Bryan College Triangle

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.”

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by Lana Douglas
Staff Writer

“It’s the barbarian sport played by gentlemen,” said Vickie Gesellschap, the referee’s wife, at Saturday’s rugby game between the Bryan Lions and the undefeated Sewanee Purple Haze (Sewanee, Tenn.).

Bryan's rugby club clashes with Sewanne's Purple Haze. Triangle photo by Lana Douglas.

The final score of the match was 42-7.

Injuries prevented four of Bryan’s starters from playing. However, Bryan was still able to score more points that any other team Sewanee has played this year, said senior Phillip Kohler, president of the Bryan College rugby football club.

According to Kohler, the struggle to get possession of the ball coupled with multiple smaller penalties, made it difficult for Bryan to advance on the field.

“We played very competitively,” said Kohler, “I was hoping the score would be a little bit closer.”

After the match, Brian Stringer, Sewanee’s head coach, complimented Bryan’s progress as a team.

“I remember the first time we played Bryan College; when they were a ramshackle bunch,” said Stringer, “…they [Bryan] are a very competitive team…and I have nothing but praise for them.”

Having strong "rucks" like this one pictured here was one of the reasons for Bryan's success. Photo courtesy of Ericka Simpson.

By Ericka Simpson
Staff Writer

The Bryan College Rugby Club pummeled the North Georgia College and State University (Dahlonega, Ga.) Rugby Club 31-7 on its own field Jan. 23. It was Bryan’s first win of the spring Matrix Tournament, which is played in the spring among surrounding schools with rugby clubs.

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by Ericka Simpson
Staff Writer

Triangle Photo by Ericka Simpson. The rugby team scrums down.

Every Tuesday and Thursday from 5 to 6:15p.m at the bottom of Bryan College hill, by the boat docks, a group of male Bryan students gather to fight for possession of an oval-shaped ball. To an onlooker, the game might appear to look like an odd version of football as the men run in a line passing the ball backwards to score. This game is rugby.

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