We haven’t seen the Puget Sound rugby team in a while. The players have been hard at work preparing for regionals. The Loggers went undefeated this season and secured a spot at regionals, which will take place April 14th and 15th in Wayne, Nebraska.
“We’re practicing in harder, getting more focused, running more, working out more… basically anything we can do to get somewhere [good],” said Sophomore James Ryan (Piedmont, Calif.).
The Puget Sound rugby team is fairly young as a club, but it has great reception throughout campus, with a wide variety of supporters and a large team.
“Last year we had thirty guys, this year we have fifty. We brought in twenty new freshman and we haven’t had anything like that before. This is the start of an actual rugby team,” Ryan said.
A large part of the team is composed of freshmen, forcing them to step up as leaders.
“Getting all those freshman is a huge deal. A bunch of them are really good and they’re fast and they make it so that other kids want to work out, actually step up and fight for their position, which causes people to compete and makes them better as an individual,” Ryan said.
Many of the players this year are seniors, and as seniors, they have taken on important roles in the club’s success.
Next year, the club will be looking for individuals who can step up and lead the team, but they will also see some changes in the team as a whole, such as, “…our style of play. Some kids will have to step up and we’ve seen that already,” Ryan said.
Because the rugby team is a club team, they depend on outside funding to foot the bill for jerseys, bids and travel expenses. The team is looking for people to sponsor a couple miles for a dollar each, which will help them raise money for their trip to Nebraska. Look out for their table in the SUB and help support your fellow Loggers in their trip to regionals.
