Sacramento State’s men’s rugby club is looking to shed light on the sport by playing a hooligans’ game like gentlemen.

The men’s rugby club is continuing its winning tradition with an 8-3 record on the season and battling every week to stay as one of the top-25 clubs in the nation.

“Sac State has always been relatively good at rugby, between top-five to top-15 in the nation, but that changes every week,” said head coach Mason Gunn. “Last week, we were ranked ninth, but ranking doesn’t mean anything you just have to continue to battle out your league.”

The club is playing its 35th season and has been successful throughout its history with a Division II National Championship in 2000 under Gunn. The Hornets’ club has also continued to qualify for regional and national playoff rounds since being awarded Div. I entry following the National Championship season.

 The Hornets’ club consists of more than 40 members and has a mixture of veteran players knowledgeable of the game and athletes looking to try something new. Gunn attributes this combination to their success.

“We have a mixture of guys who played four years in high school to guys who just came off the football team and are good athletes,” Gunn said. “We’ve got this mixture of talent as well as size.”

As a senior, in his last year propping up the hooker for the scrum, Dalton Ryken is one of the veteran players on the club who has the opportunity to watch the club continue to grow from not only a love for the game, but the sense of a team.

“My freshman year, we got a good group of guys that have been here working together, putting in the work everyday for the last four years,” Ryken said. “That’s what we’re looking for; guys who are willing to join something more than just a club.”

The Hornets’ club has been able to get rugby members who compete with some of the top rugby schools in the nation every year, despite their inability to keep local high school rugby talent playing here for the Hornets.

“There are 18 high school rugby teams in Sacramento. The difficulty is getting those players to stay in Sacramento for college rather than going to play rugby somewhere else,” Gunn said. “But there’s over 450 college teams and when I can’t get a parking pass for six months, it makes it tough.”

Gunn said coaching rugby at Sac State is not about money or even his love for the sport, it is about giving students the opportunity to come to college and get an education.

“We don’t get paid, we just do it out of our spare time,” Gunn said. “But the reason why we do it is so a kid wakes up four or five years later with a degree.”

The club strives to keep focus on the field as well as the classroom and get better as a group every day. Ryken said the club has become more of a brotherhood because it goes out every week and plays for each other.

“One thing we’ve been focusing on is everyone taking ownership of themselves, it’s more than just you, it’s the whole team,” Ryken said. “Everyone has that mentality and that’s what creates a good team.” 

First-year team captain and senior Chris Turner agreed the club’s camaraderie is one of the reasons for its success, but acknowledged its athletic ability and work ethic as two of its other strengths.

“What it really comes down to is rugby is a game of strength and some guys might not have a lot, but that doesn’t matter, we’re all athletes out here, we all put the time in,” Turner said. “As the captain, I try to bring my experience, my persistence of the game and really bring my intensity.”

The Hornets’ club plays in the Northern California Club, which consists of Stanford, Chico State and Santa Clara University. The club has defeated each league opponent, but Turner said it is important for the team to have a fresh mentality with every game. 

“It’s not easy to beat a team twice,” Turner said. “That’s the kind of mentality we have to bring to the game. If we go into a game thinking, ‘Oh, we beat them’ then we’re going to lose, so we treat every game like it’s a new one.”

The club’s mentality has driven them to an already winning season, but Turner said he would rather have the sport get the attention than the club.

“We need to be more vocal on campus, we need to bring more knowledge not to our club, but to the game,” Turner said. “It’s a beautiful game and if people really learn it, they’ll learn to love it.”

The men’s rugby club looks to spread knowledge across Sac State’s campus about the game by continuing to compete at the highest level of men’s collegiate rugby en route to a second national championship.

“This game is a hooligans’ game played by gentlemen,” Turner said. “It’s not just a sport, it’s a way of life and hopefully people will understand that and come out to support us.”

JJ Williams can be reached at [email protected].