Maxwell Statler, men’s rugby coach and a student at Mesa State, uses rugby to motivate his players with their lives.
“The way you play rugby is the way you live life. If you want to step up and dominate, control, hit hard, and avoid the hits you don’t want,” Statler said. “If you live your life like that, you are going to be successful.”
Rugby is the oldest club sport at the college. It was started in 1998. Statler says this year is the best start that the rugby team has ever had, with a 2-0 record.
“We are looking really good and have the most numbers I have seen at Mesa, we are a heavy hitting team, that’s our motto. We are going to hit you hard and let you know we’re here,” Statler said. “A lot of the recruiting is I walk around campus with a rugby ball and people ask me ‘Oh, you play rugby?’ and I say ‘No, I am the coach.’”
Statler, like most of the rugby players, was a former football player/athlete in high school and came to Mesa as a freshman in 2004 and played his first year of rugby. Since then, he has moved around a little bit and played rugby at high levels around the nation. Last year, the rugby junkie came back and played his final year of eligibility for Mesa. ThisProxy-Connection: keep-alive
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ear he stepped up as coach.
“Max does a great job as a coach,” Sylver Romero, senior and captain, said. “I mean there are 30 of us and I know it gets hard for him at times because we are all about his age, some even older. Everyone respects him.”
Many people don’t know how to play rugby. Even Romero admitted he didn’t have any idea but still wanted to give it a try. He was recruited by the football team, but wasn’t really big enough to make it anywhere, so gave it up.
“It helps to be a certain size like in any other sport but rugby is all about how much heart and determination you have, that’s why it’s so great.” Romero said.
The game is played on a field similar to a soccer field with goal posts similar to those on a football field. Each team has 15 players. They play for 80 minutes, broken in two 40 minute halves. All players play the whole game. Subbing is rare.
There are four ways to score. The one worth the most points is called a try. It’s worth five points. The player has to touch the ball down in the other team’s goal area. After he scores, he has a shot at a conversion kick worth two points. Three points can be scored on a penalty kick through the goal posts. The final way to score is with a drop kick. At anytime a player can drop the ball, then kick it on the bounce trying to make it through the goal posts for three points.
Rugby is known as the gentlemen’s sport. The team who hosts the match, even after 80 minutes of battle, holds a social at house or location for the other team to come over and eat, drink and sing rugby songs.
“In high school sports you always hated your opponent, it didn’t matter if they were cool people or not,” Romero said. “You didn’t want anything to do with them outside of playing them. That’s why rugby is so unique, you go to battle for 80 minutes, play your heart out and then after it is all said and done you go hang out and drink some beer and have a great time with them.”
The team’s next game is October 24th in Orchard Mesa at Dixon Field.

afix@mesastate.edu