Letters: Kate Seifer on Women’s Rugby

Dear Editor:

I would like to bring to light some points that were reported in Jamie Keller’s article about the women’s rugby team, which recently participated in the annual Wayne Rugby 90 Team Tournament.

To begin it is worth noting that this was the first time in Chadron State College Women’s Rugby history that we took our own team down to Wayne and competed as CSC Women’s Rugby.

In the past, there have not been enough athletes for a full side.

CSC had only taken enough players for half a side, and played with other half-teams or where players were needed.

I would also like to give a big shout-out to the college. This spring they helped the club in purchasing brand-new jerseys.

The members of the Women’s Rugby Team would like to send a big “Thank you!” to the college for their support and aid in making this possible.

Now, the team took 13 players down to Wayne, a fact Keller failed to mention.

Other players were supposed to be available to play with the team at the different games, as a full side has 15 players, but at the first and last game did not show up, forcing us to play with what we had.

Most of the other teams were gracious enough to play down as well or did not have a full side of 15. Doane only had 12, so they played with 12 as well in the first game.

However, in the last game against Bemidji, CSC only had 11 uninjured players, and Bemidji went ahead and played with 13.

The win over Doane only resulted in one injured player, not three. We also had another injured by the last game against Bemidji on Sunday.

When the story stated, “The team failed the conversion by Jacy French,” against Doane. This is also incorrect.

Kate Seifer kicked all of the attempted (failed or otherwise) conversions throughout the tournament.

However, Jacy French was the player who scored the try this time. Two tries were scored by mauling the ball into the end-zone (a team effort), an event that was a first for CSC.

CSC also played with one substitute, not three. The UND only had 14 players, so they agreed to play down a man.

Against the college of Saint Benedict, there were four substitutes, allowing both teams to play 15.

The team would like to express their appreciation for the support from the college and fans.

We hope to keep the activity growing and provide more home games in the years to come.

—Kate Seifer,
sophomore of Tryon