Sports > April 17, 2008

By Danny Mullins | Staff writer

There are probably only a handful of people at this university who have ever played in, or even seen a rugby match. Of those people, almost all of them are likely affiliated with the Wake Forest Rugby Football Club, who recently finished one of their best seasons ever.

There is no doubt that rugby is physical. Players wear no pads or protective gear in this sport, which is quite popular in Australia. In one frequently shown highlight, there is a collision between opposing players where one guys tooth was left imbedded in the skull of the other person.

Not only did both players continue playing, but the guy with the tooth in his head never realized he had something wrong with him until one of his teammates pointed it out.

That, my friends, is rugby.

Despite the lack of attention they receive, this winter and spring the rugby team had a year the players will not soon forget.

This team, consisting of 40 players ranging in size from the 5-foot, 4-inch junior Jeff Beck to 6-foot, 4-inch sophomore Ross Hilton, all put their hearts and their bodies on the line.

This spring season, the club opened play in late January playing in Division II for the first time. Last year, they played Division III rugby and this season, moved up to a higher and more difficult level and they embraced the challenge.

The team started off with a loss at Georgia, losing 6-3. However, they rebounded by handily beating UNC-Wilmington less than a week later.

The next week, they beat Appalachian State and then lost dropped a match against Eastern Carolina University a few days later.

The defining moment of the season came when they beat N.C. State at Raleigh to earn a playoff spot in the USA Rugby South Division II quarterfinals.

Their were some injuries to overcome after beating N.C. State because senior co-captain Andrew Jessiman tore his ACL and would not be able to play for the remainder of the year.

Despite the injury, the team beat their South quarterfinal opponent Middle Tennessee State.

When they played the 16th-ranked team in the country, Middle Tennessee State, in early March in Murfreesboro, Tenn., the Cinderella story we associate with college basketball should have been associated with the Wake Forest Rugby.

The Deacs won 20-14 to advance to the South Final Four where they beat Georgia Tech to advance to the South Final.

The run ended with a loss to ECU, who advanced to the national quarterfinal.

In their inaugural season in Division II, the club rugby team advanced farther than any other rugby team had gone in any of the divisions.

Rugby is not easier than it looks, in fact, it is probably harder.

Every time they play the game they put their bodies on the line, but the game is about toughness and the 40-man club rugby team exuded it this year as they exceeded even their own expectations.

Broadcaster Vin Scully said, after Kirk Gibson hit the dramatic homerun off Dennis Eckersley in the bottom of the 9th of game one of the 1988 World Series, “In the year of the improbable, the impossible has happened.”

It was improbable for the rugby team to make the playoffs, but advancing as far as they did seemed impossible. They are looking to improve on this season and are encouraging more participation.