With finals peering around the corner, one LSU freshman does not have the added stress of worrying about late night study sessions, energy drinks and sharpened No. 2 pencils. That is because LSU rugby player Cody Cadella was forced to drop out of school after Rice University rugby player Addison Hopkins delivered several blows to the back of Cadella’s head and face. Cadella, who is suing Hopkins for the damages that occurred during the Feb. 10 match, said the incident is not something that regularly occurs in rugby. “What happened – everything that happened – is not rugby,” Cadella said. “This was basically an assault by an individual that has nothing to do with the game of rugby.” Despite earning a 3.75 grade point average his first semester at LSU, Cadella has missed most of the spring 2007 semester because of the injuries caused by Hopkins. After winning the “A” side game – the match that counts toward the team’s overall record and ranking – Cadella entered the second game after one of his teammates suffered an injury. Cadella said he was not scheduled to play in the “B” side game – the game that does not count toward the team’s record or ranking – but was one of the only players that could enter at the time of the injury. “I was only in for a few minutes and during a breakdown – when someone gets tackled, and the play keeps going – people came over and were fighting over the ball,” Cadella said. “People tackle each other when this happens, and [Hopkins] was kind of just hovering over the ball. I went in and hit him really good; I got a really good, legal hit on him.” Cadella said after the hit numerous Rice players were telling him they were going to “get him back,” but he thought nothing of the comments. “People talk shit during the games all the time,” Cadella said. “But a couple minutes later I was on the ground, on all fours, and I tried getting up and felt somebody pushing down on me. As I tried to get up, I felt two blows to the back of my head that kind of dazed me a little bit. “As I tried to get back up I was hit in the eye. My eye became swollen and there was blood everywhere coming out my eye and my nose. At first everyone, including myself, thought I got kicked because something like this doesn’t happen in rugby.” Cadella was rushed to Herman Memorial Hospital in Houston where doctors informed him that the punch shattered his orbital floor and scratched his right cornea. The orbit is the “cavity of the skull in which the eye and its appendages are situated,” according to www.webmd.com. Cadella said the scratches on his cornea was the most painful part of the experience and said the times when he could not open his eyes were some of the worst days of his life. “That feels like sand in your eye, and since my eye was completely swollen shut, I couldn’t do anything about it,” Cadella said. “It hurt so bad, and even though I looked like I had a baseball for an eye, that was the worst part about it.” After spending the weekend in the hospital, Cadella was driven home where he was treated for his injuries at Ochsner Foundation Hospital in New Orleans. Although the doctors in Houston had told him he would never be able to play rugby again, Cadella said his eye had made significant process after his Ochsner visit. “For a while they thought they were going to have to do surgery,” Cadella said. “It looked like I was going to have to get my jaw wired shut for six weeks and get a metal plate put into my face, which would mean I could never play again. That’s probably what hurt the most. The thought of not being able to ever step on the field again really hurt.” After the incident, the swelling was so severe that it took a week and a half for Cadella’s left eye to reopen. Although he still could not see out his right eye, Cadella said he was ecstatic when his partial vision was restored. “Now I know how Ray Charles felt,” Cadella said. “The scariest part of the whole ordeal was for a week and a half both my eyes were swollen shut. It was over a week before I was able to open my left eye. I was in darkness and felt blind. I could tell stuff was going on, but I couldn’t see anything.” Along with having to drop out for the semester, Cadella still must wait another two weeks before he can be involved in any full contact sports. After finishing the season with a record of 19-3 and ranked No. 20 in the nation, Cadella’s teammate and close friend Adam Ducoing said the team felt the effects of not having one of their emotional leaders. “Cody’s not really a big guy, but he’s the type of player that plays like he’s 100 pounds heavier than what he is,” Ducoing said. “With a player like Cody, the main thing you’re losing is heart. In rugby you have fours and fives. Fours are like mules, they do all the grunt work, and they do the dirty work and they’re like lineman in football. “Cody’s the size of five – a running back or wide receiver – but he does all the grunt work, plays like four. And when you lose a guy like that, it’s hard because the truth is not everybody plays up to his level. We have guys on our team that are more athletic than Cody, but they can’t even come close to his level of play because he wants it more.”
Ducoing, who was not at the match against Rice because he was playing for the U.S.A. Under-19 All-American rugby team in Arizona, said he was shocked to see the injuries Cadella suffered. “I hate to say it, but he looked like the guy off of the ‘Hunchback of Notre Dame,'” Ducoing said. “He looked bad after the incident, but Cody likes to think he’s a ladies man. And after seeing him healed up he’ll be alright.” LSU rugby team president Mark Sweeney said Rice’s rugby president Jackson Balthrop sent the team an apology after the match and added the LSU team will not hold a grudge against Rice if the two teams meet in the future. He also said the incident has nothing to do with the game of rugby and will use this as a learning experience for the team. “This shows that no matter what happens on the field you have to stay cool and keep your head in the game,” Sweeney said. “I assume the next couple of years of Cody’s life aren’t going to be very fun, but it just shows you have to push forward.” Hopkins’ lawyer, Mike Monks, would not return numerous phone calls from The Daily Reveille. The Rice rugby club also would not comment on the situation.
—–Contact Jay St. Pierre at [email protected]