The Contestant Game

Hunter Cloud, Sports Editor

Constant running, no pads, only mouthguards. You can kick the ball at any time and you can’t throw the ball forward, all while trying to score a try (touchdown) or preventing a try by tackling your opponent. This is rugby.

For brothers Fakaosi Nasilai , a Sophomore, and Tali Nasilai, a Senior, the rugby pitch is no stranger to them. Tali has played rugby for four years and Fakaosi has played for three years. However, they started playing rugby for different reasons.

“Out west, rugby is pretty big and so I guess when we came here we had a friend’s parent that coached a rugby team and one thing lead to another and we decided to play here,” said Tali.

Fakaosi said that he started playing because his dad played rugby in Samoa.

Seth Williams, a sophomore,  is also an avid rugby player, who started to play the game two years ago because his brother played at UAB. Seth plays the position of winger.

“They are the fastest and smallest player but they score all the time because they are on the outside,” said Williams.

Rugby is very similar to soccer and football on paper because you have to run constantly like in soccer but you tackle like you would in football.

“It’s similar to football but instead of stopping  [the play] after 5-6 seconds, it is nonstop until the ball goes out of bounds” said Tali.

However, Williams strongly disagreed.

“It is nothing like football and soccer. The ball has to hit the ground for you to drop kick it, there are no pads, only mouthguards and maybe a scrum helmet, you can kick at any time, you can’t throw the ball forward, and you are in a diagonal formation” said Williams.

Rugby requires a lot of physicality and endurance to play the game, this can make rugby really tough to play.

“The endurance is tough, especially coming off of football season and you are not used to that kind of running time,” said Tali.

His brother Fakaosi said that endurance was also the toughest part about rugby. However Seth believes that the scrums are the toughest part.

“You lock shoulders and in the middle of the scrum there is lots of hitting because the refs can’t see it and it’s the most intense part,” said Williams.

They had unique memories as well from their time playing rugby over the past few years.

 “I was at a Tournament in Lafayette, Louisiana and a 300lb man from Ireland hit me and I lost a tooth,” said Williams.

For Tali it was going to the all-star tournament in Charlotte, North Carolina, ” we got to meet cool new people, and we beat the previous champion from Florida but we ended up losing the game to get into the playoffs” said Tali for Fakaosi it was “ scoring the winning try for my team” said Fakaosi ( a try is a touchdown you have to touch the ball in the end zone and it is worth 5 points). The Nasilai brothers play for the Little Rock Stormers and Seth plays for the Arkansas Gryphons a team from NWA they are separate in their teams and paths  but they all share a common bond and that is the Game.