Harvard Business School Rugby Club

Ask anyone in Austin, Texas what Harvard Business School is famous for, and you’re likely to get a variety of responses.

Capitalism.  Educating leaders of Fortune 500 companies.  Country club lifestyles and wine & cheese parties.

But after this past weekend, those same Austinites would undoubtedly answer that in addition to being the world’s best business school, HBS has a smash-mouth, championship rugby team that has the ability to party like rockstars.

On November 11-13, the men of the HBS Rugby Team descended upon Austin for the annual Fall Brawl Tournament, hosted by the University of Texas.  The tournament was the capstone event of the fall semester for the HBS ruggers, and featured opposing teams from Stanford, Wharton, Kellogg, Texas, SMU, and Columbia.  While the HBS team knew they would enjoy the nightlife in the Live Music Capital of the World during their stay, their main goal in Austin was to bring home the first place trophy.

Shortly after landing in Austin on Friday night, the team met up with the Austin HBS Alumni Club at a happy hour social event in Austin’s famous Warehouse District.  The southern hospitality displayed by the HBS alums made the team feel right at home and helped the team to relax and prepare for its big weekend ahead.

After a full night of cultural exchange, the HBS ruggers arrived on Saturday morning at a rugby field that can only be described as one-half scrub brush and one-half rock.  Columbia and Texas were the first opponents in pool play for HBS, and the team knew that it had to come out ready to dominate from the opening whistle.

And dominate they did.

In game 1, HBS jumped out to an early lead behind the ball-handling skills of “Mini” Maxi Rotella who was playing in his first tournament with the team.  Rotella’s passing, combined with the Australian tag-team of Bob Evans and Tom Humphrey put Columbia in a hole they could not recover from.  The HBS defense, led by Dave “D-Patt” Patterson made bone-crushing tackles throughout the game and did not allow a single Columbia point.  Final score, HBS 34 – Columbia 0.

Game 2 pitted HBS against The University of Texas, the tournament host.  The game was particularly meaningful to this correspondent because, as a graduate of Texas A&M, the only thing I enjoy as much as seeing HBS win is seeing the University of Texas lose.

The Longhorns put up a fight early and were able to break through the HBS defense on a couple of occasions in the first half.  However, the 1-2-3 punch of Derek Poppinga, Germain Chastel, and Tom Dye in the backfield wore the Longhorns down.  In the second half, Ryan “Guess Where I’m From” MacWilliam added some solid play for the team, as did Bryan “Poker Face” O’Connell.  John Deng and Evan Britten-Bozone also came to add fuel to the HBS fire, and in his first appearance with the team since last year at Duke, Sayce “Slayer” Falk punched in a couple of scores for HBS to put the game out of reach.  Final score, HBS 48 – Texas 17.

Following the first two games of the day, all the teams in the tournament were seeded according to point differential.  Thanks to its large margins of victory, HBS drew the #2 seed and was set to face off against #7 Columbia again in the last match of the day.

In game 3, HBS once again hit the scoreboard first and did not look back.  Great forward play by Chad “Made in Canada” Royer, Matt “Baby Fat” Craig, and Matt “Goldilocks” Lesniak set the tone for HBS.  “Fast” Eddie Brandler and “Double B” Brandon Bentley made their first appearance of the tournament in the second half, as did Ezequiel “Eze” Satz and Paul Coote, and HBS cruised to a 38-5 win and headed home to rest up for the next day’s semifinal match.

Sunday morning, HBS faced Kellogg, the winners of last year’s tournament and a perennially good team.  Prior to the game it was clear that both teams were worn down from a long Saturday in the hot sun and a late night under the neon moon of Austin bars.  This was to be a game of mental and physical toughness, where the team that made the fewest mistakes would come out on top.

Kellogg fought hard, but HBS jumped out to an early 5-0 lead behind solid ball movement and dominance in the ruck.  But the defending champs did not quit and Kellogg was able to put in a try and conversion just before halftime to take a 7-5 lead going into the break.  With HBS threatening to score in the second half, Kellogg was called for a high tackle penalty.  Dead-eye kicking by Poppinga after the penalty gave HBS an 8-7 lead with 10 minutes to play.  Excellent front row play by Eric Montgomery, Josh Walton, and Regan Turner helped the HBS side win several vital scrums as the final minutes wore down, and Poppinga’s kick proved to be the difference.  Final score, HBS 8 – Kellogg 7.

