Catherine Rogers
Staff Writer
This past Saturday, the Bryan College Rugby Football Club played its final match of the season at Lee University (Cleveland, Tenn.). Before the game had even begun, things didn’t go as planned.
While Lee took the victory, it was one of toughest matches the Bryan Rugby Club has ever fought against the University. Photo courtesy of Lana Douglas.
“Lee is going through some transitions as far as coaches and secretaries and so they didn’t really have good communication with us,” said Phillip Kohler, president of the Bryan Rugby Club. “They didn’t tell us where the field was until the night before the game.”
Michael Palmer, associate professor of communications and the rugby club’s faculty sponsor, drove to Lee University on Friday evening to find the playing field, according to Kohler.
“He even got the police to try and take him to where the rugby fields were, and they couldn’t find them [at the university] because the fields where we played were 10 minutes north of Cleveland,” said Kohler.
However, the surprises didn’t end there. When the Lions arrived at the game, Lee forfeited the game. They did so for three reasons according to senior Josh Jones, the team’s lock. They had no official referee, the field was not appropriately marked and they allowed alumni as well as their coach to play in the game.
“They pulled in some really big 25-26 year old guys and so it quickly became just one of those informal rugby games—let’s get out and have fun—which would have been fine if they had just communicated that ahead of time,” said Kohler. “We could have pulled in some alumni too and had some extra players and just had some fun with it.”
The match started off a little rough for the Lions, according to Kohler.
“The first part of the game they were running it through us,” he said. “I think they got four tries within the first quarter.”
However, Bryan quickly changed the course of the game.
“The turning point was after the first quarter when we came back and scored and held them off,” said Kohler. “Josh Jones … punched it through into the try zone for our first two tries.”
For the rest of the match, the Lions proved that they were worthy opponents and kept Lee from gaining any more ground.
“In the last three quarters, we scored three tries and they scored three tries,” recounted Kohler.
A highlight of the game came when senior winger Gabe Fischer got the ball and couldn’t be taken down.
“He got the ball a few times and they had three guys trying to pull him down and he would just get real low and keep driving through,” said Kohler. “I think we scored a try off one where he just muscled it through about 20 feet and then got the ball off to Josh who punched it in.”
Even with the surprises of the Lee vs. Bryan match, the Lions made their last game of the season a good one.
“They outweighed us a good 20 pounds per person, but we tackled well and played with heart,” said Jones. “There were many outstanding plays and players, smashing hits, and fabulous runs, but most importantly we played as a team.”
“Lee is a solid team; they generally have an advantage over most teams in numbers, size and speed,” said Clayton Schmidt, sophomore scrum half. “We’ve played them in years past and have been soundly defeated.”
The Lions ended up losing on Saturday, 36 to 19, but according to Schmidt, it was the closest Bryan has ever held Lee and it was encouraging despite the loss.
“It was a good-natured rugby match even though they were obviously winning because of their extra defense,” said Kohler. “It was a fun game, just not our usual competition.”
Planning for next year’s season, the Bryan College Rugby Club will be emphasizing recruitment, as they will be losing two of their freshman players and six seniors. They still expect a good season because, according to Kohler, they are strong in perseverance.
“We don’t quit,” he said.
Tags: Clayton Schmidt, Gabe Fischer, Josh Jones, Lee University, michael palmer, Phillip Kohler, rugby
