Rugby is a sport usually known for its brutality and hard hits, but the club rugby team at the University of Alabama focuses on being a family.

“We like to feel like we are family,” senior Billy Neely said. “We tell our guys that they’re not just interested to play a sport, they’re coming in to be friends with twenty or thirty guys.”

Rugby at Alabama began in 1973. The sport was invented in England and is now played year-round in about 100 countries. It continues to grow every year, becoming more popular around the globe.

The fall season acts as a training period, but that doesn’t stop the University’s team from giving it their all.

“We’ve really upped our competition this fall,” Neely said. “We’ve put in some competitive matches, but we also want to have matches against really good competition so we can see where we are at and see what really good colleges are all about and try to develop and get to that level. The fall does serve as our training period where we move guys around and try and get them ready for playing with few mistakes in the spring.”

The weekend of Oct. 9-10, the team lost to the Old Boys, consisting of Alabama alumni.

“They are seasoned veterans so they come in with a lot more knowledge than our players have,” President Matt Buford said. “We try and counter that with athleticism every year.”

According to the team, playing the veterans is always fun and can be a learning experience.

“It’s a whole culture in itself,” junior Michael Sapp said. “You get to see how other teams get their own traditions and maybe learn from them and better your club and the people around you.”

Rugby is a sport that can be seen as intimidating. The hard hits can give it a reputation the sport may not deserve.

“You can watch it on TV and do research but you’re really not going to understand what it’s all about until you come out and do it,” Buford said. “We talk to people all the time, huge guys that we will be trying to recruit who say that they aren’t tough enough to play rugby, but we have tiny people on the team. It’s about the mindset you have. If you’re not going to come and take the right mindset to it, then it’s not going to be for you.”

As of now, the team is coming back from three losses in the fall season.

“The level of dedication isn’t where it needs to be, so we are focusing on that,” Buford said. “We need to refocus on hitting because if you win or lose a draw, the other team should know that you played them. Our level of physicality wasn’t where we needed it to be in those last couple of games.”

The team is hopeful, looking forward to the upcoming matches next month.

“The difference between us and all of the other teams is not that they’re physically better athletes than us,” said Buford. “We have great athletes here at Alabama; it’s just the experience level. A lot of other team’s players played in high school, but there’s no high school rugby in Alabama. More resources and more experience will equate to more wins. We are trying to get everyone to be more experienced. That’s the key that separates us from other teams.”

The team will be playing a match at LSU on Nov. 6. The next home game will be on Nov. 20 against Jacksonville State University.