Check out SJU Rugby play Under The Lights at Clemens Stadium on Friday

Looking for a little on-campus entertainment this Friday night? Swing by Clemens Stadium to catch the SJU rugby team in action under the lights in a rare evening contest. The Johnnies are set to take on the University of Minnesota-Duluth in a Northern Lights Conference tilt at 7 p.m. Admission is free for everyone. The game will also be livestreamed on the MIAC Sports Network.  

This is a unique opportunity for the club team who typically plays its home games at Radio Tower Fields during the weekend.  

“It’s more accessible to go to this game than to walk half a mile up to Radio Tower,” junior Connor Cummings said. “Friday nights, sometimes you can’t find stuff to do so it’s a good opportunity to find something.” 

Senior Thomas Moore says he’s hoping for a large turnout.  

“We expect really high energy from not just the team but from the fans,” Moore said. “We hope for a large turnout of newer students, but we also got some fanatic supporters that love to come out and watch. The people that are already fans are going to be super excited and the people that aren’t fans yet are probably going to become fans afterwards.” 

Cummings, who plays scrum-half, says having a large crowd can help influence the energy in the game.  

“Any game that has a lot of people around it just brings more energy,” Cummings said. “It helps ignite me to play better.” 

Moore, who plays the flanker position, says playing at home on a Friday night in a large stadium is a big opportunity to showcase the sport of rugby to the CSB+SJU community. 

“The big idea of doing it in the evening on a Friday is just to really capitalize on that Friday night lights feeling. There’s a lot of at-home support that’s waiting to be tapped in on, and I think we all feel that it’s just a really good opportunity to get some people out, show them rugby and just enjoy it while building our support,” Moore said. “A lot of this is the work of Nate [Augspurger], our new coach. Obviously, the school brought him in to bring rugby a little bit more into the main frame, making it more universal throughout the school.” 

The event also presents an opportunity to introduce rugby to people who may have never experienced the sport before and its fast-paced style. 

“For people who haven’t seen rugby, it’s an absolutely electric game,” Moore said. “It’s just fast paced and continual. There’s not a lot of breaks, and even if you don’t understand the game very well, there’s plenty to enjoy about watching straightforward ball movement. We think it’ll be an opportunity for a lot of people to try watching a sport they maybe haven’t seen before or maybe haven’t experienced a lot of in the United States.”  

With the game being held at Clemens Stadium, St. John’s and UMD will be competing on the turf, which is different from the usual grass fields the Johnnies practice and play on.  

“I’m looking forward to playing on turf, it’s a little bit different,” Cummings said. “We usually play on grass, and this is a narrower field too.” 

It’s also just the second game of the season, and Moore says he’s excited to see the younger players on the roster see more time on the field.  

“We also got a lot of young talent that we recruited from high school rugby systems,” Moore said. “I’m excited to see how those boys develop and continue to play.”  

SJU defeated Minnesota State-Mankato 43-10 in its season opener last Saturday and are ranked No. 15 in the Division III Coaches Poll.  

“We had a lot of new players playing their first time with us, and they proved themselves,” Cummings said. “They showed great promise and good skill. It was a wet game, so there was a lot of sloppy play, but we still fought through it and put up a good score against a good team.” 

Moore echoed that sentiment.  

“You always like to come out and do really well in your first game of the year, and Mankato is a physical team, so it means so much more to get a win against them,” Moore said. “We’re going to be looking to increase our skill level, look at some of the mistakes we made last week and really try to hammer out the imperfections to be a better team.”  

As Friday night’s highly anticipated matchup approaches, SJU is hoping to see plenty of community support under the lights. 

“I think it’ll be worth your while to come check it out and it’s something to do Friday night when there’s not always a lot of options, especially for underclassmen,” Moore said. “It’s an electric game to watch, and it’s a fun community to join so whether or not you want to be a fan or a player, come check us out.”