From Underdogs to Triumph: How CSUMB Rugby Defied the Odds at Stanford 10’s
A few weeks ago, I was, yet again, endlessly scrolling through social media when I came across a post from my former coach’s wife congratulating my alma mater for going 3-0 on the day at the Stanford 10’s rugby tournament. This was no small feat for my former NSCRO club team to defeat three D1AA teams in Stanford, University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) and a combination side of San Francisco State University (SFSU) and University of California San Francisco (USF). I reached out to my former coach to congratulate him and the boys and try to get some information on the team. The information that he unloaded on me was quite surprising to say the least…
Before I get into the new revelations, let’s look at what was. My alma mater of California State University of Monterey Bay (CSUMB) used to have a full-fledged varsity men’s rugby program in the 90’s. There was also a women’s program, but it was not treated as nicely. When the women’s team cited Title Nine to try and get equal support the University chose to just get rid of rugby all together… poo on the University. The University has changed in that there are far more women’s varsity sports on campus than men’s now though. The rugby programs were brought back as club sports and the men’s team started league play in the Spring semester of 2012. I played for them from the Summer of 2012 to the Spring of 2014.
What’s the difference between a varsity sport and a club sport you might ask? Well an athlete playing a varsity sport falls under the Athletic Department and can receive perks such as scholarships, early enrollment to make sure they can get the classes they need and can still make practice, organized training times where the team can come in and kick everyone out of the gym so they can work out, have access to University organization study sessions with University provided tutors, etc etc. Club sports and the athletes who play them fall under the Recreation Department and pretty much get the same perks as intramural sports teams, i.e. you get to use a field on campus. To be fair, we did have a good relationship with the department heads while I was there, and when they built the new rec field it was built to rugby dimensions. Plus, they bought and installed rugby uprights that never come down!
When I played for CSUMB we were in the Northern California (NorCal) conference of the National Small College Rugby Organization (NSCRO) and played our 15’s season in the Spring like everyone else in the West. Our conference covered most of the NorCal territory. We played Humboldt State (now California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt), Sonoma State, Santa Rosa Junior College, Saint Mary’s “C” team, University of Pacific (UOP), and USF. We were the furthest south (located in the Central Coast region of California) and Humboldt the most northern (located in the North State region near the Oregon border) with a six-to-eight-hour drive separating us. All our other opponents were between two and half to three hours north of us. Our rivals were UOP, with both of us ruining each other’s homecoming. The powerhouses were Cal Maritime and Sonoma State with Santa Rosa JC and Saint Mary’s always in the mix as well.
Now let’s just say I spent my college career collecting a lot of moral victories. We played hard and I like to believe that we forced teams to play us seriously (which usually meant running the score up) because when they took their foot off the gas we would score a couple of quick tries. Really though, when your team averages five to ten players to practice and were lucky enough to have a 16th person show up to have one sub, what more could you ask for?
After reading all this, my jubilee to the Stanford 10’s results should now be within reason. Just to clarify, the coaches I had at CSUMB (Marc Ferguson, Taulua Latu Saulala, and Matai Leuta) are no longer there but the current coach (Steve Ball) was/is (kind of a sad story I might get into in a separate piece) the coach of the men’s club I played for in Monterey (Central Coast Beachdogs RFC). As I said before, when I reached out to congratulate him, he dropped quite the news on me. The first surprise I got was that this tournament was not a preseason warmup. It was instead almost the end of their Fall 15’s season!
This in itself is quite big news. To my knowledge their conference is the first men’s conference in California to play their competitive 15’s season in the Fall. For those you don’t know, one of the biggest divisions between collegiate rugby in the US is over when to play 15’s and it is now divided by either you play under National Collegiate Rugby (NCR) or College Rugby Association of America (CRAA). NCR developed out of what used to be NSCRO and started absorbing rugby conferences across the country. It now has divisions 1-3. Most of the rugby conferences NCR absorbed played their 15’s in the Fall, so to align everything, CSUMB’s conference was moved to a Fall season. This was not the biggest news though.
When I asked what was next on their schedule, he said they were going to play Chico State, which I found very odd because last I heard they were a D1AA team playing under CRAA. Well, it turns out that what was the NorCal NSCRO conference had imploded, and the only teams left were Humboldt and CSUMB. The powerhouse of Sonoma State, gone. Santa Rosa JC, gone. UOP and USF must combine players just to field a full 15’s team. According to Steve, “a lack of a strong student committee and the inability of the Rec department to kind of help and maybe a coach drops out” all leads to teams folding. As Steve puts it, “Cal Maritime pulled a sneaky” and jumped ship last minute. They are now a D1AA team under CRAA.
This now leads us to why CSUMB was about to play Chico State. Just two teams (Humboldt and CSUMB) does not make a conference, nor would just playing each other make a season. In order to get a full season they have been playing D1AA CRAA teams during what would be their Fall preseason. Rather resourceful if you ask me, but when your team is mostly made up of players who have never played rugby it can lead to some tough matches. It doesn’t help that with a Fall season your brand new players, which were probably recruited on campus as they were walking to class, don’t get much practice being thrown into a match against teams two divisions above you. Plus, traveling up to Humboldt with just 14 and at one point only playing with 12 is usually not a good way to win matches.
It is not all doom and gloom though. Even with the lack of depth and experience, CSUMB were able to score 32 points against UNR, and were actually winning at halftime when they played SFSU earlier in the season. Plus, there’s the whole thing of beating all the teams that they lost to earlier in the season at the 10’s tournament that these guys can hang their hats on.
When asked whether or not playoffs were an option, Steve said that there was actually a pathway to playoffs for them, but because of the lack of depth, and funds, they were going to focus more on 7’s during what would be their postseason. Which is not a bad idea, even when I was there we were much more competitive in 7’s than 15’s.
The tides of collegiate rugby are definitely ever changing just as the ocean seen from the continually overcast dorms of CSUMB. Just as the waves keep coming ashore, though, CSUMB keeps moving forward doing their best to navigate these tumultuous waters.
Oh did I mention what’s going on with the women’s team at CSUMB? No? Oh, well maybe I’ll have to write a Part 2 then….
Leave a Reply