On Dec. 6, Guilford’s men’s and women’s rugby clubs hosted the first ever community touch rugby tournament, open to anyone who’s ever thought about getting a taste for the game.”So far this year, the club hasn’t had too much interaction with the Guilford community, so that was a big motivation in making the touch tournament an open invite for anyone,” said senior Maxwell George, one of the co-organizers. “We also wanted to give people an experiential understanding of rugby, just to break down the hypothetical sidelines barrier between us and our friends and fans.”

Touch rugby is a long-standing tradition for rugby players in the off-season. The game uses most of the skills and strategies of full contact rugby, but a two-hand touch is substituted for tackling.

“A lot of people are intimidated by rugby’s reputation as a dangerous and reckless sport,” said George. “But touch rugby is a sport that everyone can play.”

The tournament was organized into two separate events: a practice/training session on Friday to teach the rules, and then a tournament on Saturday.

With rain and severely cold temperatures on Saturday, the tournament was postponed to Sunday, which caused a lot of players to drop out due to schedule conflicts.

“We had no idea how many people would make it out to play on Sunday,” admits George. “When I got to the pitch, it didn’t look good, just a handful of us.”

Eventually, enough players showed up to make it a three-team tournament.

“It would have been good to have more people,” said junior Wes Good, an avid Guilford rugby fan, “But I still had a blast.”

Even with a lack of numbers and a still frigid climate, the tournament kicked off as planned at 2 p.m. with a rousing rendition of the National Anthem sung and recorded by senior ruggers Kevin Smithey and Bryce Bjornson.

The teams were re-divided with careful attention to fairness.

“I thought the way that the teams were organized was a good mix of experienced players, rookies, and first timers,” said Maddie Holland, a first-year on the women’s rugby team. “It was really fun.”

The tournament started with a three-team round robin and then a playoff.

After the tournament, a total of 12 individual awards were given out to different players, highlighting their unique contributions.

Among some of the awards were: Biggest Whiner, given to Smithey, Dirtiest Flannel Award given to Bjornson, and Most Polite Award given to sophomore Daryn Lane.

Despite the obstacles, the club considered the tournament a success, and members of the community anxiously await the next touch tournament, which is already being planned for the spring.

“It was fun,” said Good. “Instead of just watching, I liked being able to play with out losing an arm or a leg.