The championship game pitted HBS against archrivals Wharton.  Wharton was no match for the HBS side in the final.  In an extremely physical match, HBS fell behind briefly and went into halftime trailing by a score of 7-5.  The second half, however, was all HBS, as the inspirational defense of Dave Patterson and the great overall play of Jonas Akins, Fats Dlamini, Garan Geist, and Anthony Bangay led the way for the good guys.  Tom Humphrey put in a try and Derek Poppinga sealed the game with a penalty kick a couple of minutes before the final whistle.  Final score, HBS 15 – Wharton 7.

All-in-all, the team had a fantastic weekend and came out as winners in every possible way that Charlie Sheen could imagine.  Team captains Poppinga and Dlamini accepted the trophy on behalf of the school and dedicated the win to all HBS ruggers of the past, who for almost 50 years have been dominating teams and cities all over the world when they go on tour.

The team would like to extend a special thank you to our fans for their support, to Patrick Dickinson for making the trek from out of state just to cheer us on, to the Austin HBS alumni club for their hospitality, to Ray Turner for the amazing BBQ & beer, to Connie Turner for being the team mom and keeping us hydrated with Gatorade and orange slices, and to Leo & Nancy York for the breakfast tacos and rides to the Austin airport.  We could not have won without you!

Before buckling down for exams this past fall, HBS Rugby team headed south, way south to Austin, Texas for the University of Texas Fall Brawl. The team that has wowed crowds all over new England and come to be known as the “da baddest show on turf” was chomping at the bit for a chance finish their season with a little fun in the sun. In the first of what will likely be a long history of legendary appearances at the tournament, the HBS Ruggers made quite an impact both on and off the pitch.

Despite the tour plan calling for the team to drop by a local salon for styling and manicures, followed by attending the local ballet, and then spending a quiet evening practicing Bikram yoga at their five star hotel, fate reared its ugly head and sent the team crashing into downtown Austin. Before Austin knew what had hit it, rugby alumni legend Patrick ‘PDiddy’ Dickinson was leading the ruggers straight for the infamous 6th street strip where team captain Sayce ‘Rocky’ Falk led the team in rousing rounds of rugby song which echoed off the Beaux Arts style architecture. Dressed in sharp orange tour t-shirts in honor of the host UT team, the HBS ruggers were soon warmly welcomed by the local crowd and proceeded to entertain throughout the weekend.

Despite a wild first night, the HBS Rugby team was here in Austin to make a statement and defend the school’s honor. Thanks to unconscious play from Fats ‘Mr.Versitile’ Vusumuzi, and ferocious tackling from Kohei ‘Painkiller’ Umakoshi, HBS held their own early in the tournament. At the end of the day, the HBS ruggers found their backs against the wall in an elimination game against the deep bench of the host squad from the University of Texas. Despite fielding one of the lightest front lines in recent memory due to key injuries, the HBS rugger’s front pack led by Anson ‘Bearcat’ Fredericks brought the heat and had the large Texas squad on their heels most of the second half. After several minutes of back and forth action early in the second half, Yemi ‘Cannon Ball’ Owolewa’s hard running resulted in a try to put HBS on top. With fifteen minutes to go in the second half HBS scored again on a breakaway rumble by Tom ‘Fast and Furious’ Fast and strong finish by Fats Vusumuzi. That was followed up by a quick outside try courtesy of Craig ‘UT-raider’ Baum which put the game on ice. The final score was enough to vault HBS into 1st place in the tournament after day one.

While some of the teams (aka Wharton) iced their bruises and slept, the HBS team again chose to dominate the local 6th Street nightlife. After the first night’s festivities, most of which cannot be printed here to protect the innocent, the Mayor of Austin consulted with the Department of Homeland Security to raise the rugby threat level to Red/Severe saying “their orange shirts are not reflective of their partying risk.” Accordingly, the team broke out their crimson Harpoon Brewery social jerseys and headed for the strip. When they arrived, the mayor had already posted cops on horseback at both ends of 6th street to keep the peace. However, despite their ferocious appearance and many battle scars from the day, the HBS ruggers believe in making love not war. In the end, all the law enforcement officers were needed for was containing the hoards of fans that flocked to get autographs and see the ruggers performing at their best. By midnight, fans had gathered from all over town to watch Ed ‘Wharton’s Favorite’ Brandler dance and be entertained by Warren ‘Tank’ Anderson’s singing Taylor Swift’s latest hits.

The team chose to decide their last game in Austin the following day with a beer chugging boat race and is now back enjoying the cold Boston weather and gearing up for a strong Spring season filled with wild tours. Practices will be held twice a week throughout the Spring and the team encourages all able bodied HBS gentlemen to join the winning tradition.

