RUGBY RUGBY RUGBY!
On Saturday April 21st, I had the honor to live blog the Whitewater’s men rugby team verses alumni. You know it was on a Saturday because “Saturday’s a rugby day!” If you don’t know, this is a common chant sang by rugby players. Rugby games are almost always on a Saturday.
I was excited to attend the alumni game because I have never been to the men’s alumni games before. I play for the woman’s rugby team at Whitewater and we too have alumni game. I will never forget my first game. I got flattened out by some of the best (old) rugby ladies. Age does not define anything! That’s why I was super excited to watch the men play because they are very good.
Let me tell you how good they are…mind you that they are a D3 college school and they face schools that are higher in rankings.
Fall Season:
2017 D2 Collegiate Men’s National Champions
2016 D2 Collegiate Men’s National Champions
2015 D2 Collegiate Men’s National Runner up
2014 D2 Collegiate Men’s National Runner up
2013 D2 Collegiate Men’s National 3rd place
2011 D2 Collegiate Men’s National Champions
Spring Season:
2017 D2 Collegiate Men’s 7s National Champions
2016 D2 Collegiate Men’s 7s National 3rd place
2015 D2 Collegiate Men’s 7s National Runner up
Time and time again, the boys make it to the national championships! May I remind you that it is rare to even make it once, let alone making it over nine times! It is very impressive!
I was excited to see if the old players still had it! They did not disappoint! The entire game was exciting! This was not a friendly fun game, it was intense and serious.
Let me get to the event! I will refer to the men’s team as the Whitewater team and the alumni as alumni.
After the alumni players kicked it off, Levi caught the ball and had a great break away! Whitewater was very close to the try zone (which is a touchdown) but alumni gets it back. UWW has quite a bit more break aways throughout the first half. Alumni does not give up without a fight. A scrum is formed when a penalty is called. UWW has another break away and scores a try! This is the first try in the game making the score 7-0. Everyone then resets on the pitch and the alumni gets to kick it off. UWW has the ball in their hands and makes a run all the way back to the try zone. Alumni holds them back and doesn’t allow them to get a try. This is very challenging, espesally when UWW is only 10 yards away from the try zone. Through out the game, there was actually many injuries. There was two cases where two players had to come off the pitch because they were bleeding. UWW has more speed than the alumni players. They had yet another break away and scored making it 14-0. Alumni came right back and caught the ball from the kick off and fought hard into the try zone. Alumni puts their first points up! That makes the score 7-14. And that is half time. Second half, UWW does not mess around. Right away they put some more points up on the board. UWW uses their back line to get the ball free and open. They succeed bringing the score to 21-7. Alumni kicks it off and UWW runs it in. With UWW being very close to the try zone, alumni kicks the ball out of there. Alumni gets the ball back and they actually have a break away! They run it all the way down to the try zone, making the score 14-21. Alumni is only one point behind. The alumni player who scored is actually very old so everyone was very impressed. With only a few minutes left, alumni scores again! This ties up the game 21-21. Normally in a rugby game, the two teams would go into sudden death. Because it is only a alumni game, both teams proved their worth and so they called it a game! I got a picture of both of them teams combined together on the big Warhawk ‘W.’ Together they showed their pride! What a game!!
*UWW men rugby current players and alumni players gather together for a picture!
*Live Blog of the Game! Check the action out!
