I got to spend some time with the American International College men’s rugby program this past week, and it was an interesting experience.

After year of wishing and hoping that colleges would truly embrace rugby as a sport that can help recruit students, and keep students in school, there is this little-known, 140-year-old school that has done just that.

Last week was a good time for me to visit simply because I had just ranked AIC #1 among teams playing in the fall. While everyone involved in the team knew that was a ranking that wouldn’t last once the spring-playing teams got going, it was still news that buzzed through campus, a campus that uses sports to attract motivated students.

AIC’s stadium is a turf field with bleachers, scoreboard, and press box. It is line for football, soccer, and other sports, with a couple of additional lines put in for rugby. It’s not a rugby-dedicated field, but it’s basically the same facility everyone there uses; something many rugby teams can’t boast of. Behind the stadium they practice on a grass field that will soon have massive AIC Rugby banners (one for men, one for women) framing the space. Their Athletic Director, Matt Johnson (interview with him coming soon), is a soccer guy who loves rugby and how it has raised the profile of the school.

The AIC men’s team itself is different in that it has a large percentage of African American players. This is a development long wished-for by rugby fans and observers, and reflects both the diversity of the AIC campus, and Head Coach Josh Macy’s desire to expand the traditional pathways of the game. 

Macy himself is big on player leadership. Prop Skyler Adams (Colorado Springs U19s) is almost a father figure within the team, checking up on players when they’re on the road, and making sure school and campus life are going well for the athletes. When the team bus arrives at University of Connecticut’s club sports fields, it is Adams who takes the players out to get ready. Macy and assistant coach Ron Guiry go over some details over a clipboard, but Macy shrugs “most of my job should be done during the week. I want the players to take responsibility for getting themselves ready and prepared to play.”

That’s just what they do.

The game is played on Thursday night, because it’s AIC’s Homecoming Weekend coming up and AIC asked for one of their conference opponents to agree to a midweek game. UConn graciously did so. And that’s why I’m there, able to fit in an extra game on an East Coast trip. UConn is a program that’s growing, with a lot of players and a hard-working coaching staff. But they are still building, and in terms of cohesion and athleticism, AIC has it over the Huskies. UConn puts together a couple of impressive movements, but can’t win many of their lineouts because AIC’s jumpers, such as the aptly-named 6-6 Justin Leaphart, can get up there, too. On one of UConn’s attacks late, they finally work the quick ball and offloads to score, showing themselves how quick ball and support work can beat anyone. But by then, AIC has over 80, and wins 87-16.

But the thing about a team trying to win a conference and trying to be #1 is, you don’t get satisfied. The AIC players remember the dropped balls, the passes that went into touch, the disorganized rucks.

“Ah, we know we can do better,” said wing Christian Adams (Perry Street Prep), who owned up to a few of those errors himself.

There are players to keep an eye on from AIC, players who should be nurtured and developed. Adams is one, a powerfully-built wing or center who didn’t score against UConn, but caused all kinds of problems anyway. He can hit and he can take a defensive position and turn it into an attacking one. He just needs to be challenged.

Adrian Ray (Perry Street Prep), a recent Goff Rugby Report Player of the Week, is not tall, but is powerful, and quite humble. He dead-stopped UConn’s big tighthead prop, and continually won the contact point. Add to that the fact he can pass and run, he’s another guy who should be on a data base somewhere.

Deshae Edwards did not play this Thursday, so we can only go from previous observations - he is shifty, fast, and doesn’t go to the ground easily.

Jihad Khabir (Perry Street Prep) is a sophomore flyhalf in the mold of John Rutherford. If there’s a slightest gap, he can take it. His acceleration is superb. And because he is like this, turnover ball is deadly for AIC. If anyone gets the ball on a turnover, they go forward, and Khabir can feed them, and run in support.

We’ve talked a lot about nurturing USA-produced flyhalves and scrumhalves. Here’s one. 

“With UConn, the 13 shot up a lot, so I was thinking either an overs ball, or an unders ball, if the 13 came up too hard, I just took the gap.”

So that’s all it is - just take the gap. I asked Khabir about the fact that AIC is a superb broken-field team, but against top opposition they have to play more mistake-free rugby, and have to be patient in phase play. 

“When we play teams where we know we can run our system, we talk about it a lot about how we just need to run our system. I really like our system; we get it to the sideline once, if it’s not there we go to the other sideline. For me there’s no frustration. We’ve got our centers, man, and they made it happen.”

At one point Khabir took a pass after a turnover and ghosted through a gap. He was in second gear maybe, looking around for a tackle or a support runner. Neither was close and he just cruised to the corner. You can’t coach that kind of pace. On another play, Khabir and Adrian Ray worked it down the sideline, passing between themselves as the UConn defenders desperately tried to stop them.

“High school, man; we’ve been doing that since high school.”

As a talent for the future, Khabir should be on someone’s radar.

“Rugby is second in my life to me behind school,” said the criminal justice major. “I am just trying to take it as far as I can.”

Skyler Adams is the leader, and as front remains a position where American rugby could stand to develop depth, players like him are valuable. Adams didn’t dwell too much on a try AIC scored where the front row run up the middle, exchanging passes like they’d decided to put the numbers 13 and 12 on their back.

“Yeah, that was nice,” he said, and moved on. What Adams talked about was precision.

“We know we didn’t play to our ability and our potential,” he said. “We as a forward pack have to realize that just because we can run on some teams and win by a lot, doesn’t mean we’re meeting the standard. We’ve got to be better.”

However, it’s worth pointing out that while we talk about the AIC backs, their forwards dominated the scrums, handled the lineouts, and don’t just sit back and watch the breakaways in open play. They work hard.

Gavan D’Amore-Morrison (Brookline High) is a senior flanker who will likely go into teaching in New York City next year, and is planning to play for the Old Blue club. He is very smart, difficult to handle in contact, and shows some nice skill (he can even kick). 

“We have a lot of talent in the lineout - we’ve always had strong lineouts, with Corey Momsen (Kettle Moraine) jumping and Skyler lifting and leading in the lineouts. We’ve had some players go play in other programs in the summer and have brought back some interesting moves.”

In the open field, “with that has been a lot of communication between Jihad and JP [Jacob Ponder]. They’ve done a great job communicating to the forwards what they need from them. They’ve started pulling the forwards into their game plan and showing them where they need strength.”

There are more. Ponder is a sophomore center out of Florida who understands the game and should be partnering with Khabir and Ray for at least another season, maybe two if Ray takes a 5th year. Kurtis Werner is a scrappy scurmhalf his is a key link in the system. Lui Sitama is a freshman out of my own local club, Budd Bay in Olympia, Wash., and good enough to start as a first-year. Justin Leaphart is a 6-6 junior lock with volleyball and basketball experience who should be under someone’s wing. Momsen, 6-5 and a former Wisconsin state U19 select side rugby player, is another forward who can offer something.  

So a little look at this team. While I don’t promise they will stay at #1, or that their top players will one day be Eagles, AIC is more than just a bunch of athletic kids rolling over less athletic opposition. They’ve got rugby ability, and rugby expectations. They are fully aware that there are more challenges to face, and they are fomenting talented American rugby players. 

Note: This is a rarity for me in that I write a story that's from a first-person point of view. It's an opinion piece, a column, but also one that's a piece of reporting all the same. But to be clear, the opinions in the article are mine and are meant as opinions. - AG