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UD men's rugby club ranked 8th nationwide
3:38 p.m., Nov. 3, 2006--It's a chaotic game of endurance and pain, sweat, dirt and a lot of desire. It also is the formula for success for UD's Men's Division 1A rugby club, which is currently ranked eighth in the nation by American Rugby News and finished the regular season undefeated at 5-0. The Division 1A team will compete in the Eastern Pennsylvania Rugby Union (EPRU) finals at Ursinus College Saturday, Nov. 4. The club will have the winter off before the spring season in March, when the team begins competing in the Mid-Atlantic Rugby Football Union championships, with hopes of moving on to the National Championships. Coach Bjorn Haglid said the ability to think out on the field is often more important than skill. “Once the players step out on the field, they are in control of their own destiny,” Haglid said. “They're in charge, they're in control.” Haglid has been involved with rugby as a player or a coach since 1990. Haglid first learned rugby when he was a UD student in 1990. After transferring to the University of Arkansas in 1991, Haglid continued to play rugby and eventually became the captain of the squad. After graduating, Haglid started a men's club in Arkansas and competed on a national level. In 1998, he returned to the area and began his own Wilmington engineering business, Structures Unlimited, while coaching a high school rugby program in Wilmington. Haglid helped coach UD's team in 2002 and became their full-time coach in 2003. Rugby, a mix of soccer and football, originated in England in the 19th century. In 1906, after a brutal football game between the University of California at Berkeley and Stanford University, President Theodore Roosevelt outlawed football and rugby was introduced to U.S. colleges and universities. In 1918, football returned as a major American sport, but rugby remains a part of many schools nationwide. The UD team practices two hours a day for three days a week, with 50 to 80 players on Infirmary Field. The games, usually on Saturdays, run in two 40-minute halves. Junior D.J. Wolf, team captain, said this is the first year the University had three divisions of rugby teams, Division 1A, Division 1B and Division 3. “Because of the growing interest in rugby, the team has more and more students who come out every semester,” Wolf said. “A rugby game is 80 minutes long and there are 15 players on a team at a time. This means that at a minimum 45 guys play 80 minutes each week. Our team plays schools year round, except for the months of December and January, when most students are home for winter break.” Haglid said the only equipment rugby players need are soccer shoes, shorts, rugby jerseys and a mouthpiece. The UD club currently has 50-80 players and has beaten such schools as University of Maryland, Temple University and Princeton University. Haglid said experience is not necessary to play rugby, only physical endurance and the ability to stand a little pain. “It's a good college sport because it's one of the ones you don't have to train for,” he said. “Seventy-five percent of our players have never played rugby before stepping on the field.” Junior Matt Snyder, rugby club president, said he believes people come out for rugby to try something new. “The atmosphere surrounding the sport is unlike any sport most athletes have been accustomed to while growing up,” he said. “It is a great way to meet new friends and be part of something here at UD. Most guys that come out usually played a varsity sport in high school and still want to continue to compete in a sport at a high level.” Wolf, who began playing rugby in his junior year of high school with a Wilmington team, said it is not hard to be a member of the rugby team. “Anyone who ever played any high school sport would have had a much more demanding coach and been asked to be in much better shape,” he said. “On this team we simply ask for commitment and let the players get in shape on their own time.” Haglid said this year's success is due to the work of the years past. “It took many years of building and getting a reputation and recognition in the rugby community.” Haglid said intelligent play and the ability to flow with play enables the team to win. “Come game day, I can scream and yell as much as I want,” he said, “but once the game starts, that's it.” Wolf said the team had great coaching this season. “Haglid just seems to always know the right things to work on at practice and he is very good at coaching and teaching players of all levels,” Wolf said. “He is also the head coach of our divisions all-star team, [which] plays at the end of this season. Also we have several other assistant coaches who are able to teach new players while the older guys do their own thing. This is important because once the older guys graduate, these guys are going to need to know what they are doing because they will be starting.” Snyder said he attributes the club's success this season to hard work and dedication. “From the start of the season we knew we had a team that could make it to nationals,” he said. “Every member of the team is needed to make each win possible by coming out to practice and making the team better.” Article by Julia Parmley, AS '07 |
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