Arkansas State University’s rugby team continues to make a name for itself nationally. This weekend the Red Wolves travel to Palo Alto, Calif., to play in the college rugby final four.
Under the tutelage of Curt Huckaby, the Red Wolves shot to national prominence over the past 10 years. The success has continued this spring after Huckaby’s son Matt took over the club.
ASU (10-2) is ranked No. 3 in the American Rugby News poll going into the national semifinals. Huckaby said the season has gone very well thus far.
“I can’t really say the season has exceeded our expectations, but it’s lived up to them,” Huckaby said. “I see how hard my guys work day in and day out, and I always just hope the best for them. You never can really tell how the ball is going to bounce in a game, especially with the tough teams we’ve been playing.”
Arkansas State advanced to the Big IV by beating a couple of California schools, Saint Mary’s 29-23 and San Diego State 17-10 in the first two rounds at Santa Barbara, Calif.
Friday’s semifinal at Stanford’s Steuber Rugby Stadium presents an even larger challenge. The Red Wolves face the top-ranked team in the country, the California Golden Bears, for the first time.
The Golden Bears are the standard bearer in collegiate rugby as they have played in 25 national championship games and won 24 titles. Cal will go into Friday’s game with a 24-0 record.
In the other Big IV semifinal on Friday, defending champion Brigham Young University (13-2) will take on Army (13-4-4).
Although this season marks the first as head coach for Matt Huckaby, he is no stranger to the Arkansas State program.
“I’ve been helping my father for the past four years as an assistant coach,” he said. “We did the transition at the semester and he retired and I took over in the spring.”
Huckaby played rugby growing up and learned the game from his father.
“I got to play rugby through my early 20s, but I had to give it up for a whistle,” he said. “Coaching was more my calling because I was a little undersized for my position and I wasn’t as durable as the big guys.”
The Red Wolves’ coach said his team has found success on the field this year because of a strong work ethic and very good talent.
“They hustle and they put in a lot of hard work,” he said. “Obviously we’ve got some good talent and some guys who can score, but that doesn’t always mean you are going to be a good team.
“They don’t like to be scored on. They don’t like to lose and they are just very hungry to get better,” he continued. “Even when we win they are not concentrating on the win, they are focused on the game film and how they can get even better.”
The Red Wolves’ roster includes local, out-of-state and international players, including several from South Africa.
“We’ve got a very diverse group and that is something we pride ourselves on,” Huckaby said. “Our biggest pool of students are actually from out of state from places like Texas, Tennessee and Chicago. Next are our international players who come from places like South Africa, Fiji, Japan and Argentina. We’re got guys from all over the place. We have such a strong makeup of South African players because rugby is the No. 1 sport there and that’s what their first-tier athletes play.”
One of the team’s South African recruits is sophomore inside center David Caswell, who found Arkansas State after a search on the Internet.
Caswell said although the season has been difficult for the Red Wolves, it has been worth all the hard work.
“In the beginning the season was quite tough. We knew we were going to have our work cut out for us,” Caswell said. “We started off with some Super League games and we were pretty nervous, but after we pulled through them we are looking much better.”
The sophomore marketing major said growing up playing in South Africa he learned to love the physicality of the game.
“I love the contact. I love the big runs and the tackles and the physical aspect of it,” he said. “My dad played high level rugby and he coached me growing up.”
Huckaby said getting some of the top players from South Africa is a big recruiting tool for American-born players.
“That attracts more American first-tier athletes to try something different,” he said.
Fellow sophomore and Houston, Texas, native Kevin Ogdon said the Red Wolves have picked up their play when it matters most.
“The season actually started off really slow and we weren’t doing as well as we are right now,” Ogdon said. “But we’ve gotten better throughout the season and now we are where we want to be.”
The international business major has been nursing a high ankle sprain and will probably miss Friday’s game.
“I want to be practicing, I want to be in the scrums, and I want to be working hard,” he said. “But I have total confidence that the guys behind me can do just a good of a job as I can.”
Ogdon said that despite the tough semifinal draw, the Red Wolves are going to Palo Alto to win.
“We’re not looking at just beating Cal and showing everyone that they can be beat,” he said. “We want to make a statement that the East side of the country can play rugby too.”
The success of the rugby team has spurred the university to financially back the squad. The extra money will allow the Red Wolves to fly to California instead of driving, and Huckaby and the team are very greatful for the extra help.
“The school has really got behind us as we’ve earned it over the years,” Huckaby said. “The school is very gracious from the administration to the actual funding of the program. We really couldn’t do it without their help.”
Over the past couple of years Huckaby said the school has become more and more involved, and this year has really stepped up the support.
“They really committed to it this year. This was the defining moment for them to either get behind us or not,” he said. “It got to the point to where it has grown big enough that we either needed a full commitment or we needed to not move forward with the program.”
Huckaby said the team hopes to show its appreciation to the school by bringing a trophy home.
“We’re going to try to pay them back by representing them as best we can and hopefully we can bring them home some hardware one of these days,” he said.
sports@jonesborosun.com
