Established in 1938, the Cornell University Rugby Football Club has strived for years to produce a competitive and respected product on the field, while maintaining the academic and moral integrity that is expected of scholastic athletes at the highest level. Despite a rich history that includes two New York State Championships in the past six years, though, the rugby team has received little recognition and acknowledgement for its recent success –– in large part due to its “club” insignia.

“There is no such thing as varsity rugby in the U.S.” said junior captain Paulo Reis. “We are the highest level of rugby around and we carry ourselves as such.”

With that in mind, the Cornell men’s rugby team joined forces with the other seven members of the Ancient Eight to form the Ivy League Rugby Championship Series in 2009. The goal of the union was to resurrect the traditional competition of Ivy League play, thus bringing relevancy and excitement to a long overlooked sport.

What resulted was the development of a seven-game league schedule that pits each team against one another once throughout the fall, with the top two squads advancing to the Northeast Rugby Union Championship in November. The benefits of the schedule have been far-reaching for the Cornell club, with the team seeing improvements in recruiting and fan support as a result of the move.

“Having an established Ivy League helps our recruiting because it is appealing for other players to take on rival Ivy Leaguers,” Reis said. “Our fans love it as well. No one complains when you knock a Harvard guy onto his backside.”

Not only will the new schedule help establish a more structured rugby season, but it will also give the Red the opportunity to compete against some of the toughest teams in the nation on a consistent basis. Dartmouth and Harvard are two of those teams, and although they currently set the bar for the upcoming Ivy League season, junior Harrison Warren and the rest of the Red stress that no team is unbeatable.

“The Ivy is fairly new and has us competing with the likes of nationally-ranked Dartmouth and Harvard,” Warren said. “We are a young and talented team and though it is a lofty goal to take those teams down, we are striving for perfection.”

The inaugural season of Ivy League play was far from perfect for Cornell in 2009, as the Red dropped six of seven league matches to finish in a three-way tie for last place in the standings. Ask any player if a similar result is to be expected in 2010 and you may end up like that Harvard guy on his backside, though, as the team has made every effort throughout the offseason to reverse last year’s fortunes.

“We have beefed up our preseason schedule with double session practices and games against tough rivals, such as Colgate,” Reis said. “In the past we have been more relaxed in the preseason.”

The man behind those double session practices is second-year head coach Tonee Labar. Having coached football and baseball locally for years, Labar came to Cornell last year with hopes of preparing the rugby club for its daunting Ivy League schedule. Labar often focuses on conditioning and relies on co-captains Reis and senior Daniel Cross for help on improving individual skills and fundamentals.

“[Labar] is doing a great job working with our team and making us better every practice,” Reis said.

In addition to Labar, the Red roster features a talented mixture of youth and veteran experience that Reis believes can propel the team further up in the standings.

“We have very experienced back line leaders in Warren and [junior] Matthew Mullery, who have a combined rugby experience of 17 years.” Reis said. “We also have strong young players who have shown talent and tenacity in Yassine Debbagh and Ben Krenzer.”

The Red will put its new preseason program and talented roster to the test on Sept. 25, when Yale comes to town for Cornell’s Ivy League opener. The following day may be the true test, however, as Harvard comes to Ithaca on the 26th. The Red took the Crimson to the brink of defeat last season, only to fade late after a series of injuries severely hampered the Cornell attack.

The Ivy League schedule will run into mid-October, at which point the top two teams will earn a spot in the regional championship tournament with the opportunity to play in a national tournament at a later date. Playing meaningful rugby that late into the season is the goal for the Red.