Unicorn Rugby Club Vying for National Title

The Huntington Beach Unicorn Rugby Football Club is aiming for a national championship this weekend in Rockford, Ill.

The Unicorns will play Boston Rugby Club Saturday in the Division III semifinals of the USA Rugby national club championships. Stanislaus of Northern California plays Huntsville, Ala., in the other semifinal. The title match is Sunday.

This is the first year a national Division III championship has been held and the Unicorns are taking advantage, team captain Phil McDonald said. McDonald, a systems analyst for an Irvine technology firm, usually plays for the club’s first-division team, but couldn’t play at that level this year because of work demands and classes he is taking at Irvine Valley College.

McDonald said about 60% of the players on the third-division team are newcomers to the sport, 20% are guys who cannot dedicate enough time to play at higher levels and 20% are “old boys who have lost half a step.”

Traditionally, this level of rugby is played for the recreational and social aspects of the sport, especially the post-match festivities.

“That was all they used to have to look forward to,” said McDonald, a 29-year-old transplant from Australia, “but now they are getting a lot more out of the actual game because they are playing for something.”