---

BY ZHENG ZHENG

In print | October 4, 2007

Though experiencing a number of losses over the beginning of the season, the prospects of the Men’s rugby team may be looking up after an exciting tied game with Lafayette College this past weekend. After losing seventeen points to their opponent in the first half, the undaunted Evil Buzzards quickly gained ground in the second.

Yannick Lanner-Cusin ‘10 garnered seven points for the team with one try and one conversion kick. Maurice Stewart ’10 and Scott Bird ’09 of Neumann College, who happen to play on the Swarthmore team, each obtained five points for their tries. The team’s remarkable comeback brought the overall score to a tie of 17 to 17, with no scores upon the Buzzards during the second half. Captain Paul Apollo ‘09 spoke glowingly of the team’s performance, enthusiastically calling it “one of the best games I’ve seen our team play this season!”

The game of rugby is a direct descendant of football and was founded at England’s oldest Anglican co-educational boarding school — the Rugby School. One distinct feature that differentiates rugby from football is the complete lack of any form of bodily protections, except for mouth guards. Combine the lack of protection with the aggressive nature of the game, and the likelihood of getting hurt increases drastically. There are currently five injuries on the men’s team alone. Fortunately these hits to the team are partially balanced by the spirit of the rookies, who never fail to bring fresh blood and spirit to the games. This year’s rookies include Daniel Leigh ’09, Sam Green ’11 and Jesse Hoff ’11.

“It’s been great so far, especially with the characters who people the Swat rugby team,” Green said. “I’m enjoying the structure provided by being on a team, getting some exercise a few times a week, hanging with a good group of guys, and of course the thrill of desecrating someone’s barnside. It’s a beautiful game.”

Hoff confesses that what made rugby so enticing a sport to him was the opportunity to “get in good shape, have fun at parties and engage in [meaningful] combat.”

Team practices are held three times per week. Practices typically consist of the following sequence of activities: jogging, stretching, tacking, splitting into forwards and backwards, engaging in a simulated scrimmage and, finally, conditioning. The team always welcomes new members. “It doesn’t matter if you have never played the sport before,” Apollo said. “As long as you are interested, come check out the practices. We should be able to get you ready to play within a couple of weeks.”

Because it is a club sport, no one ever gets cut. The Buzzards will have a home game this coming Saturday at 1 p.m., competing against La Salle University.

Playing an outstanding game, Women’s rugby trounced Susquehanna University on Saturday, winning by a score of 49-19. “I am very proud of our performance this past weekend,” co-captain Maria Mello ’08 said. “Everyone played amazingly. If we keep on playing like this, we will very likely make it to playoffs by the end of the season.”

“The passing drills we do at practice, the tacking drills and everything else came out in the game,” co-captain Karen Minyety ’08 said. “It showed that people really are taking these things in.” Scorers who earned tries (which are each worth five points) included Lauren Kluz- Wizniewski ’08, Janet Zarate ’11, Krystyn McIlraith ’09, Molly Piels ’08 (twice), Minyety (twice), Anna Kastner ’08 and Leigh Elko ’10. Elko also scored two conversion kicks, worth two points each.

“We all communicated well and supported each other well on the field,” Mello said. “You could see there was a lot of teamwork during the game and that is the way good rugby is played.”

Veteran Kluz-Wizniewski, who is currently playing her sixth season of rugby, gave a lively description of her try from the game. “We had the ball on Susquehanna’s 22-meter line, and got the ball out to the backs, and I ran behind in support of them,” she said. “There was a pass that went off the mark and the ball was rolling around on the ground, so I picked it up and cut back inside to get into the try zone.”

Normally, two matches take place during the course of a day, including the A-side and the B-side games. However, this week, due to injuries, the B-side game was canceled. Rookies Zarate, Michelle Liu ‘11 and Amanda Morrison ’11 subbed in for the A-side during the second half of the game. “helped to keep the momentum of the game going,” Minyety said. Their ability to rise up to the occasion was certainly one of the keys to the team’s ultimate victory.

This second game of the season served as a timely morale boost for the team, particularly because it lost a game to Ursinus College last weekend. Women’s practices are held three times a week, on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, on Cunningham field. The captains lead practices once a week. For the other two practices per week, the women train under the watchful eyes of their coach Alan, whose relative taciturnity during the course of the game contrasts sharply with his dynamic coaching style and his ability to get the players into the perfect rugby mindset.

“It’s no longer about learning new skills, but about maintaining them and looking at the bigger picture on the pitch,” Elko said. “We’ve come a long way in a very short amount of time, and I think everyone on our team deserves credit for the dedication and hard work we all put forth.” The team’s next game is this Saturday at 12 p.m. on Cunningham field against Bucknell University.

---

« RETURN TO SPORTS

« PREV ARTICLE | NEXT ARTICLE »