As many students try to navigate the stress and busyness of finals week that is fast approaching, the UNI club rugby team will hop on a bus en route to Houston, TX to compete in their biggest match of the season. The undefeated Panthers will take their spotless record into their Final Four matchup with Towson on Friday, Dec. 13.
Led by head coach Jesus Ramirez and assistant coach Joe Randall, the team is made up of walk-ons and recruited high school rugby players. No scholarships, no incentives. Just a team built on hard work and playing for the betterment of UNI rugby.
“I speak for many of us when I say our club is built on friendship, unity and a love of adversity,” said Club President Cooper Isaacson. “With a passion for growing the sport, we encourage everyone to try our sport and potentially find a new passion yourselves.”
While the rugby history runs deep at UNI, many students on campus aren’t familiar with many of the rules or how the games are played. Rugby is played in two separate seasons, 15s and 7s, which fall in the autumn and spring seasons respectively. 15s consists of 15 players for each team on the playing field whereas 7s consists of seven players for each team. Right now, the team is playing in the 15s season.
In the game, there are two continuous 40 minute halves. The primary rule of rugby is that players can only pass backwards or sideways, meaning the only way to progress forward is to carry the ball or kick it forwards. With only a mouthguard and boots (cleats) for equipment, rugby is a full contact sport with no padding, making it one of the most dangerous sports in the world. To score, one must carry the ball across the goal line and apply a downward pressure to the ball, pressing it to the ground. This will achieve five points, and then an extra point kick is taken. Unlike a sport such as American football, this kick is uncontested and must be taken from the spot the ball was placed on the ground. The team can opt to back up from that mark as much as it is needed. A try plus the extra kick equals seven points. Whoever scores the most after the 80 minutes are over wins the contest.
This season has proved to be one of UNI’s best. To qualify for the Final Four, they had to win two rounds of playoffs: the Midwest championship and the regional championship, totaling five wins in the postseason. In three of the past four years, the Panthers have qualified for Houston. Since they are a club team, their trip is predominantly funded by donations from local businesses, with some assistance from the recreation department.
“We’ve been very fortunate and grateful to have community support as we can afford to rent a bus and hotel rooms enough for our whole squad to go, which is an amazing opportunity for both rookie and veteran squadmates,” said Isaacson. “We want to express gratitude to every business, alumni and individual who made a contribution to this amazing opportunity.”
The team practices on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5-7 p.m. As successful as they’ve been, their seasons tend to be quite long, allowing for hours of time together as a team.
“We are a tight-knit group of brothers with families all over the country. In joining this club we’ve been added to a global fraternity of not only UNI rugby alumni, but rugby players everywhere.”
A win on Friday would advance the Panthers to the finals, which is set for Sunday afternoon.
