Men's Rugby 

BENNINGTON, Vt. - A shoulder into exposed ribs while fielding an aptly-named "hospital pass." A stiff-arm to the face while breaking down to make a tackle. Metal-studded boots crunching down on a hand left exposed on the ground during a ruck.

There must be a million ways to get hurt playing rugby. But for the men of the Southern Vermont College Mountaineers, the thing they feared most as the fall season approached wasn't the impact of a collision or the pain of an injury.

It was not having an opportunity to play at all.

"If I had been sitting in my dorm room this fall without a team to play for, I would have been really disappointed," said team president Mike Nosek on Tuesday, as he was instead helping to guide the Mountaineers through a series of practice drills. "There was definitely a point where it started to cross people's minds that there might not be a team [at SVC] this year."

That uncertainty stemmed from the protracted nightmare that befell the SVC rugby programs starting in the fall of 2008. Then-coach Jeremiah Madison had the SVC women on the verge of challenging for the sport's first-ever NCAA national championship, until an eligibility violation led to his ouster from the position and the team's exclusion from postseason play. Southern Vermont's athletic director at the time, Ben Kozik, resigned shortly thereafter and left interim AD Don Schaffer with the difficult task of finding a replacement rugby coach.

The spring season came and went without the program being stabilized, and more than a few Mountaineers joined forces with the local men's club, Equinox RFC, in order to continue playing. It appeared to many people both inside and outside the SVC program as though its demise might be inevitable.

"I was heading into my senior year, and it was looking more and more like we weren't going to have a team or a season," Nosek said.

But to the credit of the SVC administration, those with the power to save the program never gave up on it. The college's president, Karen Gross, continually voiced her support for the teams, and newly-hired athletic director Christina Cruz immediately made it one of her top priorities to find a solution for Nosek and company.

The result was a return to club status for SVC rugby, with the student-athletes taking on the responsibilities of managing their own budget, coordinating their own coaching and other logistics and, perhaps most importantly, policing themselves as far as their behavior and image at the college.

"It's probably a much better fit for rugby not to be a varsity sport," Cruz said. "The rules for collegiate athletics can be very restrictive - and in order to be competitive, our teams needed those regulations to be loosened up a bit."

But Cruz also stressed that the return to club status by no means grants the Mountaineers a free pass to ignore their role as representatives of the college.

"The program was in limbo before, and it's still in a tenuous position," Cruz said. "They're going to have to be responsible in the way they conduct themselves."

A fair deal, considering how much the opportunity to take the pitch means to the team's veteran players.

"It's all about being back in an SVC uniform, and keeping the tradition alive," junior Brendan Mai said. "It's important to keep the team going because we know it'll be OK after we graduate. We're not just doing it for us - we're doing it for guys down the line, just like it was done by those who came before us."

Looking ahead, the Mountaineers will remain in the New England Rugby Football Union (NERFU) this season, but will switch from the North conference to the Central. That will bring a slew of matches against unfamiliar opponents, making the challenge of guiding the team even tougher for its leaders. Luckily, the Mountaineers have a full roster of 23 players with which to attack this year's challenges.

"It's a good question," said Nosek, in reference to the task of helping to coach the team even as he himself is battling to thrive and survive at one of the most skilled positions on the pitch. "That's something we'll have to find out as we go along. This weekend should be a big eye-opener."

This Saturday's match will pit the Mountaineers against their program's alumni, in an annual clash that always sees hard-hitting and no shortage of sparkling play. The current team's crop of experienced mashers - including forwards Baffour "Joe" Obiri, Adam Check, Ruari Clancy and Mai and backs Rob Cabrera, Eric Tosto and Nosek - is made stronger by the addition of newcomers like Chris Williams, a freshman who brought the wood during Tuesday's practice and is expected to make his presence felt on Saturday.

"We've got a lot of guys coming back, and a big crew of rookies," Mai said. "And I think that being student-run helps boost our chemistry."

The Mountaineers don't have to look far to see what might have become of their program without the switch back to club status. The SVC women have scratched their fall season in the NERFU, though Nosek said that they are hoping to revive their squad in the spring. That development makes Nosek and company appreciate the support of the college's administration - especially that of the new athletic director - all the more.

"[Cruz] has been a huge help, and from the very start it was clear that she is here for the students," Nosek said. "We appreciate all that she has done for us, and we will do our best to return that support."

Saturday's game starts at 4 p.m., at the Beech Street pitch.