“I think it’s very evident when you join that this group of people is very strong,” Poteat added.

WE JUST PLAY FOR RECREATION

At Harvard, rugby is a club sport, but that doesn’t mean team members take it lightly. The team practices at least three times a week, sometimes with a fourth optional practice run by the captains, and most players also train on their own.

In Division I, the team constantly faced tough competition, and since the beginning of this year has played in Division II.

Because it is a club sport, the team is responsible for everything from arranging fields and transportation to drawing up starting line-ups to hiring coaches.

Head coach Bryan Hamlin hails from the rugby heartland, New Zealand. After he stopped playing himself, he said he wanted to “give back” to the sport. Assistant coach Shannon Wallace plays for the Beantown women’s club team in Boston. “This season we’ve done a really great job of bringing up our level of play,” Wallace says. “Usually when you come back from the off-season you have to reteach.”

But this year, she says, “We didn’t have to start from scratch.”

After practice last Wednesday, the team finally sang a rugby song for The Crimson.

Calixte says she likes their chosen song, “Fifteen Fit Señoritas,” because of its lyrics.

“We don’t play for admiration, we don’t play for victory, we just play for recreation,” the team sings.