The fine gentlemen of the HBSRFC will attend The Second Annual Lone Star State Rugby Fall Brawl the weekend of November 5-7, 2010.

For all media inquiries, please email Double B, Tour Director

HBS Rugby at UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School, Ireland 2010
Left to right: Blake Hall, John Knapp, Kevin O’Boyle, Brian Kaufmann, Brendan Picha, Anson Frericks, Anthony Bangay, Matthew Rooney, James Joun, Chris McCloskey, Brandon Bentley, Doug Haber, James Hendon.

Fifteen dudes, Saint Patrick’s Day, two RVs, a Guinness factory, a car accident, kidnapping, girls from New Jersey, sheep, one torn ACL, an unfavorable exchange rate and spontaneous Riverdance… you don’t need to have a Harvard degree to know that is awesome.

A bright red explosion on the monitor in front of me makes me wince.  Black smoke billows up from my ship and I drop the controller.  The screen says, “LOSER.”  Anthony Bangay leans over and whispers in my ear, “Does it bother you that you’re a Army Ranger and I’ve beaten you in five straight games of Battleship.”  After a thoughtful pause, he concludes, “I guess it would be worse if you were a Navy SEAL.”

A few hours and several thousand miles later, we are dragging our bags through the trash-filled streets of Dublin.  Brendan Picha gingerly tip-toes his way through colored shards of glass emblazoned with the shattered remnants of the Heineken logo.  Bangay speaks, “Someone’s head got smashed here.”

A small café with a placard advertising breakfast and coffee beckons our group away from the dirty streets.  Josh Gregg strikes up a conversation with a pretty waitress.  Her white teeth flash with laughter.  His face is dimpled and his eyes sparkle when he returns to our table.  I distrust him.

Thirty seconds later I am staring at a shot of Jameson, my punishment for being a terrible Aer Lingus passenger and for violating certain Rugby Club rules.  It is 7 AM.  I could be in Cabo…

Thirty minutes later Josh forces an unsuspecting Anson Frericks into a pickup truck with possibly the creepiest man in Dublin.  Anson’s face exhibits a balanced mix of bewilderment, betrayal, shock, and fear.  The creepy guy is our RV rental contact, so Josh selflessly volunteered Anson to retrieve the RVs.

Picking an RV driver is difficult, so we apply the congruence model from first year LEAD.

Here are the facts.  First, the RV is huge.  Second, it is huge.   Third, it is a stick-shift.  Fourth, it is a left-handed stick shift.  Fifth, the Irish drive on the wrong side of the road.

Kevin O’Boyle is a terrible driver.  He doesn’t drive stick.  He is right handed.  But he is indirectly Irish!  We decide that he is perfect.  Our decision will result in the destruction of a random segment of stone wall somewhere between Gallway and Dingle in less than 48 hours.

The second RV is piloted by Christoph Schwerdtfeger.  Christoph is a veteran of the German autobahns and the eldest member of the group.  His eyes play over the group, linger on Bangay, and he grabs the other set of keys.

We are figuratively, but not literally, off to the races.  Our huge RV has a whopping 125 horsepower.  Give it up for American muscle and GM.

Later that night, an anonymous member of the rugby club, let’s call him Gizmo, informs me, “The gremlin in me is coming out.”  I laugh and take his comment at less than face value.  Five minutes later he head butts Bangay, who probably deserved it, and is escorted out of the bar.  Thankfully, there are more bars that are willing to take our money.

And pretty girls to advertise them!  Adopting the logic that the advertisement girl is better than the flyer, two ruggers save a tree, return a proffered flyer, turn themselves into a human rickshaw and carry away a laughing, advertisement girl.  From her perch, she leads a singing procession through the cobblestone streets to her employer.

A flock of women surround Matthew Rooney at the next bar.  They call him Leonardo – as in Di Caprio.  They are from New Jersey.  Disaster looms.  But, in an unprecedented display of willpower, Matt avoids playing the role of Jack and allows himself to be dragged away from his fawning audience so he can do what he came to Ireland to do: hang out with dudes and drink Guinness.

Matt’s act of selflessness did not set the tone for the trip.  Doug Haber threw Christopher McCloskey into the back of a pickup truck for no reason.  Brandon Bentley “Sir Double B”, a rugby legend, waltzed over the top of a pile of rugby players wrestling on the concrete, pressing Christopher McCloskey’s face into the concrete sidewalk.

