Rugby preps for first official club season

This year at Georgia College, a new club sport will be joining the ranks. GC will have its first club rugby team, founded by sophomore pre-engineering majors and captains Kyle Denis and Noel Mankin.

Originating in England, rugby is similar to both soccer and football, however the players are allowed to block with the hands and arms, carry the ball and tackle.

The team has a promising upcoming season with strong leadership. Joel Farley Seagraves is the team’s head coach, and he brings a lot of experience to the club. The captains have experience as well. Mankin and Denis both played rugby in high school, which sparked the idea for the team.

“It was my idea to start the team the summer after my senior year,” Denis said. “I played football, wrestled and threw shot for Blessed Trinity High School and knew that GCSU didn’t have any of these things, but I still wanted to do some sort of physical activity.”

The team practices for two and a half hours on the West Campus field in between The Village Apartments from Tuesday to Thursday.

“We have a lot of new talent as well as a concrete structure for practice and working out,” Denis said. “This will ensure that we will be in good shape and ready for the first game.”

West Campus is also the same location the four home games will be held. Currently they have nine matches scheduled for their debut season.

The first two matches will be at home against Macon State College and North Georgia College & State University on Sept. 10. Students are strongly encouraged to come out for support.

Sophomore business major and President of the rugby club, Juan Marc Salleras expresses his feelings about the first match.

“NGCSU will be a wild card since we’ve never played them,” Salleras said. “We played Macon State during summer and only lost by one try (equivalent of a touchdown), so I’m ready to turn the tables and beat them this time.”

The team’s strategy is working hard on their rucks (the formation of a huddle of players opposing another huddle on the opposing team after a tackle occurs) and staying more spread out on the field to prevent the other team from getting past their defense.

“I’m confident we’ll do well. We have a lot of great guys,” Salleras said. “For instance Noel can juke out a Gazelle, John Chagaris can out-run light itself, and I think Kyle himself once killed a pack of wild grizzly bears with his bare hands. He throws some hard hits.”

The rugby club will be playing teams from all over the southeast including Auburn, Georgia Southern, Valdosta State University, Macon Love, Armstrong Atlantic, Macon State, North Georgia College & State University, Kennesaw State University and many more. They are scheduled for two tournaments this year including Georgia Southern Black Rose 15’s and a Saint Patrick’s Day Tournament in Savannah.

In the game of rugby, 15 players play on the field while seven substitutes sit on the sidelines. Around 30 people have been showing up for practices both experienced and inexperienced, but if the team gets enough people they will have both an A-team and a B-team.

The team has many major advantages going into their first season.

“We have a few insanely fast players, some really hard hitters and great leadership. I think we’re covered in pretty much all areas. I’m all geared up for this year to play; I think we’ll do great and I’m quite grateful for the opportunity to be a part of this brotherhood,” Salleras said.

The team’s bond is evident both on and off the field, which will provide a great upcoming season.

Posted by Gabrielle.Carrier on Sep 1 2011. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.