Western Oregon Pushing Forward In NCRC

Western Oregon University is the next stop in our series of profiles of the Northwest Collegiate Rugby Conference. WOU is fairly new to DI-AA play but as President James Saddler informed us in our interview they have come a long way.

This Is American Rugby: For those unfamiliar, please describe the history of rugby at Western Oregon?

James Saddler: Rugby has a young but strong history at Western Oregon University. The men's rugby program was founded in 2001 after several ambitious former football players wanted to hang up to football cleats for a new sport. The university immediately expressed support and in the spring of 2001 the men's rugby program at Western Oregon was created. Over the years, Western Oregon became a dominant force in the Pacific Northwest in DII play eventually making the jump to D1 with the NCRC reformation in 2012. In 2008-2009, Western Oregon was the DII Pacific Northwest Champions and attended USA Rugby's DII National Championship in Florida.

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TIAR: It's been a tough season so far for you. How has the team stayed positive?

JS: This has been a very tough season for our club.  We are a very young team overall with only 3 seniors in the entire program and only about 4 juniors. A majority of our team is freshman or sophomores so we are all still positive about our progress. We know that we can compete in this conference and it's a belief amongst this team that we are on the rise. 

TIAR: Do you think the NCRC has been a benefit for the school?

JS: Overall, I believe the NCRC has been a great benefit for the school. We have found our program and the university experiencing increased publicity to high school students all over the Pacific Northwest. Our hosting of the NCRC 7s Championship this year was a huge event that brought a lot of positive publicity to our program and university.

TIAR: In the fall you hosted the NCRC 7s. Is that something the school is looking to do more of in the future?

JS: We had a great time hosting the NCRC 7s this last fall. It was a huge success and ran very smoothly. I was notified from the NCRC that this tournament was so well run by our club and staff from WOU Campus Recreation that the 7s championship ended 30 minutes ahead of schedule which is nearly unheard of. I believe that in the future that perhaps we could again host something similar but in time as our program continues to develop. 

TIAR: 7s is taking off across the country. How has WOU embraced 7s?



TIAR: How does the team engage with the students on campus? What has been the reception?

JS: WOU Men's Rugby engages with students on campus through leadership groups and networking of other club sports. Along with some fundraisers and charities that we have been apart of we have worked with other groups on campus to do some community service over the years and aid with freshman move in day every year. 

TIAR: What are the team's short-term goals? Long-term goals?

JS: Our team's short term goal(s) would mostly be centered around with building our foundation in D1 Rugby. We are increasing our recruiting both at the university and high school level, working with on developing a stronger relationship with our alumni and overall learning the game of rugby as we are still a very young team. Our long term goals as a club are to win the NCRC in both 15s play and also 7s to eventually bring our club back to the national stage. 

TIAR: How has rugby grown in Oregon over the last several year?

JS: Rugby in Oregon has really grown in the last couple of years. Mostly thanks to Jenn Heinrich at Rugby Oregon we have seen numerous high school programs develop across the state and the students have begun to flow into the college programs. Our program had it's first recruiting class this year with 6 HS players from Rugby Oregon including 4 Rugby Oregon Red Hawk All Star Players.