On Sept. 21, as their scheduled start time of 10 a.m. rolled around, the Macalester men’s rugby team did their stretches and warmups in the locker room, their match delayed by lightning in the area. With cool heads, they went through their pregame ritual of going around a circle asking “what can I do for you today?” of one-another.
“It was my job to prep the team, so I think it was really cool to lead something that I had always kind of been on the side of,” Jordan Kleinman ’26, one of the squad’s captains, said. “To get everyone to do the lineups, clap them in, put on their jerseys, just a lot of talking to people getting ready, taping them up, stretching out, keeping everyone’s heads focused — you know, it’s very easy to lose sight of that, but it was really nice.”
With a finishing time fixed by an early afternoon women’s soccer contest, the rugby side would eventually take the field for a shortened match against their opponent, Bemidji State University. The abbreviated playing time was more than enough for these Black Bears to prove their mettle. Within just a few minutes, the Black Bears were dominating the field position battle, pushing the Bemidji State Angry Beavers all the way into their own try zone, where Gwen Reoch ’25 was able to block a kick and fall on it to score the opening try of the season.
“We did really well, just coming up and disrupting any type of play that they had,” Reoch said. “They had two different phases where they didn’t complete a passing line out to the outside. And that’s what we want to do.”
Alex Beaudreau ’26 credited the work of the Black Bear forwards, the more physical players who participate in rucks, who do the bulk of tackling and who are ultimately most responsible for yard-by-yard improvements in field position. These players are most similar to offensive linemen and linebackers in football. Playing as a unit is key for forwards and it’s what allowed the Black Bears to frustrate the Angry Beavers’ attempts at team play.
“The forwards were really on our game,” Beaudreau said. “I think it was really impressive, especially because we have so many new forwards, that all the freshmen just really hit the ground running, and were really able to understand the game immediately.”
That theme of impressively quick learning of an unfamiliar game was not lost on either Beaudreau nor Reoch. It also unlocked the game for the Black Bears. One of the standout backs for the Black Bears was one of those first-years, Zahaan Thakore ’28, gashing the Bemidji defense with numerous big plays and ultimately being rewarded with a try for his efforts. Whereas forwards make physical plays, participating in rucks and tackling, the job of the backs is to run with the ball, advancing field position with big plays, making long runs through space created by the forwards. Sept. 21 marked Thakore’s first match for Macalester, one of three first-years making their Black Bear debuts as starters in the match and one of 12 appearing on the lineup sheet for the first time.
Despite several players taking knocks that kept them out of stretches of the match, members of the team filled unfamiliar roles with maturity, some being pushed into new positions and some in a new sport entirely.
“We came out and we played our game that we’ve been practicing,” Kleinman stated. “We stuck to our guns, what we know, didn’t try anything too fancy, which was really good for a lot of the new guys. And early on, we faced some difficulties with Gwen, our other Captain getting injured and some other players getting hit and needing to be taken out and putting people in positions where they’re not comfortable. I was thrown into being the field captain, something I haven’t done before, so it was my job to keep my head level and keep everyone’s head level on the field.”
Buoyed by those new players and an overall ability to fall cleanly into a team system in new roles or in a new sport, the Black Bears ultimately ran away with the game, winning 27-5, an impressive points total in a game totaling only 40 minutes, compared to the typical 80.
It was a spectacular display from a squad that in significant part had materialized only a few weeks berfore their first match, many of whom had little to no prior experience in rugby coming in. Teaching the game to those new recruits was an opportunity that Beaudreau and Reoch relished in their first few weeks of practice.
“I think most people, when they start at Mac rugby, have never played before,” Beaudreau said. “I hadn’t played before and it’s really rewarding to realize how much you’ve learned about the game through teaching other people. First year, I felt like I would never understand it, and now I can teach other people the rules. It’s just really fun and I hope the first years know that, one day, they’re gonna get to teach other people the rules.”
“It does feel like, as one of the seniors, I’ve been a bit more of a coach than a player these last few weeks,” Reoch said. “But, I mean, it’s really special, because we get to teach a game that I love and the coaches love and all the seniors love, to people who have maybe [just] seen Instagram clips online.”
