USU rugby raises funds for playoffs

By Logan Jones

The Utah State University men’s rugby team will play its first playoff game of the season  Saturday in Los Angeles. The club, ranked third in the Division I-AA Utah Conference, will shoulder most of the trip’s expenses in order to participate in the postseason.

“The school helped us a little bit,” said senior captain Ryan McLoud. “The team has some funds they’ve collected this season but we only get about 10 percent that we need from the university.”

McLoud played rugby at USU for five seasons and has spent time both as a captain and as a coach for the past four years.

“Our budget is actually not very big,” McLoud said. “The team spends more money than the school gives us. Now that we’re going to Los Angeles, that’s a really expensive trip.”

Sophomore forward Eric Lyman said each player on the team needed to pay $100 to make the road game possible.

The Aggies’ first round opponent hasn’t yet been determined which has caused some concern among players.

“We’re going to go down there and see who they give us,” McLoud said. “California has a lot of high quality teams and elite teams that would probably destroy us. They’ve got lots of others that we can definitely beat.”

Lyman is optimistic the team will make the most of the west coast trip.

“I am pretty confident that we will win at least the first game,” Lyman said. “Then we’ll see from there.”

The Aggies reached the state championship game last season and McLoud hopes to make another deep run in the post-season.

“We are getting better and better,” Lyman said. “Last year we made the playoffs and made it to the state championship. I’m graduating this fall, so it would be nice to go out on a win.”