I took solace in the fact that our match would be played on soft grass.  After all, what’s the worst that could happen when you tackle enormous men without wearing any pads?  A concussion, a broken finger, a torn ACL?  Uh, yup.

Your HBS rugby club played a team from the University of Central Dublin called Smurfit.  Before you dismiss this team, think about what it takes to play on a team called Smurfit.  To borrow from Johnny Cash, it’s like naming your boy Sue.  They had a chip on their shoulder.  They grew up playing rugby – an informal poll put the average starting age at four years old.  The same informal poll put the average age at which they first chugged a pint of Guiness at three.

Brian Kaufmann wore padded headgear that buckled under his chin and a tight jersey that clung to his frame.  He looked like a discarded extra from the set of Mad Max.   Brian watched the Smurfit players run well-organized drills.  The ball floated crisply back and forth on their half of the field as they warmed up.

A rugby ball rocketed off the foot of one of our backs and sailed well out of bounds where it nearly struck a trio of smiling Irish girls. They frowned at us. Our forwards wandered around aimlessly.  John Knapp was getting a quick tutorial on rugby from Doug Haber, for he had never played before.  Brian whispered, “We look like the bad news bears.”

Tackling is a great equalizer.  From the opening kick, the game was rough and hard.  Jimmy Joun, Matt Rooney and Anthony Bangay leveled big hits straight out the gate that put Smurfit back on their heels.  Anson Frericks, showing off the skill and dexterity that made him a big time Yale lacrosse player, absolutely trucked one unlucky Smurf who happened to receive the ball at an unlucky angle.

Orchestrating the attack for the backs, Doug Haber displayed the pace and agility that make him a threat to score every time he touches the ball.  He would find the in-goal area several times before the day was through.  Sir Double B, out on the wing, ran overlaps that nipped away ground.

Our initial drive bode well for our prospects.  Brian Kaufmann won several rucks and kept possession for a steadily advancing HBS side.  Smurfit yielded all the way inside their five meter line and it seemed that HBS would surely draw first blood.  Then, disaster.

I am sure that clouds descended on Cambridge at this moment, rays of light beamed down on Palo Alto, and God decided to punish us for letting Anthony Bangay on the team.  An errant pass sent the ball skittering across the turf.  Smurfit recovered and swung the ball out to the wing where they had numbers.  Their winger raced down the sideline untouched and scored a try.

The next possession was a repeat of the first, and, even though Kevin O’Boyle played well at fullback and gained ground every time he touched the ball, Smurfit’s kicks were backed by the wind and packed a punch that fifteen men who had trained for the match by downing all of the Guinness in Ireland could not match.  The score was 30-12 in favor of Smurfit at halftime.

The second half came with a change of stars.  With Kevin O’Boyle anchoring the line against the Smurfit attack, Doug Haber took over the game and scored two tries in quick succession.  Anthony Bangay drew the attention of his Irish counterparts with his skillful play at the forward position but, try as they might, Smurfit could not contain a renewed HBS attack.

James Hendon, running hard in his first match for HBS, carried well, pacing several big runs.  But it was Matt Rooney who nearly had the play of the match.  With five minutes left and the score 35-24, a deep HBS kick isolated the Smurfit fullback.  After an open field tackle, yours truly regained possession for HBS, and, as the fullback dragged me to ground, found Matt wide open next to the pile. The ball found him in open space and he bounded like a kangaroo into the in-goal area to cut the lead to six for Smurfit after a failed two point conversion.

On the ensuing drive, Doug Haber made several superb open field tackles to keep Smurfit in check, but, they made steady progress into our half.  A Smurfit back tried to kick the ball past the line for a try and Jimmy Joun dove after it and denied the Smurfit attack.  But his defense of the area came at a steep price.  A sharp scream signaled a torn ACL.

Playing with a renewed sense of urgency, HBS pushed the ball well inside the twenty-two of Smurfit.  A try looked imminent but time expired before we could win the line.

A burly Irish player walked up to me after the game.  He smiled and shook my hand, “You knocked me for a loop!  I saw stars in the first quarter.”  He put his arm around me and punched me in the chest several times.

Anthony Bangay was named “Man of the Match” by our Irish counterparts for his excellent play.  Anthony responded to his award with typical grace, “Wha? That’s me!”  Yes, Anthony, that was you.  Doug Haber’s beard finished a close second in voting.  And everybody won at the after-game beer call.

I wish there were some moral to this story, some transcendent theme about bonding in a foreign country or a reflection on our last experience abroad as HBS students and how much things have changed or at least our perception of them.  But there are no morals or reason to rugby tour, there is only survival.