In a contact heavy sport, Macalester rugby puts strong emphasis on how to play the right way, building experience from the ground up: starting out with rugby’s unique way of passing, learning how to fall and ultimately how to tackle well. That builds up into a unique Black Bear style of rugby, something which marked a difference in their opener against the Angry Beavers as the Macalester side were able to keep cooler heads.
“We pride ourselves on being a smart, very calculated team,” Reoch said. “We have a system. We play Macalester rugby, we do things the right way… We pride ourselves on knowing how to play the right way and we use that to win. We use technique. We use understanding when to try to go into contact or when not to. That really propels our game higher against smart teams like [College of St.] Scholastica and North Dakota that we’re going to take on in the next couple of weeks.”
Understanding and patience for players new to rugby helps to construct a strong team culture for the Black Bears. It’s that care and willingness to take the time to teach that keeps those new players coming back to the team.
“I felt so accepted on Mac rugby, even though I had no idea how to play,” Beaudreau said. “I felt like everyone was willing to help me grow and learn, and the coaches understand that everyone learns at a different speed, and really want to help make every player be the best that they can be. I felt pushed to grow in a way that makes me want to keep coming back to the team and makes me feel happy to be there.”
That team culture also goes well beyond that openness to teach. It’s in those players who might only come to a couple practices a year but are still considered part of the family, it’s in those alumni who stick around, it’s in the togetherness inherent to a team that really does play as a unified force.
“We’re a family; we say it a lot.” Reoch said. “We have our Black Bear family. Whether people have come to one practice at the end of the year and then said, maybe, ‘oh, that’s not what I want,’ they’re part of our family. We have alumni that are part of our family. We have so many great players now, and it really feels like a family, even when we’re on the field together too, because we work together. Our team isn’t about individuals making highlight-reel plays. It’s about understanding, kind of like chess, what’s gonna happen in four moves.”
“Coming to Mac, I truly felt like I was part of a family,” Kleinman said. “I think one of the happiest moments of my life was winning a game against Bemidji State my freshman year. I just remember playing that whole game and then crying afterwards, pure tears of joy. I don’t really have any other times in my life that I can compare to that jubilation and happiness and that sense of belonging I got from being a Macalester rugby player.”
The road ahead for the Macalester Black Bears will follow on from the various themes of this auspicious first encounter — team togetherness and especially the recruitment and retainment of new athletes. Reoch said that the 26 players that the Black Bears suited up against Bemidji were the most that she had seen in her four years on the team, and she pointed out in particular how critical that is to the continued success of the team. Having that larger roster will enable the Black Bears to play with real defenses in practices — something not to be taken for granted in a 15-a-side sport — and be able to reliably take full squads to distant away fixtures in North Dakota.
Reoch, as the flyhalf, is the main on-field tactician, directing Black Bear traffic as they move down the pitch on offense. That gives her a unique viewpoint to the development of the players on this team, both for first-years learning at lightning pace and upper classmen on the team for years who have consistently improved.
“I’m the playcaller for the team; when one thing happens, I understand what needs to go next and I’m calling that one, but I also know that my team knows what I’m gonna call [for] the next play,” Reoch said. “We [have] forwards, big guys, crashing in and then we make space for our fast guys to go run with the ball on the outside. That’s our game. And it’s fun now that I’m kind of the teacher of that system to see people’s eyes open when it really starts to take shape in practice.”
This team competes in the Northern Lights Conference’s developmental half under National Collegiate Rugby, though they still have sights set high on lofty goals.
“Just because we’re in the developmental side does not mean we can’t make it to Nationals,” Reoch said. “We can still win our league and still go and get to the heights of college rugby. Our team was able to do that in the 2021-22 season, won our first game at Nationals and then lost to a very, very good Wayne State team. But our goal is high. We really want to win and our whole team’s committed.”
The positive momentum built up from this game will carry them through their future contests — the next action for these Black Bears will be against a tough College of St. Scholastica squad, at home, on Sept. 29. The season to come will tell how far they can go, given more time to gel as a squad and refine their skills and tactics, although what they’ve displayed is enough to light up a sense of optimism.
“We had six practices before our first game,” Reoch said. “Six practices. We’re in a new sport [for the first-years] and it’s one of the most intense, dangerous sports that there is. And so it’s incredible to see how far everyone’s come. And, you know, we’re really excited. We’re 1-0 now. We have our big game against Scholastica this weekend, and so we’re really excited for what the season has.”
