The Wake

Rugby isn’t just bald, gap-toothed hooligans the size of boxcars playing overseas. Women at the “U” have a lot of that hooligan gene as well. But forget all that bald, gap-toothed, boxcar stuff.

The University of Minnesota Women’s Rugby Club is the No. 1 team in the nation for Division II rugby programs and is participating in the national championship this spring.

These women could pass through security posing as a gymnastic squad or even a basketball team. By the looks of them, it would be hard to imagine these same women engaging in one of the rawest forms of physical sport.

Imagine getting in an 80-minute car wreck without your seatbelt on. Rugby, although slightly similar to American football, has one distinct difference: no pads.

“While playing, the adrenaline is there so I don’t feel anything,” junior Jeni Messer said. “Except if there’s an injury.” Messer, who has played rugby for eight years, knows injuries. She has suffered as many concussions as retired San Francisco 49er quarterback Steve Young (four) and separated both shoulders. Messer blames the shoulder injuries on herself.

“I wasn’t in shape,” she said. “If you take care of yourself and play smart, injuries won’t happen.” Has she ever considered donning shoulder pads? “No, but my mom wishes I would.”

Every gash, bruise and bump has been worth it. The team has qualified for the national tournament this April and continues being the dominant force in the Midwest.

Senior Gina Schoeneberger expects nothing but success. “I think we have a really good shot.” Schoeneberger, who has suffered two concussions and a chipped pelvis during her tenure as a rugby player, predicts, “We will at least get to the final game, if not win it all.”

Going into the national tournament this year, the team needs more players. The last time they competed, only 17 were available. The matches consist of 15 players to a side.

So who would want to participate in a sport that’s so fierce it makes football look like a schoolyard game of “Duck, Duck, Goose?”

Team President and player, Christy Ringgenberg, remembers last fall’s second practice of the season when many new girls thought about joining the team. While playing, one of the girls snagged her foot in the ground. “She broke her ankle right across the top. We lost a lot of new girls that practice,” Ringgenberg said.

Despite reservations pertaining to playing a new sport, Ringgenberg understands the obstacles that meet a new member.

“We’ve all been the new player,” said Ringgenberg, now a junior. “To learn the game, just play it. It might look like just a mess of people but it’s not so difficult once you get in the game.”

“If you like contact sports and want to get at somebody, rugby’s the game,” Raquel Booms said.

Booms, a senior at the “U,” says rugby is safe when a player knows what he or she is doing. “Things are unsafe when you’re cheating and not tackling properly. It’s just like any other sport.”

Cheating involves anything from holding people in a scrum, an element in the game where possession is won after a ball is thrown into a colliding lineup of players, or the occasional blind-sided cheap shot, Ringgenberg says.

Forwards, who form the scrum line, can elect to wear scrum caps to protect their ears, if not, tape is the only deterrent protecting the player from looking like Van Gogh.

Even without cheating or poor tackling, the sport is notorious for its punishment on the body.

Schoeneberger relishes the soreness following a game. “There are days when I like waking up and feeling sore. I know that’s when I gave a 100 percent.”

As the season begins, soreness, scrapes and cuts will all be part of the team’s dynamic.

“We work hard. We want [the championship],” Booms said. “It’s going to be a journey, but it’s going to be great.”