Sports Reporter
The secret is out. No, it’s not the fact that YOLO really does mean “you only live once” or that Nixon lied about Watergate. It’s much bigger than that. And the secret is no longer safe with a group of men who practice by night. Ready? Here it is.
CMU has a men’s rugby team. Yes, rugby. Another surprise? They win, largely thanks to Coach Doug Evans and his son Hayden.
Last semester the squad played six games, going 3-3 and nearly toppling rugby giant Denver University. The team has four more games this semester against schools, including Colorado School of Mines and Western State.
“We’re getting more successful,” Doug said. “It’s all starting to pay off. We’re fifth place out of 10 teams.”
But winning and improvement doesn’t come without sacrifice. Volunteering his time, Doug has coached ever since his son Hayden, now a student and rugby player at CMU, was in high school. Having played rugby most of his life, Doug felt the need to give back.
“I played pretty competitive rugby,” Doug said. “The way it was back then, you were to give back to the sport what you get out of it.”
So he does, offering 10 months out of the year to the sport he loves. Sure, the team practices twice a week and frequents the weight room, but Doug and Hayden put a lot more than time into rugby. The pair have brought their family expectations and their past rugby tradition to the team environment, resulting in an on-field atmosphere that looks much different than any other sport.
You won’t find any Richard Shermans or Terrell Owens here. Just sacrifice, comraderie and a group of gentlemen, according to Coach Doug.
To illustrate this rugby unity, players are competitive and aggressive on the field, but once the game is over, the two teams not only shake hands, they go bowling.
“We don’t necessarily hate the other team. We want to beat them, but we don’t hate them,” Hayden said. “You could throw a punch at somebody in the game, but afterwards you shake his hand and apologize, and it’s over.”
Based on international tradition of the sport, both teams are supposed to be gentlemen and treat each other with respect on and off the field, but the tradition goes beyond respect. According to Hayden, if there is a need within the rugby community, the players will step in.
“If the other team comes from far away, we’ll give them a place to stay. The whole team,” Hayden said. “You need help moving? Call your rugby boys. We’ll get there, all 15 of us, and knock it out.”
Even when the team is playing in an intense match, the respect for the other side is still there.
“There’s nothing greater than to go in and have a plan and a strategy, use it through the whole game, then you beat those guys,” Doug said. “They have nothing to say other than what’s spoken on the field. That’s the beauty of it.”
Although team chemistry is certainly there, Doug and Hayden are always seeking to build their family through recruiting. Even with four games left, they are still asking players to come out and try it.
“Most people think they’re gonna get hurt. But statistically, rugby’s safer than football,” Hayden said. “You don’t have that pad protection, so when you go in to hit somebody, you don’t want to hurt yourself.”
Hayden says if you try it once, you’re addicted.
At the heart of every family is sacrifice, and like rugby addicts, father and son will continue to volunteer their time for the foreseeable future.
“If I can help somebody get into the sport and enjoy it as much as I did, or even a third of what I did, then I’ve done my job,” Doug said. “If I was to get paid for it, I wouldn’t keep the money. I’d buy these guys warm-ups, things that they need so they can be proud of who they are.”
mtscofield@mavs.coloradomesa.edu
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