San Jose State University Rugby

San Jose State Rugby may not be at the level of Cal or BYU, you may have never heard of this program nor knew they existed. And that’s okay, over the past few years SJSU-RFC have slowly been rebuilding and making their way up to the top of the latter in there conference. A program that is now over 40 years old shares in the rich tradition with another local Collegiate program in the san Francisco bay area and in turn have built a fairly fierce but civil rivalry with. As some of you may know and as I have previously stated here before on a few posts I once played for Spartan Rugby, I am lucky enough that there team president has agreed to answer a few questions from yours truly. Here is our conversation and I hope you all enjoy. Go Spartans!

Life Love Rugby: Tell us a little about yourself and your playing career:

Christopher Eyre: Christopher Eyre, Industrial and Systems Engineer, Senior at SJSU. Currently have 6 years of Rugby experience. I have been playing rugby since High School Played for Peninsula Green Rugby Club while in high school. Joined SJSU Rugby my sophomore year and was elected president. I have been President from 2010 until the present. The position I play is Hooker, #2.

LLR: What about the history of sjsu rugby:
CE: The San Jose State Rugby Football Club continues a long and exciting tradition of the fierce competition and tight bonds of brotherhood that are the signature aspects of rugby worldwide. Those traditions started at San Jose State in 1971, when two faculty members, Ron "Doc" Macbeth (a New Zealander) and Keith Langsley (an Australian), formed a rugby club to compete against local college sides from Stanford and Cal.
Dressed in blue and gold cast-off football jerseys from the Athletic Department, the San Jose Rugby Club played it's first game in the spring of 1971 against the Cabrillo Seahawks on a high school field in South San Jose. The Seahawks won 31-7, but the Spartans had their first taste of rugby. In 1972 the club grew, played Stanford, Cal, Santa Clara and UC Santa Cruz. The Spartans ended the year with an invitation and participation in the prestigious Monterey Rugby Tournament on the polo grounds of Pebble Beach, at that time recognized as the National Rugby Championships.

Over the next 40 years, hundreds of San Jose State students have maintained the traditions of the San Jose State Rugby Club, both on and off the field. The rivalry between the San Jose State Rugby Club and the UC Santa Cruz Rugby Club was formalized by the annual competition for the McBeath-Porter Cup, named for the founding men of the respective clubs.  As San Jose State Rugby Club enters competition in the 21st Century, the team and rugby its self-have changed, reflecting current rugby emphasis on fitness, speed of play and the need to focus and organize on the field. What has not changed is the spirit and character of the Spartan rugby players.

LLR: can you go into further detail what the rivalry is between SJSU and UC-Santa Cruz and the meaning it is for both clubs to play this game every year.
CE:This McBeath-Porter Cup comes from the founding of both our rugby programs.Dr. McBeath founded UCSC and later went over to teach rugby at SJSU as well as founded the team at SJSU. Dan Porter was one of those founding players on that UCSC team, who played for UCSC and coached SJSU for a short stint up until his recent passing. Every year we put on the colors of our schools on a for certain glorious Saturday, representing the Slug and Spartan Brotherhood developed over the years. We are brother programs in this hooligan’s game played by gentlemen and this has become a true tradition. Those who have been on the field of battle for this cup know the significance of it.

 LLR: How has this season gone for you guys?

CE: This season has been a pleasant one, compared to last year’s season. Last year we were unable to win, but not short of trying. Every single game was lost by a narrow margin. Despite being a losing season, it was a very beneficial one. It allowed for players who did not really know the game, attain a lot of rugby experience. The majorities of our players was underclassmen last year and have returned this season.  The only way to gain experience in rugby is to play it and having these experienced players return, despite an unfortunate previous season, was very fortunate. This season has been a rollercoaster of a season. We finished the regular season 4-3. Two of those loses were very narrow, and in my opinion, should have been victories. I am happy that we have a postseason and will get to redeem ourselves against some opponents that underestimated us during the season.
With respect to our team, we have an abundance of underclassmen on the starting XV. We have 6 seniors who each have experience in playing. This year could be considered a transition year.

We have a new coach James Fonda who has drastically changed the direction of our program. We currently have partial sponsors with Nike and Gatorade. We are a lot more organized and have been given a shed entirely devoted to rugby. We no longer have to share with club sports. We are a much more disciplined team and surprisingly more fit than previous years. Even with a lot of underclassmen on the starting XV, the chemistry of this team is very strong.

LLR: For those who don’t know about the conference that you play in, can you explain what the Pacific Western Rugby conference is and this year’s set up for post-season berth:

CE: The PacWest Conference is a DI-AA. It consists of 2 junior colleges, one UC, one UN, and the remainder state universities. It is a newly founded conference mainly formed due to regulations set by USA Rugby based on the level of competition of the universities. Despite the subpar record, our conference allows almost the entire conference to participate and compete in conference playoffs.

The standings were:
1.            Chico
2.            UCSC
3.            Santa Rosa
4.            UN-Reno
5.            SJSU
6.            Sierra
7.            Fresno
8.            SFSU
 The top 4 teams have home field advantage and the first seed must hold the conference tourney. The first seed has a bye, last seed doesn’t qualify, and the rest play out accordingly. Since we are in 5th place we will play the 4th seed away at UN-Reno. If we win we travel to semi-finals to the Conference Tourney in Chico and if we win that, we would play that Sunday. The winner of this will go to Austin, Texas, and automatically be part of the Sweet 16. Sweet 16 is the playoff bracket for the National Championships.

LLR: Do you think SJSU needs to try and get to the level of Cal due to close proximity or does the program feel like whatever is going with Cal is their area and  SJSU will focus on its own development?

CE: In my opinion, these programs are two different breeds of rugby. Cal has scholarships and alumni to fund the growth of their program. They have a lot of recognition from the public and around the rugby world of being a top-tier rugby program. If SJSU wishes to become a powerhouse, it is necessary to build a solid foundation. SJSU is going in the positive direction and I can see that in a few years, while rugby is growing nation-wide, so will SJSU’s program. Perhaps in time, SJSU will be at the caliber of Cal, but that will require the school’s support, alumni backing, and dedication from the players. Publicity will help aid in the future of this program.

LLR: Over the past few years rugby has exploded on all levels in the US, do you see a difference in the rugby culture on campus with the growth of rugby:

CE: It took until my sophomore year to learn that SJSU had a rugby program. Sadly, I still encounter many people on campus oblivious to the notion that we have a rugby program. I’ll wear my Spartan Rugby t-shirt and someone will say “We have a rugby team? I didn’t know that!” However, I have run into quite a few people that know about rugby, just that we didn’t have a team. I am happy that more and more people are fans of the game as well as past players of the game. So, I guess there is a small difference of the presence of rugby on-campus.

Our lack of publicity can partially be due to the school’s policies of promoting on campus and lack of player ability to get the word out. I have attempted to post flyers on campus, but they get taken down without a permit. We do not have funds to pay for a permit or keep purchasing flyers! We also have held barbeques as well as advertised on club organization day. There was recently an article in the Spartan Daily about our playoff push. It is quite difficult to get the attention of 40,000 students and inform them that we have a rugby program. Rugby is a different kind of sport, and it takes a different kind of mentality to hack it. Recruiting is probably the most difficult part, finding these kinds of people. All kinds of athletes come out to play, but few stick with it.

 

If you have any questions or comments feel free to ask, if you would like to read up a little more on SJSU Rugby and purchase some clothing, to help support the club or would like to be added as a sponsor, feel free to visit ~ sjsurugby.com ~