Hey everybody, let’s get hurt: The Marshall University Women’s Rugby Championship game.
- Parent Category: FYI Today
- Category: Local Editorials
- Published on Wednesday, 16 November 2011 05:22
- Written by Brian E. Nestor
- Hits: 5939
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My friend Shea Wolford plays on the Marshall University Women’s Rugby team. She invited me to the championship game on Saturday. Marshall was playing the University of Kentucky. I have never watched rugby before. I had no idea of what the rules, strategies, or the scoring system was like. To be honest at times I had no clue of what was going on. However, I have now been converted into a rugby fan! It was awesome. To me rugby is like football, hockey, and soccer rolled into one sport. I love watching sports, it doesn’t matter
who is playing. I love to see fierce competition, especially when a championship is on the line.
Let me say this, there was nothing dainty about this game. These rugby players are HARDCORE. The atmosphere before the game was just like a football game. There were huddles, passion, energy and excitement even before the game was played. I knew this was going to be great because right before the kickoff a Marshall player said “Hey everybody, let’s get hurt.” I was hooked right then.
During my time at the game I saw multiple open field tackles where players were slammed to the ground, and none of the players wear shoulder pads, this is bone on bone. Every body part you could imagine was kicked and stepped on, and yes there was blood. One of the Marshall players got hit in the face. It’not that they were trying to hurt each other on purpose it was the fact that they weren’t scared of the contact. I thought to myself “rugby is too rough for me; I’m glad I’m watching and not playing.”
The speed of this game was unreal. There wasn’t any down time. Neither team has any time outs. The teams play two 40 mintues halves with only a 10 minute halftime. Once the ball was in play, players were running at each other trying to get the ball and trying to tackle each other. It was action packed. I was impressed on every level imaginable. The crowd was fully into what was going on, and every few minutes you heard the crowd go “ohhhh” because someone got leveled.
I am happy to report that Marshallwon 25-17, and they finished the season undefeated. It was awesome to see all the players playing their hearts out. If you haven’t ever watched rugby, you should. I want this to come across very clear. Gender did not matter at all. If I was watching a Men’s Rugbygame I would have felt the exact same way. I had no idea what to expect while I was watching this game, but I knew this game wasn’t about gender, this game was about winning a championship. This game was about passion. Is there anything better than watching players put everything they have on the line for the sport they love? No, no there isn’t. Rugbyis a total team sport, and that is why we won the championship. The Marshall Women’s Rugbyteam are now the champions, they are great athletes and they are straight up fearless!
