The USI rugby team started its spring season March 21 and 22, with wins against the University of Pittsburgh and Loyola University.
They traveled to Nashville to participate in the 33rd Annual Nash Bash, a rugby competition that gives teams the chance to play others they would not normally come head to head with during a season.
USI beat the University of Pittsburgh 29-26 March 21, and then beat Loyola 18-7 March 22.
The spring season may not be league play, but the team is playing competitively to become strong.
The team lost seniors last season and will lose more at the end of this season, which makes adding experience to the team a top priority.
Rookie players will have the opportunity to gain more experience and playing time during the spring season.
Doug Rose, team president, said there are both positives and negatives of losing the seniors on the team.
“It’s hard to play this sport because you’re losing people every cycle, but the positive is we gain rookies every season as well,” Rose said.
The team is competitive and the spring season gives them a chance to play other competitive teams in order to get stronger.
“We are constantly trying to get the best competition our team can stand up to,” Rose said. “We are constantly pushing the barrier of our team to win against these bigger teams.”
Having a good start to the spring season and being ranked No. 11 nationally makes the players push themselves harder.
One of the problems the team has is recruiting bigger guys. Both Rose and Head Coach Kurt Murrell said having smaller guys can affect the team.
“We are in pretty good shape at the start of this season,” Murrell said. “We are missing a few players due to school schedules, but we are giving our rookies more experience to be ready for the fall.”
Murrell said the team wasn’t able to prepare for the season because of weather issues, but these two wins gave the team a lot of confidence.
The team would have started its home season last weekend, but instead, the players are traveling to compete in the tournament hosted by Southern Illinois University-Carbondale.