Over this past weekend, the KU Men’s Rugby Football Club had a match with Schuylkill River Men’s Club in which they came out victorious with a score of 26-22. With this win, their record improves to 2-1 on the season; the other win coming against the Blue Hens of Delaware in a 59-5 blowout.
The only loss of the season for the Bears was at the hand of division rival Army. They were unable to tie things up late with the Black Knights and suffered a 24-19 defeat.
The Golden Bears are in one of the fiercest conferences in all of Division IA Rugby, which is in the East Division where they go up against the sixth best Penn State, the second ranked Army and Delaware University.
The Bears have been unable to reach the playoffs since 2008, which they plan to change this season. This is a year filled with high hopes, and it has already started out on the right note.
When speaking to Zach Jessell, junior and president of the Kutztown University Rugby Football Club, he said this about the Club’s expectations: “We want to make playoffs, and hopefully contend for a National Championship.”
This is a Club that can compete with the best, when being ranked tenth in the nation, which just doesn’t happen for a reason.
The next opponent on the schedule for Kutztown is Penn State, who is ranked sixth in the nation. In the fall series between both clubs, they split both games 1-1, and so we will see who wins the tiebreaker. As for the match, it will take place this Saturday, April 6, at 1:00 p.m. at the Bears home turf. The winner of this match will make a distinct impact in the East, and the game could make or break either team’s playoff hopes. Ranking doesn’t matter much to either of these teams as they have been battling one another for the past 14 years. Once the cleats hit the field Saturday, it will be a Keystone clash, and a fantastic match to watch between the two rivals.
At the end of the season, on June 1 and 2, the Rugby Club will take a trip to Lincoln Financial Field, where the Collegiate Rugby Championship is going to take place and will be nationally televised on NBC.
By Tyler Wuensche