The men’s club rugby team is only a few wins away from an appearance in the national tournament, making them the first SIU rugby team to ever do so.

Club president Carson Pearce, a junior from Plainfield studying aviation technologies said the team is in first place and if they win against St. Louis University, they should get a bid for the Sweet 16 of the national tournament.

“I believe this is the 42nd year of the club,” Pearce said. “We are the oldest most winning club on campus, and this is the first year we would go to nationals if we were to do so.”

The team has a 4-1 record, and its only loss came from The University of Central Missouri, a match played when SIU was down in numbers. The team had 17 to 18 players in the loss when they usually have at least 25 players at every event.

For every win the team gets, it receives four points. If a team scores four or more tries, similar to touchdowns, per match the team gets an extra point. The team with the most points in the union, or region they are in, at the end of the season goes to the Sweet 16.

This year is different than recent years however. Last year the union had a regular season and a four-game playoff to decide who would go to the national tournament. SIU is also in a different conference this year and some of the teams were not accustomed to SIU’s traditions.

A former club president, Daniel Unes, a senior from Peoria studying mechanical engineering, said rugby is very traditional and social, but at the same time is a sport. After every match the team invites the opposing team over for food and celebration.

“Before this year, the conference used to be all Illinois teams,” Unes said. “It was just assumed, when we would go anywhere they would show us the same hospitality and we are trying to bring that custom to new teams.”

Unes said other sports are battles on the field and anger off the field but rugby differs in the sense that they would grab a burger after the game with the other team. This year a team SIU has not seen before refused the invitation to the social at first, but then learned of SIU’s team customs.

“(Inviting the other team over) is something that’s pretty unique to rugby,” Unes said. “Other sports you hate the other guys and you battle on the field and go home (upset) at each other. In rugby you’re there and you fight the other team, but as soon as it’s over you get together with the other team.”

Since rugby is a full contact sport, sometimes there are heated battles on the field, but Unes said afterwards all the players cool off and get over it. At the social, the two teams award a player from the opposing team the “man of the match”.

Vincent Mitchell, a sophomore from Chicago studying information systems and applied technologies, compared club rugby to a fraternity, because the team does so much together.

“Every Thursday the team gets together and has a social event,” Mitchell said. “Rugby is a traditional sport, we eat together and we sing. We sing songs together as a team.”

Mitchell said most of the songs are traditional and semi explicit, and they really capture the team bonding.

Mitchell played rugby in high school and won the state title his senior year in 2012. He said the biggest difference from high school is the level of play. Even though SIU does not have an actual rugby team, club rugby offers fierce competition, and he is near certain that because of the growing popularity, within five years more colleges will have rugby teams.

The team pays dues like most club sport teams. It covers more than the equipment, traveling costs and tournament costs however. The rugby dues cover insurance provided by USA Rugby, which is mandatory to have to play on any team across the United States.

One can join the rugby team by going to the SIU club rugby facebook page and contacting a member of the team. Unes said some guys come out to one practice, while others stay for hundreds.

“We are always looking for new recruits,” Unes said. “We got a pretty good rookie class this year, but next semester and even at the end of this semester we are looking for more people.”

The team plays St. Louis University Nov. 2 and hope to capture a spot in the national tournament.

Aaron Graff can be contacted at 

[email protected] 

or 536-3311 ext. 282