Men's Rugby | Club Rugby two wins away from Div. III New England championship

After an impressive 25-17 upset of the No. 2 seed Western Connecticut State University, the No. 7 seed men's rugby team has advanced to the Div. III New England round of four with a championship in sight.

The Jumbo ruggers, who finished the season with a 5-1 record, will face Keene State in their semifinal match this Saturday with the hopes of making it to the finals. If they do so, they will have an opportunity not only to win the championship, but also to potentially exact revenge on the team that handed them their only loss on the season: UMaine Farmington (UMF).

"If we win this Saturday, we go to the New England Championship game against the winner of the Bryant versus UMaine Farmington," junior starting forward Andrew Ward said. "We're hoping to get a rematch against UMF in the finals."

The New England Rugby Football Union (NERFU) North Conference Champions in the fall of 2008, the Jumbo ruggers were usurped by UMaine Farmington in this fall's North Conference Championship. UMaine Farmington was a new addition to the division this year after coming down from Div. II but showed its prowess quickly in taking care of the Tufts squad to win the conference title.

"Losing the conference championship to UMF was a letdown because we won our conference last year. But then again, UMF is a good team, and they also won their conference last year, so at least we lost to someone good," Ward said. "But unlike last year, we came into these playoffs as an under-seeded team and won. Last year, we lost [in the] first round of the playoffs to Plymouth State, the reigning national champions.

"This was the first playoff game Tufts Rugby has won since anyone at Tufts currently has been playing rugby, so that was bloody sweet and very emotional to everyone," he continued.

The team has a constituency of about 40, though about 10 upperclassmen are out do to injuries. Luckily, the team has worked hard to recruit and has gained 15 or so freshmen. The nature of the sport allows athletic players to adapt quickly, which has allowed the team to burgeon despite injuries and other obstacles.

"Many of the people who come out to play rugby are ex-cross country, football, track, water polo, soccer players, fencers and wrestlers," Ward said. "It's a sport that anyone can learn how to play quickly, just so long as they don't mind hitting and getting hit. The majority of the starting players on our team never played before high school."

Of course, the Keene State game is the No. 1 priority for the ruggers. Progressing from a losing season three years ago to a conference title last season, the rugby team does not plan on letting anything get between it and a NERFU Championship.

"Keene State? We're going to beat the bloody snot out of them," Ward said. "We're going inside of ‘em, we're going outside of ‘em — inside of ‘em, outside of ‘em — and when we get them on the run once, we're going to keep ‘em on the run. We're gonna get ‘em on the run, we're gonna go, go, go, go! And we aren't going to stop until we go over that goal line!"