Team plays University of Missouri on Saturday, April 26, in Ohio
MURFREESBORO — The
MTSU Rugby Football Club will make its pitch on “the pitch” for a national
title this weekend during the USA Rugby National Championship series.
The squad is heading out Friday to compete in the Sweet 16
of the 2013-14 Men's Division IAA College National Championship. The team will
play the University of Missouri team Saturday, April 26, in Bowling Green,
Ohio, with a spot in Sunday’s Elite 8 on the line.
For MTSU Rugby head coach Jody Hensley, an adjunct
professor who teaches rugby classes and volunteers to coach the team, the
opportunity to play against the country’s top rugby teams is a godsend following
his team’s disappointment of not winning its conference title and gaining an
automatic bid to the tournament.
The team landed an at-large berth “based on our body of
work” following an impressive 10-2 season, Hensley said. And while a loss in the
conference championship game still stings, the chance to get back out on the
playing field — also called “the pitch” in rugby — brings satisfaction.
“I’m proud of the team. These guys are very talented,”
Hensley said. “Losing in the conference championships was devastating in a way,
but we’ve got a second chance.”
While men’s rugby is not an NCAA-sanctioned sport, it is a
fast growing club sport on college campuses nationwide, Hensley said, adding
that the MTSU team boasts a strong alumni association that helps provide
scholarship for promising players. On campus, the men’s and women’s rugby are
overseen by Campus Recreation.
Hensley said the MTSU team usually has 30 to 35 students
participating, with the team divided into two squads — a starting squad of the
best players and a developmental squad of younger or less experienced players.
The team competes in the South Independent Rugby Conference of USA Rugby.
MTSU’s team, which was established in the fall of 1980, has
competed in the Elite 8 before, finishing as high as sixth in the country one
year, but hasn’t made such a deep run in the national tournament in over a
decade, Hensley said.
Besides fielding a team in Ohio this weekend, MTSU will have
other connections there as well. The Division I women’s collegiate rugby
playoffs will also have games, and the University of North Carolina’s women’s
team that will be playing Harvard University on Saturday is coached by
Johnathan Atkeison, an MTSU men’s rugby alumnus and also a coach on the USA
Women’s Rugby National Team.
USA Rugby is the sport’s national governing body and a full
sport member of the U.S. Olympic Committee and the International Rugby Board.
Founded in 1975 and headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, USA Rugby oversees over
900 college teams, according to usarugby.org.
For more information about the MTSU club, visit http://www.mtsurugby.com.
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