Photograph by Brady Terry
Pioneer rugby players Mitch Spaeth and Corey Siemandel advance the ball during matches during the 2007 Mudfest tournament. The Pioneers prepare to welcome 8 other teams from around the state to face off in a day long tournament. The tournament starts at 9 a.m. on April 5.

Mudfest is an exciting time for students all over the UW-Platteville campus.s The annual rugby tournament, hosted by the UW-P men’s and women’s rugby clubs, will take place on Saturday, April 5 at the rugby pitch behind Pickard Hall and also at Miners Field on Hickory Street. The tournament will commence at 9 a.m. and continue until a champion is crowned.

“Mudfest is the reason I wake up in the morning,” senior wing, Ted Swenson, said.

The tournament takes place as spring weather approaches and the Pioneers are ready for this year’s tournament as they are every year.

“My favorite part of Mudfest is the week before, with all the anticipation building inside every player, wanting to prove to the campus that we are a legitimate winning organization that is just as exciting if not more than other sports,” senior hooker, Connor Wiesner said.

“Our goal is to be back-to-back Mudfest champs. Anything less than that would be disappointing,” senior wing, Brett Hundley, said.

For most people their first experience with rugby is often confusing. Rugby is played with two 40-minute halves that only stop for injury time if the “sir” or referee says so. There is a 10-minute interval, or halftime, when the two teams change sides.

“Rugby is a real fun sport to watch. It is continuous,” said team president and scrum half, Michael Murphy. “It has many hard hits and it is exciting to watch.”

Each team has 15 players on the field at a time. The team is divided into two categories of players, forwards and backs. The forward positions consist of a prop, hooker, lock, flanker and eightman. The backs are fullback, wing, centre, flyhalf and scrum half.

The game begins with a coin toss and the winning team gets to choose its side to attack or to kick off. Scoring is also fairly easy to understand. A try is awarded when a player places the ball down in the end zone and results in the scoring team being awarded five points. Two points are awarded for a conversion, a kick which occurs after a try is awarded. Three points can be scored on a goal kick that can occur when the ball is drop kicked through the goal posts or as a result of a penalty kick.

“Rugby is not like football,” flyhalf Tim Eickholt, said. “Come to a match and keep an open mind and accept it; it’s a completely different atmosphere.”

Photograph by Brady Terry
Pioneer rugby players Mitch Spaeth and Corey Siemandel advance the ball during matches during the 2007 Mudfest tournament. The Pioneers prepare to welcome 8 other teams from around the state to face off in a day long tournament. The tournament starts at 9 a.m. on April 5.

Teams from all over the state will descend on Platteville for the tournament. Among the teams who will be coming to the tournament will be UW-Stout, UW-Eau Claire, UW-La Crosse, Ripon College, MSOE, UW-Parkside, UW-Whitewater and UW-Milwaukee’s B side team, Murphy said.

“Our biggest competition will be Whitewater and Stout but it all depends. Teams fluctuate in the spring seasons,” Eickholt said.

The members of the men’s club look forward to this tournament more so than any other tournament during the year.

“The thing about Mudfest is that once you have been to one, it seems to just suck you back in because you never want to miss out on an experience like that,” Wiesner said.

The Pioneers expect to repeat as champions once again, and although they will face stiff competition, they hope to emerge victorious for the second consecutive year.

“We hope to win again,” Eickholt said. “If we don’t I will be surprised.”

“Last semester we didn’t have all the supporting cast we do this semester and we still put up impressive results,” Wiesner said. “With our new coach and style of offense, you can expect a high-scoring and hard-hitting veteran UW-P A-team.”