Rugby players express love of the game

By Candice Norrell
Sports Editor

Rugby: a gentleman’s sport played by barbarians. Interesting enough to get anyone’s attention, but what exactly is rugby?
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Rugby was invented in Rugby, England, in the early 1800s and is the precursor to modern-day football. Played on a 70 by120 meter field, each team consists of 15 players, and the game is comprised of two 40-minute halves.

“It’s played much like soccer or hockey in that it is a free-flowing game with little stoppages,” said Saint Mary’s University Hellfish Co-captain Jared Ortgiesen.

Teams score when players run into the “Try,” or endzone, and touch the ball to the ground (now we know why it’s called a touchdown in football). Each “Try” is worth five points with a kick following it worth two points.

The ball is progressed down the field through a series of punts and lateral passes, as it is illegal to throw the ball forward. Play is restarted either by a lineout, in which players are hoisted into the air after the ball is thrown out of bounds, or by a scrummage, or scrum, after a penalty is committed.

Over 30 men are on the team this year, the team’s tenth year at SMU. “We are looking better than ever…and are looking forward to winning the [Division III] championship,” said Ortgiesen.

Senior Captain Josh Barrett said that the game of rugby is his passion and that he loves “everything that has to do with rugby. There is not a second of the day that I don’t wish I was playing.”

Ortgiesen added that the thing he loves most about the game is the camaraderie. “I have never made so many friends doing anything else. I know people from all over the Midwest and even as far as Louisiana, Hawaii and California who I have either played with or know through the sport.

“It’s the only sport where you go out on the field and beat the crap out of a guy…punching, scratching, kicking, getting stomped on…and when that 80 minutes is up, you go and say to that other chap, ‘Hey that was a nice cleat mark you left on my back! Remember when I punched you in the face and stepped on your hand?’ And that guy laughs and tells you that it was a hell of a game. I haven’t found that in any other sport I have watched or played and I think it’s amazing,” said Ortgiesen.

Before each game, the team warms up and sings their fight song. “Last year we also started the tradition of saying a Hail Mary as a team before games,” Ortgiesen said. “We have never lost a game where we prayed before the match as a team.”

Though the team is still in the process of scheduling games, they are looking forward to playing Winona State, their rivals for the last three years. Upcoming home games are scheduled for Sept. 29 and Oct. 6. The Hellfish won their first game 24-10 against Viterbo on Sept. 15.