Kyle McCormick
January 31, 2013
This Saturday, February 2nd, at 11AM, the UCF Men’s Rugby team will host a grudge match against the USF Bulls. The game will be played on the grass practice field adjacent to the IM fields.
After going undefeated last semester and winning the State of Florida Tournament in the fall, UCF is aspiring to go on to the national competition. Team captain, Gerhard Veit, is confident and excited for the spring season to get underway. “USF always brings a good level of competition and we haven’t played for over a month so I can’t wait to play this out on Saturday,” Veit said.
Rugby is a game unknown to most Americans. Similar to trying to explain the beauty of American football to a soccer-loyal foreigner in a mere paragraph, this brief synopsis only grazes the tip of the iceberg of the fast paced, brutal and exciting game of rugby.
Like most sports, the game consists of two teams being pitted head to head, 15 noggins per team. There are two units on each team, split into Forwards and Backs. Points are gained by placing the ball in the other team’s tryzone (endzone), or kicking the ball through the posts placed similarly to field goal posts. No forward passes are allowed but forward kicking is. The game lasts 80 minutes with a 10-minute halftime.
“Even if people don’t know what is going on, it’ll be fun to watch 30 men beat the crap out of each other for over an hour. The most important rule is to root for the boys in Black and Gold,” Veit said.
There is no cost for admission and all are welcome to come out and cheer for the Knights to ‘beat the crap’ out of the Bulls.
