Rugby: a game of 'gentlemen' and 'hookers'
By Alex Snyder
Old Gold and Black Reporter

Look to Abercrombie and Fitch no more. Apparently the best place to spot this fall's rugby shirt craze is right here on campus. The men's club rugby team opened their season this past weekend with a match against Elon College. The team suffered a 21-5 loss, but this was the first rugby game of a very rigorous fall schedule in which the team will compete against clubs from all over North Carolina.

Led by senior captain David Bennett, the rugby team is hoping to have another impressive season after posting several wins in the spring.

Club rugby has both a fall and a spring season, and competes in roughly six games each semester. Last season the team hosted the first ever John Mark Yarborough Invitational on campus, but does not plan to enter any tournaments this fall.

This weekend's loss to Elon was a first for many players, as almost half of the team's 30-man roster consists of rookies. "We had a few key injuries," Bennett said. "But we should be at full strength for now on, and we have a lot of seniors coming back (in addition to the large amount of underclassmen)."

The Wake Forest Rugby Football Club was founded on campus in 1973 by former faculty advisor and current biology professor Hugo Lane. The rugby team is a fixture on the waterfall field in Reynolda Gardens, where they can be seen practicing twice a week.

"This year we are playing some tough teams, like Western Carolina," senior Krys Mroczkowski said. "But we have got a lot of size this year É so we should be a pretty powerful team."

The team also faces an upcoming grudge match against rival Duke and a game against a squad from Dan River, Va.

According to Bennett, "the club's basic purpose is to provide an intercollegiate contact sport at a level of competition above that of intramural sports."

Rugby is traditionally a European sport which emphasizes what Bennett calls "the tradition of physical, but gentlemanly play."

While the game of rugby stresses physical fitness and sportsmanship, the camaraderie among players is one of the more beloved aspects of the game. "Rugby is a different atmosphere than most sports," Bennett said.

In his third year on the rugby team, Mroczkowski is a standout hooker ­ the player that hooks the ball back during play.

"Yeah, I get made fun of a lot for that position's name," Mroczkowski said, "but I love being a hooker!"

"I have high expectations for our club this semester," Bennett said. "We have a really good freshman class out this year. They just need to get out there and play."

The team will get another chance to show their abilities with a game on Sept. 28 on Poteat Field at 1 p.m. The team also has games lined up for the Friday night of Family Weekend and Homecoming weekend and is excited about their chances to succeed.

"We'd like to have a lot of fans come out and support us and Wake Forest," Bennett said. "It'll be a good time."