Photo Courtesy of Susquehanna Athletics
By Thamoda Haputhanthri
While football playoff runs and spring baseball wins capture the campus attention, one of Susquehanna’s toughest and most successful sport continues to shine without the spotlight: Rugby.
Rugby at Susquehanna serves as a club sport. The main difference from varsity being that much of the team’s success is built through student initiative rather than institutional support.
“For many college rugby teams, they are mainly player driven programs,” Liam Frayne said. Frayne is a senior at Susquehanna University and the vice president of the Men’s Rugby Club.
“You get out what you put in. This year helped me grow a lot as a leader from changing and implementing a new style of play, to designing our everyday practices, to running all game livestreams as well.”
Susquehanna Rugby operates in a unique method compared to varsity sports, fielding two different sides or teams, an A side and a B side. The A side competes in the tournament, with the B side playing noncompetitive games alongside them as well. This allows for more players to see the field and get playing time, which many varsity programs at Susquehanna cannot offer.
Despite operating without the level of funding, staffing or visibility afforded to varsity teams, Men’s Rugby has shown immense success over the last few years at Susquehanna, turning heads with results like a 116-0 triumph against West Chester University last fall and accomplishments such as qualifying for the National Collegiate Rugby Playoffs in Fall 2024, where they fell to Duke University in the Sweet Sixteen.
Last fall, SU Rugby would go 5-0 in the regular season, with dominant wins over Bucknell, Drexel, West Chester and York College of Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, their run would be hampered by an injury crisis, seeing four starters including Frayne himself ruled out of the playoffs, resulting in early losses in the playoffs against Catholic and Franciscan. “Our team put in a lot of work last fall. I would say those games weren’t against the best competition, but they put us in a spot to put our newer younger guys in to build depth towards the end of the season,” Frayne said.
The Men’s Rugby team has seen exponential growth in the last few years. “Since I joined in the fall of 2022, we have maintained being a top 10-15 D3 rugby program in the country. Maintaining that and being consistent means everything. The goal is to keep growing and get more and more recruits each year.” Frayne stated.
It’s important to identify that rugby at Susquehanna thrives beyond just the men’s club, with a strong women’s team that contributes to the sport’s growing presence and success on campus. For decades, SU Women’s Rugby has established a strong legacy of fostering growth and participation among women athletes on campus, notably finishing runners up in back-to-back seasons of the NSCRO National Women’s Championship in 2004 and 2005.
Frayne will graduate from Susquehanna this spring, alongside 12 seniors on the Rugby squad. “My favorite moment was this year’s homecoming game versus Loyola Maryland. It was a hard-fought game with my family and alumni all in attendance. But I played maybe the best game I’ve ever had at SU. We won the game and at the end all the alumni and players were together as a family talking with the coaches. It will be something I will always think of fondly,” Frayne stated.
Frayne discusses passing the torch to the next cohort of players: “I hope to be able to visit and see the impact that my senior class and I have had and hopefully witness a little bit of hardware down the line. We have a lot of talent but seeing who will emerge as that next team voice will be very interesting to see.”
Riding the wave of recent achievements, Susquehanna Men’s Rugby will enter in the spring Rugby Sevens season with confidence, ready to challenge rivals, showcase their skill, and continue cementing their reputation as one of the university’s most formidable and valuable programs.