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45 °F Forecast | Road Cams Tuesday, April 19, 2005 Today's News | Shop Our Valley | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery | Contact Us SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Health Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Real Estate Guide Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley SHOP OUR VALLEY AutoFinder HomeFinder JobFinder Classified Place an ad TOP JOBS EXTRA Ashland News NIE Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People Volunteer Moving here? eSouthernOregon CUSTOMER SERVICE FAQ's Advertise with us Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend April 19, 2005 Ashland�s Chato Ibanez, left-center tackler, tries to bring down a Canby player as teammate Jed Patton, right, comes in to help out. It’s mano a mano Rugby’s rough-and-tumble nature catches on at Ashland High as a club sport By JOE ZAVALA for the Mail Tribune It’s a sea of flesh and bones and blood, mashed together, pushing, pulling, clawing and scratching in a testosterone-loaded teenage boy sandwich. Somewhere in the middle is a ball — not a football and not a soccer ball, but something in between the two — and somewhere underneath is Ashland High senior Simon Weibel. He doesn’t seem to mind. "I was laying down there and I was waving to my girlfriend and some guy just goes boom, boom," Weibel says, making a stomping motion with is right foot, "so I bit him. He fell down. It was tight." The nibble was more of a playful exhibition for the Ashland student fan section, but the moral of the story is evident: Rugby, thanks to a rule book that rewards rugged, aggressive play and punishes the opposite, is a blast. At least that’s what the 19 boys who make up Ashland’s first-year rugby squad say. The team was founded by coach Bill Cooney, an Ashland welding teacher who first dreamed of fielding a rugby squad two years ago. He couldn’t find enough players then but was able to this year, thanks in part to a fellow rugby player who moved here from southwest England. Jay Stewart, a Grizzly senior, helped Cooney recruit players and also provides a working knowledge of the sport gained through a lifetime of playing. Advertisement One by one, Cooney and Stewart convinced athletes to give rugby a shot. The sport sold itself, Cooney says. He showed game video and explained the rules, and before long, the Grizzlies were loaded with some of the best athletes at the school. "We got, like, eight or nine people initially, and then we said, ‘Every guy bring a friend,’ and it doubled," Stewart says. "Now, we’ve got a good squad." Very good, actually. The Grizzlies were undefeated through five games (4-0-1) heading into a showdown with fellow Southern Conference power Canby, outscoring their opponents by a combined score of 120-31. Canby then handed Ashland its initial loss April 9 to take over first place in the conference standings, but the Grizzlies already are guaranteed a spot in the state playoffs, which begin April 23. Rugby can loosely be described as a football-soccer hybrid, though Cooney’s description may paint a clearer picture. "It’s like a big game of keep-away," he says. Teams play on a football-sized field (approximately) and attempt to outscore their opponent by carrying, lateraling or kicking the ball. Each team usually consists of 15 players, divided into backs and forwards. Anybody can carry the ball. There are no pads, and the action is fast and furious, with injury timeouts and halftime serving as the only breaks. First-time spectators often are taken aback by the ferocity of the sport. It’s full contact, and tacklers and ball carriers alike take full advantage. Concussions are common, and some forwards — muscle players whose main goal is to bend the opponent’s will at the point of attack — wear tape around their head to guard against cauliflower ear. Rugby was developed in England in the early 19th century and has thrived there ever since. It never caught on in the United States, however. Here, where football is king, rugby is usually afforded only club sport status. That’s true at Southern Oregon University and Ashland High. But to the Grizzlies who have played both sports, there’s no comparison. "It’s just a lot more fun than football," says Grizzly sophomore Chris Petetit, a lineman on the Ashland football team. "It’s more manly, I guess you could say. Maybe that sounds bad, but football is really not as active as rugby." His teammate agrees. "I have an aggression problem, and so it’s kind of a release," says Weibel, who was an all-conference lineman for the Grizzly football team. "It’s a really intense sport. Football is intense, but (in rugby) you’re kind of cut free. The rules are more like guidelines, and you can kind of do whatever you want almost. "It’s just vicious, and there are no pads, which is a plus," he adds. "It’s like going to war." Both Petetit (6-foot-1, 210 pounds) and Weibel (6-3, 225) acknowledge the injury risk but say it’s well worth it. Petetit says he was nearly knocked out in a head-to-head collision during Ashland’s season-opener. He walked off the field in a daze, but was OK and later returned to the lineup. While Petetit may be putting his football future on the line every time he steps on the pitch, Edwin Lee is taking perhaps the greatest risk. At 5 feet, 130 pounds, Lee is by far the smallest player on Ashland’s roster and may be the smallest prep rugby player in Oregon. Lee doesn’t see his size as a drawback, however, and didn’t think twice about joining. "It was mostly because of coach Cooney," he says. "I went in and watched a couple rugby tapes and just got really into it, and I liked the way the game was played." Joe Zavala is sports editor of the Ashland Daily Tidings. Reach him at 482-3456. Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback Free Music Downloads Conference Calls - $50/Month Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker, Trunk, Footlockers home equity loans helzberg Distance Education Diamonds Online Poker Slippers Student Loans tcg student loan consolidation teleconferencing Memory Foam Mattress w2 forms Tatoo Tatoos Advertisement s