Southfield, MI – The UMD Wolves Rugby team opened the regular season this past Saturday against their rival, Oakland University Golden Grizzlies. The main pitch was covered in a sheet of ice, forcing the game to be moved to a practice pitch with no uprights, which caused a bit of confusion. The game was played regardless with the consent of the coaches, referee and captains. In the end it wouldn’t matter as the Wolves would take the victory 15-5 on a field more suitable for herd of cows than a rugby game.

In the first half Michigan – Dearborn would add a handful of new players to the starting line-up, including a nearly new set of forwards from last year. The Wolves would nearly double the size of their scrum over the winter and completely dominate the OU forwards in the first half. Rookie and Freshman, Jeff Tanghe, would catch the ball on the outside and take it in for what appeared to be a try, unfortunately he passed through the back of the try zone and downed it out of bounds. The lack of uprights made it difficult to tell where the try-zone began, even for the ref who was confused at multiple times where the zone was.

Michigan – Dearborn would use their physical play to put in two straight tries by Scrumhalf Steven Piazza, and than towards the end of the half, Eightman Pat Khalaf would add the third try for UMD. Half time would see the Wolves comfortably in the lead 15-0. The second half would see UMD use a massive amount of subs, taking advantage of the larger team. Due to the quickly degrading state of the field and the inexperience of the subs, the Wolves would allow the Golden Grizzles to put in a try, but the defense would stiffen once again and hold the lead until the end of the game.

The Wolves next scheduled game is on April 5 th at the Detroit Ruck City Collegiate Tournament, where they will face Michigan State, Wayne State, Oakland and two other undisclosed teams.

Kalamazoo, MI - The Michigan - Dearborn Wolves traveled to Kalamazoo this past weekend for a new expeirence, Rugby in the snow. The 14th annual "Snowball" Tournament hosted by the Kalamazoo Dogs RFC saw over 400 Rugby players brave the snow and bitter cold to play the game. 8 colleges would be represented by 12 teams with 2 teams from Western Michigan, Ferris State, Michigan State, and Central Michigan as well as 1 team from Michigan-Dearborn, Oakland, Calvin and Illinois-Chicago. Michigan - Dearborn would be lumped together in one of the tougher pools, a pool featuring Western Michigans "A" team, Michigan States "A" team and Ferris States "A" team. They would be tough teams, and in fact all three teams UMD would face in the day would go on to place in the top three with Michigan State taking first place, Western Michigan taking second and Ferris State taking third place in the College Bracket.

The Wolves started the day off as the last game of the first round, waiting over an hour and a half in the bitter cold before taking the field, which was nothing more than 2 feet of snow with spray painted lines. They would open with the Broncos of Western Michigan. The Wolves looked confused in the first half, still adjusting to playing in the snow as well as starting 4 untested players. UMD would trail 3-1 at the end of the First Half. The second half would see better play from UMD. The Wolves almost tied it at 3 when Forward Jeremy Jewell made a break up the middle, but a combination of high snow and his own confused player would bring him down just short of the try line. The confused Wolf got up out of the ruck facing the wrong way and quickly assumed the player with the ball was from Western, so in his confusion brought his own man down. UMD would push but no luck as they fell 5-2.

The second game would see another long delay before the Wolves would take the field once more. After waiting nearly two hours the Wolves would have their match against the Spartans of Michigan State. The difference was seen early as MSU had played in the previous match on the field and was still relatively warm allowing them to out-run and out-hit UMD very early. Half time would see the score reach 6-1 for Sparty. The second half would see more sluggish defense and tired legs on the part of the Wolves as MSU would add three more tries and take a 9-2 advantage into the end of the game.

The third game would be the best of the three for Michigan - Dearborn. The Wolves came out inspired to win at least one of the games before heading home, and got another tough match against Ferris State. The Wolves came out fighting and scrapping against a much bigger team. The rucking and tackling was outstanding on the Wolves part. A long punt and a quick scoop up by Ferris would put them on the board and cought the Wolves off gaurd. Ferris would make one more push at the Try line but UMD would fall on the ball in the try zone and punt the ball away to safety. Michigan - Dearborn would make 3 attempts before half time, ending up just short each time. The second half would see even more inspired play from the Wolves as a potential try was taken back. The game would continue to play in favor of UMD but no luck pushing a ball across the line. Ferris would squeak out a 1-0 win.

Michigan - Dearborn looked very good in the last game which leads to even better signs seeing as they only took 1/3 of the total team to Kalamazoo for the Tournament. They continue to prepare for the first game of the season vs. Rival Oakland University on March 15th.

UMD Rugby has secured a sponsorship from USA Rugby and the National Guard worth nearly $4,000 in equipment and new jerseys. The announcement of the sponsorship comes as the team is gearing up for the coming fall season. To find out more details about the sponsorship please go to www.usarugby.com and click on the National Guard Logo.

UMD Rugby would like to thank the National Guard and USA Rugby for the generous donations!