.”
Although rugby is often compared to American football, there are basic differences any new fan should know. When a game starts or restarts, players from each team gather at the halfway line to ruck, an aggressive huddle to push the other team back and gain possession of the ball. As the player runs toward the “try-line” a ball, slightly larger than a traditional pig-skin, is tossed backwards from player to player. A “try” will earn the team five points and the opportunity to kick the ball for a two-point conversion. When taking down another player, anything below the shoulders is fair game if the player has possession of the ball.
Aside from a mouth guard and good technique, rugby players have no protection from collisions with other players.
Some of the players on the team are not novices. Having played since childhood, team members from Australia, England, Germany and Ireland bring lifetimes of experience.
According to Harry McBryde, a senior business major from Sydney, Australia, the physicality of the sport and its history places an emphasis on sportsmanship— which is the biggest lesson rugby has to teach.
“It’s called the gentleman’s sport and that is really true,” McBryde said. “At the end of the day really its all about ‘mateship;’ like, you can have you friends, guys you know through Facebook or class or whatever, and then you have rugby mates. After you all put in the work at practice and support each other through a matcAh, you’re going to be there for each other, no doubt.”
Benefiting from this camaraderie is freshman business major Grant Miller, who joined the team because he was looking for a way to become more involved in college.
“Rugby is huge everywhere else in the world, so these international students have been playing forever and they really understand the game. Having the guys from Australia and everywhere is a huge help in practice, because they have a lot of drills and can explain the concepts really easily,” Miller said.
Amanda Alpert, coordinator of intramural sports and sport clubs for campus recreation, said because rugby is a club team, its demands are greater than those of a intramural activity.
“The main difference between a sports club and intramural team is really the time commitment the athletes put into their practices and competition, because a lot of the club teams are sports that don’t have a varsity team,” Alpert said. “These students play and represent the school as if they were our varsity team.”
While Alpert said the popularity of club teams has risen in recent years, she expects rugby to become especially popular because it will be an event in the upcoming Olympic games. She hopes this will mean great recognition for the players dedication.
“All of our club games and matches are free to come watch and spectate. Supporting those students and the time commitment to play and run those clubs, those students deserve the support of the campus and community. They’re working really hard to be in these clubs they love, and they are often the only opportunity to experience the sport in Oxford,” said Alpert.
