Seo adds that regardless of what goes on between the lines, all the participants are sportsmanlike afterward.

"Some teams say we're mean on the field, and some teams say we're nice," she said, "but after the game we always have a good time with the other team."

But as enjoyable as fraternizing with opponents is, it does not compare to the friends at Harvard that the players make on the team.

"The social aspect [within the team] is definitely great," Seo says. "Of all the people I've met at Harvard, the rugby players are definitely the most diverse. People come from random places."

Why Rugby?

There are many different reasons that people came out for rugby. Most start playing as freshmen, and a lot of the members played sports in high school and at Harvard. Generally, players are attracted to rugby because, with only three two-hour practices a week, it is not as time consuming as other sports. But at the same time, the competition on the field is intense.

"I played soccer in high school," Schooler says. "There are a lot of former athletes, but it is very diverse. There are around 10 people who have played a varsity sport at Harvard. And we definitely take the game seriously on the field. We play to win."

The players do not overly stress the physical aspect of the game. Despite the fact that only mouth guards are worn in this full contact sport, they say that strategy and finesse is the most enjoyable part. This is especially true for Harvard, which is smaller than most teams it plays.

"Probably when I started, I liked the physical aspects more," junior forward-captain Liza Studen, who played field hockey in high school, says. "Now I like the strategy and offensive side more. Size-wise, we're smaller than almost every team we play. We really use our skill and speed."

Schooler mostly concurred with Studen.

"It's true that people come off the field with bruises and scratches, but I wasn't attracted to the sport because of the physical play," Schooler says. "People enjoy it for both the aggression and strategy."

Seo also emphasizes that each of the 15 players on the A side has different physical strengths and weaknesses, and that the diversity of athletes on the field is incredible.

A case in point is Seo. She stands five feet tall and played softball and tennis in high school. She says that one of the reasons she likes rugby is that it challenges her physically more than other sports she has played. To illustrate the physical dimension, she described an incident that occurred when Harvard played the Northern Virginia club team over spring break.

"After we beat Northern Virginia, which was much bigger than us," she says, "these two women, both around 6'2" 200, came up to talk to me. They thought it was the funniest thing that someone my size played. One of them was a house painter, and one worked for Arthur D. Little. They claimed I was 4'11", and asked me a lot of short questions, like if I can see the top of the fridge."

(Seo declined to ask them "tall" questions, perhaps because she already got the last laugh with a `W'.)