Sports > September 29, 2004

By Gerard McMahon

Old Gold & Black Reporter

Sick of seeing the same old people at the same old parties? Tired of watching all your friends’ “exciting” 1-0 intramural soccer games? Would you rather watch 30 crazy people hit each other as hard as they can for eighty minutes while you are going crazy (quite literally) on the sideline?

Then Wake Forest may have something that you might find to your enjoyment. No, not tag-team WrestleMania between KA and Deke.

Club rugby is the answer to those boring weekends doing the same old things.

“You have no idea what you’re doing when you first come out,” junior Ach Patounas said. “But you do it … you fall in love.”

“Fall in love with what?” you may ask. Well, for starters, there are the full-out brawls that occur inside every pile. There is the player racing down the sideline with rage in his eyes and blood in his mouth, preparing to crush his opponent on the other side. And there is the ridiculous party atmosphere on the sidelines among those who are already lining up to attend.

And that’s not to mention the Zulu Warrior Run, a tradition so wild you need to see it for yourself.

“It’s kind of like football,” junior Eric Jewett said. “But in football you only play one position, whereas in rugby you get to play every position.”

Even if you don’t know the rules, one rugby match is enough to get you hooked. The team’s 36-3 spanking of Guilford College Sept. 25 featured not only both teams getting thrashed, but trashed as well — almost every player left with some form of bruise, cut or headache. The most exciting part about the club rugby team, however, is the team’s electric enthusiasm for the sport.

Seniors Matt Farrell and Andrew Gentles, the co-captains of the team, have reorganized and re-energized a program that includes only three seniors. In fact, the team, comprised of many sophomores and freshmen, is still inviting students to come out and test their strength against some of the roughest competitors out there.

Farrell and Gentles, along with Head Coach Pat Kane, have made sure to provide structure to the team. They practice every Tuesday and Thursday from 4 to 6 p.m. and even have film sessions to watch old game tape.

Their games, which are broadcast of tape delay on WAKE TV, take place Saturdays on Poteat Field. The team plays six exhibition games in the fall before the real season begins in the spring. Should the team win its division, it would travel to a tournament in Myrtle Beach to compete against teams from all over the nation.

While beating up on each other is something they cherish, it is the bond the players have with each other and even the referees that many of them love most about the sport. While they tear each other up during the game, once it ends, the players all observe the traditional rugby rituals: go home together, quench their thirst a bit and sing some traditional rugby songs.

The next rugby match is against The Citadel at 4 p.m., Oct. 2, on Poteat Field. After all, what better way is there to build off the momentum of the football team’s game at N.C. State than to watch two more teams clobber each other?