As many winter sports come to a close, the Puget Sound rugby team is just getting warmed up. With three games under their collective belt this semester and a rivalry game with Seattle University looming this weekend, now is the time to get familiar with Logger rugby.
Following a few down years, the team has been gathering a head of steam since last semester. Their evolution into a regional contender has been powered by an improved coaching staff, growing camaraderie and dramatic increases in participation.
After a couple years with a coach who essentially tore the program down, Logger rugby is now lucky to have coaches with a plethora of experience.
“Coach Sully has coached for the Tacoma men’s league team as well as coaching across the state. And Coach Ropes is a recognized rugby official at multiple levels of competition. Having two very serious coaches has really helped the team get serious,” sophomore Cole McIlvane (Bellingham, Wash.) said.
As with any team, it takes more than coaches to bring players together; it takes time as well. When you practice with a team for long enough you form friendships and build trust. Once this happens, success is never far behind.
“As friends we are all meshing well together, forming a Rugby culture and brotherhood. Now that we are in the second semester I trust the man on my right and left 100percent,” junior Mike Hammer (San Mateo, Calif.) said. “The team has grown a lot over this past year. We have a better understanding of our capabilities on the field and the overall team play has been stepped up.”
Despite their increasing participation and success, rugby remains a club sport on this campus, just as it does on campuses around the country. Due to this distinction as a club rather than a varsity athletic team, rugby leagues are set up differently than mainstream sports.
So far this semester the team has faced two teams from NCAA Division I schools, Idaho and Washington State. The difference in size and athleticism has, at times, been a marked one.
“Idaho had a former football player who is heading for the NFL Combine this week, we don’t quite have that,” McIlvane said.
Despite this apparent disadvantage the Loggers have held their own against DI competition. They dominated Washington State in a 26-12 victory on Todd Field before falling to Idaho two weekends ago.
A big reason for this success is the welcome addition of members of the Puget Sound football team. This semester has brought a combination of returning football players as well as a few members who are stepping onto the pitch for the first time.
“Football adds a lot more size on the team. Even without rugby experience, the football skill set translates well on the pitch,” McIlvane said.
One first year football year player, freshman Danny Williams (Oakland, Calif.), is learning the ropes of rugby on the fly as he participates in game-time situations.
“Football translates in terms of bringing the physicality, but they’re very different games. It takes time, but once you get game experience you really get it,” Williams said.
Senior Sean Field-Eaton (Tigard, Ore.) has played both football and rugby all four years at Puget Sound.
“While I’ve only played rugby for 4 years and football for many more, I’ve found that they are complimentary to each other. If anything rugby actually improves success on the football field through spatial awareness and being able to react quickly. Also, it keeps you in shape. Reversely many of the aspects from football, such as tackling, translate to the rugby pitch,” Field-Eaton said.
Rugby is an intensely physical game. Like football, no one is ever 100 percent healthy. Instead they battle through nagging injuries, ignore the bumps and bruises and simply can’t help coming back to battle each year.
“Rugby is a very unique sport that never gets old and is always fun to compete. Though it is physically taxing I can’t stay away from it,” Field-Eaton said.
The rugby team is building a strong foundation that should translate to much deserved recognition in the near future.
They will take their next step on Sat., March 6 when Seattle University visits Todd Field. There is no love lost between the two programs; recent games have featured multiple altercations as emotions run close to the surface.
The Loggers enter the game with added motivation to avenge a close loss last semester. The game promises to be a hard hitting, action packed affair with plenty of mud, and possibly blood, to go around.