IU rugby club eyes national prominence at Ohio

After narrowly missing the cut for the U.S.A. Rugby National Championship, the men’s club team has something to play for — this time on a bigger stage.

Wrapping up another successful season, the Mudsharks will play in the first-ever U.S.A. 7’s Rugby Collegiate Championship Invitational from June 4 to 6 at Columbus Crew Stadium in Columbus, Ohio.  

“We’re gaining a reputation as being one of the strongest teams in the Midwest and definitely one of the up-and-coming teams,” head coach Tom Phillips said. “We’re being noticed by U.S.A. Rugby.”  

Televised live on NBC June 5 and 6, the round-robin tournament is a departure from the usual 15-on-15 matches the Hoosiers play, instead pitting seven against seven. In 7’s matches, speed is the most important element, according to Phillips.  

“It’s a completely different game, in which it’s based upon your fastest players,” he said. “Instead of 40-minute halves, you play 7-minute halves. It’s a completely different style of rugby, but it’s really popular world-round, and 7’s is what made the U.S. Olympic squad.”

In the wake of 7’s rugby being added to the 2016 Olympics, U.S.A. Sevens and NBC Sports teamed up to showcase some of the country’s best collegiate rugby programs. IU’s competition is stiff, with only four not ranked in uspowerrugby.com’s top 25.  

“Rugby is the largest participation club sport in the U.S.,” Phillips said. “They’re trying to build support for it.”

Falling one game short of qualifying for the USA Rugby National Championship in 2005, 2006 and 2008, the Mudsharks needed to win their first game in the Midwest Final Four to qualify for the 16-team tournament. In November, IU beat Wisconsin 24-11 and Notre Dame 37-27 in the opening rounds of the Midwest Championships but lost to Bowling Green in the final, 21-10.

Normally, this would have qualified the team for nationals as a two-seed, but the two-seed from the Midwest was cut from this year’s tournament, which took place in Santa Barbara, Calif., this weekend.  

“That was really disappointing,” club president Dave Harbeck said. “Our spring would have looked a lot differently had we got there. We’ve been one game short of nationals four of the past five years, which is frustrating.”  

Harbeck believes that the 7’s tournament gives certain members of the team something to focus on as the season winds down.  

“For some of these younger guys, it gives them something to really train for,” he said. “As soon as school is out, guys will start training pretty hard.”  

The Hoosiers are only allowed 12 official roster spots for the 7’s tournament. But Phillips said there are about 20 interested players that can all contribute and that the final decisions will be made in an open tryout situation.  

“Even if someone doesn’t make the roster of 12, they can still be a big value and help us succeed by coming out and practicing,” he said. “It’s going to come down to the guys that work the hardest. Fitness is a big deal.”  

Along with the opportunity to represent IU on a national stage comes sacrifice, sophomore outside center Evan Kaufman said.

“The coolest thing about it is that we’re all staying and committing for a summer session,” he said. “We all gave up internship opportunities or whatever else would be going on in the summer to stay here and train five days a week.”  

One challenge facing the tournament squad is the fact that few of the players have ever experienced a 7’s match outside of summer tournaments.  

“We traditionally put together 7’s in the summer for the social atmosphere,” Harbeck said.  

Also training for the 7’s tournament squad are Mike Shepherd and Kyle Stroman, who both competed for the U.S. U-20 national team last April. Stroman, who made four international appearances last year and scored five points in a match against Namibia, hopes to bring his experience of playing on a big stage with him.

“With the level of seriousness and training we did, we treated it as a job versus a club,” he said. “I’m looking forward to getting to play at a national level and playing higher competition.”  

Kaufman was similarly excited at the idea of representing his school on a national level and embraces the challenge of training for the tournament.

“I’m most excited to play in the Columbus Crew Stadium on national television. It’s just unbelievable,” he said. “It’s about taking ourselves more seriously because we have to.”