Claremont Rugby Foxes Do New Orleans
By Janice Kang
Contributing Writer

Last Thursday morning, the Claremont Colleges' Women's Rugby Foxes packed their cleats, mouth guards, and party clothes and headed for New Orleans where the week-long festivities of Mardi Gras were already in full swing. The Foxes had been planning to go the New Orleans since early last semester, but many of the team members still could not believe that the long-awaited trip was finally happening. Excited squeals of "we're going to Mardi Gras" frequently disrupted the monotonous drone of the airplane. With twenty-four ruggers in tow, the Foxes took a sizeable portion of the team to the 4th Annual Mardi Gras Invitational Tournament. This was a far cry from last year, when it was difficult for the Foxes to field a side of fifteen players for even home games.

One noticeable absence on this trip, however, was that of coach Leslie Jamison, who came down with the flu just a day before the departure date. "Although it affected our team psychologically to have our coach stay at home during this trip, we managed to pull together to make a good showing in the tournament and to coordinate well off of the field as well," said winger Feliz Ventura '03. "If we ever go on such a large trip again, I definitely hope that we have the benefit of our coach, who is such an integral part of our team." To counter this stroke of ill luck, team captain Anne "scrumfly" Gibson '03, captain and flanker Tiffany Hall '03, and team president and prop Karen Studarus HMC '03 sat together on the flight to New Orleans to hatch out a game plan for both on the field and around town.

Upon arriving on Thursday night, some of the team members decided at once to explore the festivities of the famous southern city. The St. Charles Street Trolley, a rattling wooden electric street car, ran on the hour the entire night during Mardi Gras, and shuttled party-goers back and forth from uptown to Canal Street, right next to the all-famous Bourbon Street in the French Quarter.

On Friday the Foxes pushed the world of Mardi Gras to the backs of their minds in order to focus on their games the next day. They found a field in front of a zoo on Magazine Street and practiced for two hours, loosening up their plane-weary limbs and mentally preparing themselves. Bedtime came early that night, though Friday night is one of the wildest of Mardi Gras.

Saturday morning was gray and cold. The team shuttled from their rented house to the rugby pitch in two rental cars in time for their match against UVA. When the first carload of Foxes walked up to the pitch, their mouths dropped open. Other teams had been playing since 9 A.M. and since then, two of the three pitches-the third was unaffected due to being on higher ground-were seas of mud. About two thirds of each pitch had no recognizable piece of grass and was instead slimy Louisiana dirt. Water covering the mud caused the ball to land with a splat instead of the usual unpredictable bounce. The teams that were playing and had already played were covered from head to toe - some of the jersey colors were indistinguishable, and one N.C. State rugger had so much mud on her legs that she looked like she was wearing a pair of dark tights.

Shivering, the Foxes warmed up as best as they could in the small area surrounding the pitches and knew that their stretch of cleanliness was drawing to a close. The New Orleans team laughed at Claremont's freshly washed red and white jerseys as they walked off of the pitch and the Foxes walked on. As the dirty ruggers passed by, one more thing became painfully apparent about mud. "It stunk," said Ventura flatly. "Apparently the mud was quite rich with decaying organic material." Some took on a fatalistic point of view. "The best thing would've been to just dive into it instead waiting to take that first tackle," said lock Taylor Bouchard SC '05.

The mud greatly impaired the Foxes' talented and speedy back line, whose quick feet and capable hands were undermined by sinking mud and an incredibly slippery ball. The forwards did not have much better luck. "The mud made it impossible for us to lock out in the scrums and we were sliding all over the place," said Bouchard. Furthermore, the scrum was often moved towards the sidelines in search of more stable ground, shutting off a much loved and crucial weak-side play. The Foxes ended up losing to a large and experienced UVA team 33-0, but admitted to a good defeat.

The next match was against Rice University. The Foxes lost this match 10-5, giving up two trys to Rice's speedy fullback. Hall scored Claremont's only try by taking advantage of the weak-side of a ruck. By the end of the second sixty-minute game, the Foxes were appropriately muddied and exhausted from grappling, sliding, trudging their way through the match. A good nap was followed by team attendance to the Endymion parade, the largest of the fifty-some Mardi Gras parades. A night of partying and debauchery ensued, despite the scheduled 9 o'clock Sunday morning match.

On Sunday morning, the weary Foxes awoke at 7 am, for some only three hours after they had gone to bed, and drove to the cold, still muddy and smelly pitch. As they huddled together on the bleachers to wait for their esteemed opponent UNC-Chapel Hill, each and every Claremont rugger shivered at the thought of putting on soiled, soggy cleats. Then the figurative sun broke through the clouds and news that UNC-CH had forfeited the match graced the tired ears of the Foxes who, overjoyed, went back to bed until the late afternoon.

When they awakened much later, a bit relieved that the rugby part of the Foxes' Excellent New Orleans Adventure was over, much of the team went to a restaurant specializing in Cajun cooking. The spread consisted of cheesy crawfish bread, fried crawfish, chicken, shrimp and scallop gumbo over rice, jambalaya fettucini, and much more. One high point of the night was when table's poor rookie waiter, Paco, dropped a tray full of water behind winger Lauren Pomeroy PO '06. Pomeroy was relatively dry, but the manager was called and free drinks were demanded. Famous pink Crash 'n' Burn drinks in helmet-sized cups were passed around, and as the waiter asked, "Is everybody happy?" the Foxes answered with a resounding, "You bet your ass, we are!"