With IM season in full-swing, one could be forgiven for initially mistaking the squeal of shoes and the excited shouts emanating from Shad for the start of basketball season.
Take a step inside to examine things more closely, however, and you’ll quickly discover this is no rag-tag, pick-up basketball team. Fresh off a highly fruitful fall campaign, which included the successful defense of the team’s Wharton Hogfest trophy, the HBS Rugby Football Club is looking to build on last year’s quarterfinal finish at the World MBA Championships.
Contrary to popular opinion, rugby season never truly ends for the RFC. Due to a strenuous exercise regimen, imposed on the team before the start of the Winter Break by head captain Carl “Lavos” Lavin (OE), most members of the RFC returned to campus in excellent condition. In order to incorporate new teammates and a new playbook, the team has been practicing every Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday for nearly two hours in an effort to find the form that carried the group so well last fall.
So early in the season, it’s difficult to tell how this team will respond to the challenge of international rugby competition. The London Business School Rugby Tournament, taking place February 18-19, will provide a useful benchmark, but much larger goals remain on the horizon. Ultimate success rests on this group’s ability to avoid the costly mental mistakes that doomed last year’s team at Duke.
