The Women’s Rugby Club tied 24-24 in a road game against Kansas State University on Saturday, March 23.
Women’s Rugby vice president and freshman in biology Mauresa Caire believes the club played well against K-State with the help of the Women’s Rugby Club from KU.
“I think the club did really well,” Caire said. “We actually only travelled down there with five girls and we joined KU and they had 11 girls, so we ended up playing 15s. We had two new girls (and) that was their first game. They did extremely well and learned a lot.”
The members from KU’s Women’s Rugby team helped the Gorillas out as far as communication issues and other smalls things they noticed.
“I think we did really well adapting to KU and how they played,” Caire said. “It was a little different than how we normally play. KU made several marks of how low we communicated and how well we were always there. I think that was really nice to hear that from someone else. We are a developing team.”
According to Caire, there something new to be learned in every match and during practice.
“Honestly we can always be practicing more,” Caire said. “Obviously, we had two new players so there is a lot to improve on. There is a lot of the game that we still are not 100 percent on. Even the more experienced players learn something new every game. There is always another rule or some kind of technique or something that I did not know before (or) did not know how to do before. In the Spring, we play 7s, normally. We ended up playing 15s this weekend but typically we will be playing 7s this spring so that will probably be one of the biggest things that we work on; learning how to adapt and change to the way 7s is played because it is (a) much faster paced game.”
This was the first match for a couple new members of the club.
“… Our two new players for never having played rugby in their life to travel to a completely new town with only five girls that shows a lot of dedication to the team which is what we are looking for right now.” Caire said.
Caire hopes to see the team bring home more wins following the next couple of matches.
“Last semester did not turn out necessarily how we wanted it (to) but I think this semester with the more experienced (players), and we have more girls, that we will be able to turn the tables and come home with a win.” Caire said.
Caire encourages anyone with any interest in the Women’s Rugby Club to stop by or contact the club for more information as it is a great way to network and meet other people.
“If anybody just wants to come watch rugby or practice, they should definitely try out or contact us somehow because it is honestly a great network of girls,” Caire said. “It is not just a team sport. One thing I have learned (from) playing last semester is that you network with every team and every team is more than willing to help you out and help you learn which is one of the best things that I love about rugby.”