SDSU Rugby Finds It Tough at Top : But Toughness Is Something Players in This Sport Understand

Other than being the best, there are few experiences in sport quite so satisfying as beating the best. It’s a great motivator.

The San Diego State rugby club is learning that lesson the hard way this year.

The Aztec ruggers won last year’s national college championship, and now they’re paying for it. Everyone is out to knock off the champs.

“I mean, these guys want you. They want to do it to you,” said William (Loc) Vetter, the San Diego State coach. “It’s challenging.”

The Aztecs responded well to the challenge during their fall season and in the first three matches of the second semester. But eight days ago, the challenge became an obstacle.

The University of Arizona scored a 3-0 upset Feb. 11 at Aztec Bowl, SDSU’s first loss in 1 1/2 years. The Aztecs’ last previous defeat also was to Arizona, in the fall of 1986.

“When those guys came on the field against us, they were walking a foot off the turf,” Vetter said.

Cal State Long Beach must have been two feet off the turf in Sunday’s final of the Old Mission Bay Athletic Club tournament at Robb Field. The 49ers handed SDSU its second loss in four days, 9-6, to win the championship.

Vetter said Sunday’s defeat was in part because of some lineup changes and the loss of star back Warren Stanley to injury.

“As nice as it is to collect hardware (trophies), we have to use the tournaments some to experiment with our players,” Vetter said.

“Warren is our biggest back, our most experienced rugby player and he separated his shoulder and couldn’t play in the final. I mean, that hurts some.”

As much as the Aztecs enjoyed their long-running success, Vetter said he believes the recent losses will prove beneficial.

“It’s an important time for Aztec rugby now,” he said. “Certainly we won’t be able to judge any potential benefits of the past few days until a few more weeks. But in my estimation, there was no way we were going to repeat as national champions if we were to continue playing the way we had been. We were playing in the shadow of the 1987 championship and the aura of being national champion.

“Now, the practice we had Tuesday night was the best we’ve had in the four years I’ve been here. And it wasn’t put on, like, ‘Gee, we’ve got to have a great practice because we’re in trouble now.’ It was like the burden had been lifted.”

The Aztecs created the “burden” with a 30-1 record last season. On May 3, in the college championship match sanctioned by the United States of America Rugby Football Union, they edged the Air Force Academy, 10-9, at Pebble Beach.

All-American Steve Forster provided SDSU with all its points in the title match. He made a penalty kick (worth three points) midway through the first half, then scored on a try (similar to a touchdown in football and worth four points) early in the second. Air Force rallied to lead, 9-7, but Forster then converted on a penalty kick with four minutes remaining to give SDSU its first national title.

Forster is back this season and, along with Stanley, provides the Aztecs with experienced talent. Dennis Gonzalez, Sean Allen and Chris Wakefield also have performed well, Vetter said.

Vetter, an orthopedic surgeon with a practice in Hillcrest, was an assistant coach for SDSU for three years before he took over for Steve Gray this season. He began playing rugby while in college at UCLA in the early ‘70s.

He’ll have a chance to take on his college coach, Dennis Storer, when the Aztecs play host to UCLA at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Aztec Bowl. They will play host to British Columbia, the Canadian champion, Sunday at 11 a.m. in an unofficial North American title match.

This is the 30th season of San Diego State rugby. College rugby is not an NCAA sport but is conducted on the more loosely knit club level.

The school provides little support, according to Vetter. He said most of the club’s funding comes from contributions and corporate sponsorships.

The game itself is a blend of football, soccer and lacrosse. There are 15 players to a side, and they play two 40-minutes halves. Because play stops only momentarily for penalties and injuries, those who have played football say rugby requires far more physical conditioning.

Almost as important as the game is what Vetter calls the “social side of the sport.” Rugby has a long and legendary history of rowdy postgame beer parties involving both teams. Vetter admits that sometimes the “third half” is used as a “license for behavior that would not otherwise be accepted.” But overall, he said, the social side is a healthy aspect that creates camaraderie.

Still another aspect to rugby is the players’ nicknames. It’s loaded with them: Spike, Bear, Salty, Boomer, Bam Bam.

Ah, yes, Bam Bam.

For Kevin Perry, “Bam Bam” is more than a nickname. It’s a life style.

Perry came by his nickname a few years ago when some teammates decided he looked like Barney Rubble’s boy on the “Flintstones” cartoon television show. His aggressive approach to rugby makes the name all the more fitting.

Steve Marshall, a San Diego State teammate, calls Perry “totally crazy.”

Perry describes his playing style in more tactful terms.

“I enjoy the physical aspects of the game,” he says with a grin. He adds: “I think I’m normal. My mom thinks I’m normal.”

Maybe his mom has never seen him play rugby.

Perry, 25, is considered the roughest of the Aztec ruggers. At 6-feet 1-inch, he weighs 210 pounds and is build like a hunk of granite, with a square jaw, bull neck, wide shoulders, thick chest and long, muscular legs.

Fear is not a part of Perry’s game plan. He plays all-out all the time. Marshall speaks with a mix of envy and awe when he tells of Perry splitting open his head four times last year.

Other injuries have included a broken arm, chipped teeth--though unlike many ruggers, he still has all of them--and cuts, scrapes, bumps and bruises too numerous to count. His latest, which he displays with a trace of pride, is a gash behind his left ear that took six stitches.

“It’s a good release and helps me let off steam,” Perry said of rugby. “I like contact sports. I like to hit people. I don’t even think about the injury aspect. If you think about it, that’s when you get injured. I just try not to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Perry plays tighthead prop for the Aztecs, a position similar to the offensive line in football. His primary responsibility is to help drive the scrum--the mauling mass of bodies that initiates much of the action--toward his team’s goal.

“I’m smaller than your average prop,” Perry said, “but I do pretty well in the scrum, and I can get around on the field.”

Perry played an important role last year, but when it came time for the national championship match, he wasn’t in the lineup.

“When he first started with us, he would try to take things into his own hands and ended up getting himself thrown out of games and hurt the team,” Vetter said. “He played out of control. I didn’t play him in the national championship game because I couldn’t risk him getting thrown out. You can’t replace a man who’s thrown out, and you can’t win with 14 against 15.

“But Kevin is in control now. He had only one penalty in the fall season, and I feel totally comfortable now with Kevin Perry.”

Since he missed the exhilaration of playing in the title match, Perry is determined to help bring the Aztecs back to the final four May 1-2 in Monterey.

“My goal is to repeat as national champions,” he said. “We have a good chance. These losses here at the beginning of the season can help us. At the end, they knock you out.”

San Diego State is part of the Pacific Coast region. Arizona, Long Beach and California will provide the toughest competition.

Perry is looking forward to a rematch March 12 against Long Beach.

“We could have and should have won the game. They played well and deserved to win,” Perry said. “But I’m looking forward to playing them in a couple weeks. That’s a league match.”

It also will be a chance for San Diego State to turn the tables. After seeing other teams use the chance to upset the champion to gain an edge, the Aztecs will have another strong motivational factor: revenge.