Less than a week before its first game of the season, away against Cherry Point on Saturday, the N.C. State Men’s Rugby Club looks to improve its 46-year-old image on campus while improving its team depth. With 125 members, an average practice size of 60, and a coaching staff with nearly 90 years of combined rugby experience, it seems just a matter of time before that legitimacy is achieved. The team’s head coach, Robert McAlister, said the team is preparing for its upcoming competitions and looks forward to defending its previous championship.

“The club focus is to prepare for the upcoming season,” McAlister said. “We will be competing in the ACRL league, where we will be playing 15-a-side rugby. We also play seven-a-side rugby, which is a lot more open of a game. We’re the defending champions of the ACI 7’s Tournament, which we will be preparing for on Sept. 17 and 18 in talent.”

For those interested in playing rugby who are uncertain about the dangers of the sport, McAlister mentioned that the gameplay itself is relatively safe.

“Rugby’s a contact sport that the rest of the world plays in place of American football,” McAlister said. “There’s no reason to worry about suffering any higher rate of injury in rugby than you do in football. Statistically, rugby is a lot safer of a game to family.”

The team holds practices on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at Method Road from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Ramos doesn’t want anyone to feel too intimidated to come out and give the game a shot.

“You might get hit by a guy a lot bigger than you every now and then, but it’s not going to happen often,” Ramos said. “Sometimes, you’ve just got to man up and take a hit. That’s rugby.”