When a match ends, recovery is already waiting for Michigan State men’s club rugby players.
The sport, built around 80 minutes of continuous play, demands constant running, tackling, and transitions between offense and defense - and rarely slows down. When the final whistle comes, players shift quickly into recovery, knowing the body has little time to rest before the next week begins.
MSU men’s club rugby competes at the Division 1A level, placing it among the highest tiers of collegiate play in the country. While not a varsity program yet at MSU, the club operates at a competitive standard that attracts players with a wide range of experience. The roster includes life-long international players to athletes who first pick up a rugby ball in college.
Junior flanker and club president Brendan Bulles said that mix is one of the defining features of the program.
“I kind of have an untraditional route,” Bulles said. “I started playing my senior year of high school, but there’s a lot of guys on the team who are coming from overseas and have been playing rugby since they were like 6 years old.”
That range of experience, Bulles said, shapes the team’s culture and learning curve. Players constantly adjust to the speed of the game, and to teammates who may have grown up in entirely different rugby systems. Bulles said rugby also played a role in his decision to attend MSU.
“I heard that Michigan State had a rugby team, and I guess that inspired me to look at more of what Michigan State had to offer,” Bulles said. “At the time, they had a great program for what I wanted to go into, so I ended up applying late with hopes to go into kinesiology and play rugby as well.”
Senior prop Jacob Munger came to MSU through a different path. He was a state wrestling champion at Alma (Mich.) High School, and initially joined MSU as a wrestling walk-on. After being cut from the program, he began looking for another way to stay involved in competitive athletics.
“My cousin actually played rugby for Western Michigan,” Munger said. “He was like, ‘Hey, there’s a MSU club team, I think you should go out for that.’”
Munger said another campus connection helped ease the transition.
“Then I remembered my RA from freshman year actually played rugby and was the captain,” Munger said. “So, I knew him and he was actually my captain the first season I ever played.”
Coming from wrestling and football, Munger said the physicality of rugby translated quickly, but the pace and rules required adjustment.
“From wrestling to rugby, there’s not as much stoppage of play,” Munger said. “The biggest thing was the penalties and learning what I can’t do. There are also different play calls that we have for lineouts, and guys have shared tips and tricks for the scrum - just the different aspects of the game you have to pick up.”
Both players said one of the most noticeable differences in rugby is the level of respect for officials.
“The biggest shock I had when I came in was how much respect you had to have for the sir, or the referee,” Munger said. “The guys were like, ‘If you yell and you’re not the captain on the field you could get carded or thrown out.’ They know rugby, they know what they’re doing and you just have to trust that they’ll make the right calls.”
Bulles said that high level of behavior expectation is what sets rugby apart from other sports.
“I’ve never seen the kind of respect in rugby that, in all of my years of playing, like football, baseball, wrestling, like any sport I’ve played in America,” Bulles said.
Unlike many American sports, rugby is continuous, with few stoppages and constant changes in possession. Teams advance the ball into a try zone, where a try is scored by grounding the ball. The pace places a premium on conditioning, decision-making, and recovery.
That physical demand shapes how the club structures its week. Bulles said the team’s system leans heavily on forward play and physical pressure.
“We’re very forward heavy,” Bulles said. “We utilize a lot of our big, strong guys. We’re going to wear you out in the game, kind of like a ground and pound style of team.”
He said recovery work has become just as important as practice.
“I was like, I’m going to start doing yoga,” Bulles said. “Just feeling comfortable putting my body in different positions where I could visualize myself in a game.”
Munger said his preparation is more focused on managing energy and nerves before kickoff.
“I try to eat two hours before and stop having caffeine about one hour before the match,” Munger said. “If I don’t, my nerves are really racked up and my jitters take a lot of energy from me.”
Munger also said his mindset has shifted since joining rugby.
“I feel like I have way more respect now for guys that are playing rugby,” Munger said. “It’s more like, what’s the best angle of pursuit? What’s the best way I can tackle this guy? And then move on to the next thing. There’s not as much brutality in that mindset.”
One of Munger’s most memorable moments came during a matchup against Illinois. Michigan State entered the match after a cold early-morning trip and an early deficit.
“We were down by three tries,” Munger said. “We had to wake up really early, it was a cold morning. They really wanted to come in and wallop us.”
Michigan State rallied in the second half to secure a one-point win.
“We came back in the second half,” Munger said. “We ended up winning by one point. It was just the brotherhood.”
For both players, rugby at MSU is defined by adjustment and endurance, a sport where preparation and recovery are constant and the pace rarely stops, even after the final whistle.