History
Santa Clara University’s Rugby Football Club has a rich tradition. The club spawned from student’s desires to play rugby after the team was disbanded in 1907. Other schools such as Stanford, University of California at Berkeley, and Saint Mary’s also started rugby clubs in that same year. From the creation of these rugby clubs and the player’s desires to learn the game, west coast rugby dominated the sport in the United States from 1915-1917. Santa Clara’s 1916 team went undefeated, with a record of 10-0. During this span, they outscored their opponents 310-13. The only other team in the country to go undefeated that year was Stanford. In a match known as “The Big Game,” Stanford and Santa Clara met at Ewing Field in San Francisco where the Broncos defeated the Cardinal 28-5. Five members of “The Big Game” roster went on to represent the United States in the 1920 Olympic Games, where the U.S. shutout France 3-0 in a five game tournament for the Gold medal.
Soon thereafter, the rugby club fell to the wayside of other Santa Clara sports. In that time span, soccer became the most prevalent sport on campus. It wasn’t until the 1960’s that rugby came back in full force at Santa Clara. A group of dedicated rugby players started a club team on campus that they named the Santa Clara University Touring Side, or SCUTS. Despite their early struggles, they eventually became a prominent force in bay area college rugby. They were able to beat St. Mary’s and Cal’s rugby teams several times, both which have a long and prestigious rugby tradition. Santa Clara earned a bay area championship in the 1970’s.
The team struggled shortly thereafter due to the retirement of Santa Clara’s rugby coach. The team began to have difficulty getting enough players to come out for the team. Nonetheless, the team was still relatively successful. In the 1980’s and 1990’s the team was fairly successful, but did not win any regional titles or championships. In the first few seasons in the new millennium, the team was somewhat successful under Coach John Tyler, having an average record of .500.
In 2006 the team set out to create a renewed rugby program. With the help of Santa Clara rugby alumni, Chris Kron was hired as the new Head Coach. Coach Kron, whose resume includes being a 2 time all American and a USA Eagle, became the head of a coaching staff which also included Scott Rees, a 19 year rugby veteran, Jim Gaine, and Gabe Calebotta. Santa Clara rugby has returned.
