The St. Edward’s University Rugby Football Club has experienced substantial success in recent years, and this year looks to be no different. A Campus Recreation club sport and completely student-run organization, the Rugby team was re-created in 2009. Team officers are responsible for hiring coaches, creating and managing the budget and all other day-to-day operations.

There has been much confusion around campus about whether the Rugby team is an NCAA team or not. The Rugby Football Club competes against other university club teams, but it has no relationship to the NCAA. The team plays in a private conference called the National Small College Rugby Organization (NSCRO.) Within that conference, there are divisions. The team has switched back to Division II this year after playing in Division I last year.

With over 60 percent of the student population being female, recruiting is difficult, especially for such a physical sport. Campus Recreation helps the Rugby team with this by working with admissions to identify high school players and then figuring out a way to help those players come to St. Edward’s. This year, the team has a far-reaching recruiting class, with players from Chile, Spain, Canada and France.

“It is awesome to see the growth of the program,” director of Campus Recreation Andy Lemons said. “Their success has been mind-blowing.”

This season, the Rugby team has a perfect 2-0 record in cup games, scoring a whopping 93 points in each game. Team president Nikolai Solow believes this success comes from all the hard work players have been putting in over the past four years. He also credited the rugby background of coaches Lachlan Ferguson and St. Edward’s alumni Brannen Ellyson.

“There is a lot of camaraderie and trust among our team and we all continue to fight alongside one another,” Solow said. “We wouldn’t be anywhere, however, if it wasn’t for our coaches too.”

Although their ultimate goal is to make a run for the NSCRO National Championship, Solow and the rest of the squad are also focusing their attention on community service, increasing communications with alumni and growing the program to prospective players.

The team’s next home game is against West Florida on Nov. 16. The team plays its home games off campus at Burr Field, 6013 Loyola Lane.