|
These 17 high school students who represent the town of Montclair, although none are Montclair residents, are Montclair martyrs for a sport many men pursue actively in town after college with the Montclair men’s club team being well established since 1976.
“I don’t know what happened in Montclair,” said Ralph VonRosendahl, president of the Montclair men’s rugby club and also the coach and acting braintrust behind forming a high school squad. “I put fliers around town and I was disappointed because I know there’s a lot of English families in town and hopefully next year we’ll draw more locals. This is our first season and we’re hoping these kids will tell their friends and next year we’ll get more in-volvement and we can get a solid team going.”
Montclair trailed 29-7 at the half, but held its own in the second half, losing 7-5. Montclair was under the impression they won the physical battle in the second half, they were all proud to admit. Owen Rucker, 17, a senior from Columbia High School in Maplewood, scored Montclair’s first-ever try in the first half. Joe Corbo of Verona, scored Montclair’s second-ever try in the second half that will forever be a part of this program’s folklore. Rucker didn’t play at all in the second half after getting slammed to an area of turf that was hardpan near the end of the first half, but Rucker says he’ll most definitely be making a return at inside center this Saturday when Montclair travels to Orange Park for a 10 a.m. scrum with St. Peter’s Prep in its second engagement.
“It was fun,” said Rucker. “The game is competitive and I play soccer, and I knew it was going to be physical but it wasn’t the other kid’s fault that the ground was hard where he took me down. You can’t take it personal. I’ve seen clips of rugby in Europe and I knew what kind of game it was and what I was getting involved with.”
Many on the team wanted to get an authentic taste of a sport regarded as one of the manliest games in all the world. Some got more than a taste, but a mouthful of dirt, grass, flying elbows and flesh the sport prides itself on. Part of the test is the endurance of mind and body while accepting the casualties of pain. Rugby is the quintessential man’s game where wimps need not apply.
Not only is the game an intriguing activity for fearless youngsters, it opens their eyes and prepares them for the possibility of playing in the college ranks. Rugby is believed to be the largest college club sport across the country and the subculture of activities and friends last a lifetime.
“If you play rugby in college, you automatically have a group of friends you can hang out with,” said Rucker.
Rugby is a national fraternity of sorts, it matters not where and who you represent, just as long as you play.
“This is a great thing for Montclair and it’s a great sport that needs to be recognized,” said Jay Froland, 30, of Mahwah, who’s played for the Montclair men’s club team since 1996. “When you play rugby, you have a home no matter where you go. As long as there’s a rugby team, you’ll always have a home and you’re always welcome.”
Ron Willhoit, 18, a senior from West Orange High School, never played a contact sport until Saturday, when he participated in perhaps the most extreme contact game.
“I never played rugby before until last week and I’m out here running around having a good time and everyone is real nice and it’s a whole lot of fun,” said Willhoit. “I’m a swimmer, and so I came out here today and tried to do all I can. It hurts sometimes, but everyone is safe about where they hit you and nothing is intentional.”
“It was great and I’ve loved it since day one,” said Kody Gamba, 18, a senior at Columbia High. “It’s been a really good experience. I love the feeling of when you’re on the field…it’s more family-oriented than manly. It’s a very friendly sport, even though it looks very physical on the field.”
Jesse Schneider, 17, a junior football player at Bloomfield High, came out for the team to see how tough he really was. After one contest, Schneider confirmed his toughness and is also sold on rugby.
“Some of the guys on my football team told me this team in Montclair needed more guys so I joined,” said Schneider. “I love it and I think it’s a great way to get in shape and have fun with a bunch of guys you don’t even know. The guys on this team don’t know each other that well, being from different high schools, but when you’re on the field with them, you need to trust them and I think we all do. If I get a chance to go to college, I will definitely join a team.”
Schneider added that there’s no real comparison to football in terms of contact. The only armor rugby players bones, flesh and lots of guts.
“This is definitely a more physical game considering it’s much more painful,” said Schneider. “When you get hit, it makes you want to hit more.”
VonRosendahl, who officiated Saturday’s game was satisfied with his squad’s effort considering he started the 17 kids from scratch practicing eight times before their first competition. VonRosendahl has cleared his first major hur-dle, now he wants to stimulate more interest in town to open doors for youngsters in college and after. He’ll also continue to school his warriors on the finer points of rugby that have tentatively four more games scheduled this season.
“If we can get more participation in the upcoming years and get a strong team going, these kids will go play in college and then a lot of those same kids will come back from college and play with our men’s club in the summer. So that will perpetuate our men’s side. There were a lot of things I saw out there today that need improvement. They were taking the ball and running just straight ahead, which is football mentality and they were losing the ball, but they remained aggressive and made some great tackles on the other team. Aggression is something you can’t teach and after that they’ll learn their rugby skills.”
To join the Essex County High School Rugby Club contact Ralph VonRosendahl at (973) 239-1616.
Montclair RFC squared off against Division I Monmouth RFC on Saturday before the high school bout in Brookdale Park. The early going was all in Montclair’s favor as the team constantly pressured in the Monmouth end of the field. After missing early penalty kicks Montclair finally broke through to take a 14-0 lead. But the lead could not be held, and in the second half Monmouth went ahead 19-14. Montclair did not give up, however, and regained the lead on a blocked kick and score by Rick Papera late in he second half. Monmouth was able to put in the final score to win 26-21. Montclair was coming of their first appearance in the Division III national playoffs the previous week. The team defeated Albany RFC on Saturday, April 24, before losing in the northeast finals to Syracuse on Sunday.
|