Tech Students Give Rugby a ‘Try’

Rugby players warm up before they practice. Photo by Fernando Cruz.

By Fernando Cruz

The Texas Tech Men’s Rugby team has a rich history, but the COVID-19 pandemic nearly put an end to that.

The on-campus student club sport is starting to revamp after being ripped apart by the pandemic. This year was a rebuilding year for the group.

With many newcomers and few returners, it was time to teach a new the game to a new team. This year was big for the team in other aspects.

The team got closer to each other as the season went on. Although the record didn’t show it, the team had a successful season, winning their first conference game in over five years.

Roy Levy, a sophomore mechanical engineering major from Frisco, said it was the highlight of the season. Levy said because of the conference victory they’ll be putting this season in the win column.

The rugby team’s conference schedule. Graphic by Texas Tech Men’s Rugby.

Bruno Sellers, a junior media strategies major from Brooklyn, New York, classified rugby as “a hooligan’s game played by gentlemen.” He added that rugby is a dangerous sport with mutual respect where everyone understands the consequences of their actions.

In a dangerous game, players follow unwritten rules to ensure the safety of the athletes. Sellers said he played lacrosse at his previous school, but it wasn’t what he expected, so he transferred to Tech.

The first week he was on campus he went to a club sports fair, saw the rugby table and instantly signed up.

Rugby is a sport with unique situations that don’t occur in many other sports, for instance, a scrum. According to the website World Rugby, the scrum takes place after a minor infringement of the rules. Think of a scrum like a jump ball in basketball.

Another situation exclusive to rugby is called a line out. According to The Gist Sports, this occurs when the ball is thrown, kicked or tackled out of bounds.

Rugby practice takes place in Urbanovsky Park. Photo by Fernando Cruz.

Think of a line out like a soccer throw-in, but a player from each team is lifted in the air to catch the ball.

Across America, rugby isn’t a well-known sport. Levy described it as a mix of football, ice hockey and soccer. A fast-paced 80-minute game with a 5-minute break for half-time and no timeouts.

Recently a boom for rugby has hit the states. Major League Rugby, a league that played its inaugural season in 2018, has teams from California to New England.

This new league has allowed fans to watch rugby here. Levy said the major league made it possible for college rugby to get more attention.

Isaac Cuchens, a freshman advertising major from The Colony, Texas, played rugby in high school but said the competition is miles ahead in college. Levy added that competition in the MLR is miles ahead of college.

Through a 16-game season, the Texas Tech team finished 4-12 with major wins over North Texas and the University of Texas at El Paso.

“I think UT was my favorite game personally, cause I think I proved to myself that I belonged on the rugby team,” Gabriel Milagres, a freshman architecture major from Allen, said. “Up to that point, I didn’t really have much confidence playing, I don’t know if it was something that day, but it just clicked for me, and I feel like I had an amazing game and I think I proved to myself that I can play rugby.”

In April, the team is playing in two “sevens” tournaments — though these aren’t regular rugby games. The sevens tournament is a mini-game involving just the backs in rugby.

Like seven-on-seven games in football, this game only involves skill positions – in this case, the “scrum-half, fly-half, centre and wing,” according to RugbyStuff.com. Next year the team has seven games on the schedule so far.

Levy said the game revolves heavily around “IQ.” Without having to teach a new group the game they can focus more on what to do in certain situations.

Rugby players practice at dusk. Photo by Fernando Cruz.

With over 20 players on the current roster returning next season, the team will be more experienced. The team hopes to build on the success they had this year.

Towards the end, they had many fans at home games and would like to replicate that as they go into next season. The men’s rugby team is currently holding practice to get ready for next season.

Those interested in participating or rooting on the team can follow @ttu.rugby on Instagram. The Texas Tech Women’s Rugby Club can be found here.

“If you’re an incoming freshman and you have no friends, come play rugby, you will make friends, guaranteed,” Sellers said.