By William Stanton
A majority of the student population at Southern Virginia University are student-athletes. Southern Virginia athletes compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III level… All except for one sport.
Southern Virginia’s rugby team is a part of the Rugby East Conference that competes at a Division I Varsity in the National Collegiate Rugby Organization. Southern Virginia’s rugby program started in 2019 with David Smyth as their coach. Smyth continues to coach at Southern Virginia (his full interview is at the bottom of this article). Overall, with five national championship titles under his belt, Smyth is widely known across the rugby community for his accomplishments.
With the success of Southern Virginia’s rugby coach, the history of the sport is crazy. Rugby has a long history and has traveled a long way to Southern Virginia. To learn more about this journey, keep reading.
Where it all started
Legend has it that rugby originated at Rugby School in Warwickshire, England in 1823 when William Webb Ellis decided to pick up the ball during a game of futball (soccer) and ran with it. Whether this story is true or not, the Rugby Football Union stuck with it and named the Rugby World Cup Trophy the Webb Ellis Cup. The first set of agreed upon rules was created in 1863 between a collection of boarding schools and clubs across Europe. In 1871, the Rugby Football Union was officially formed.
The first ever international rugby match was between Scotland and England in the same year that the Rugby Football Union was formed. Scotland won the inaugural match.
Thirty years after the induction of the Rugby Football Union, rugby was introduced to the 1900 Summer Olympic Games in Paris, France. The home country of France would emerge victorious after defeating Germany and Great Britain, the only other teams participating. Of the sports that participated in these Olympic Games, rugby drew the largest crowds and proceeded to do so at the following Summer Olympic Games in London, England.
By the time the 1908 Summer Olympic Games occurred, the three main southern hemisphere nations in today’s age of rugby — New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa — had formed teams to compete against their European competitors. Australia would go on to win these Olympic Games.
The very first rugby game in the United States was played in 1875 in Boston between McGill and Harvard. The United States of America won gold at two Summer Olympic Games which were in Antwerp, Belgium in 1920 and in Paris, France in 1924.
Rugby was eventually dropped from the Olympics after 1924, and would not be reintroduced until the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Did you know this? The first time a national anthem was sung prior to any sporting event was during a rugby match between Wales and New Zealand in 1905, when Teddy Morgan of Wales sang the Welsh national anthem in response to the Haka performed by New Zealand. This was a great display of patriotism as the Welsh crowd joined Morgan in the singing of their national anthem.
The Rugby World Cup
This first Rugby World Cup was co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand in 1987. Both of the semi-finals were played in Australia while the championship was played in New Zealand. Sixteen nations took part in the inaugural event, with New Zealand beating France in the finals by a score of 29–9.
After the dismantling of the apartheid system in 1994, South Africa was selected to host the 1995 Rugby World Cup. South Africa would upset Australia in the opening match and would eventually face New Zealand in an over-time championship. South Africa emerged victorious by a score of 15–12, and was presented the Webb Ellis Cup by President Nelson Mandela wearing a Springbok jersey.
The movie Invictus, starring Matt Damon (Francois Pienaar) and Morgan Freeman (Nelson Mandela), is based on the story of Nelson Mandela, the apartheid, and rugby during the time of the 1995 Rugby World Cup.
As rugby started to spread across the world, more and more countries were added to the Rugby World Cup, allowing for more underdogs to get their chance against the top teams in the world. The opening weekend of the 2015 Rugby World Cup generated the biggest upset in its history. Japan, who had not won a single World Cup match since 1991, defeated the heavily favored South Africa Springboks.
Once again, Japan would be in the spotlight by hosting the 2019 Rugby World Cup, which marked the first time the tournament had been held outside of the traditional rugby strongholds. Japan would go on to defy all odds by winning all four of their pool matches to top their group and qualify for their first ever quarter-finals. The tournament saw South Africa claim their third trophy to match New Zealand for the most Rugby World Cup titles.
Leading the cause
In 2021, World Rugby announced that both 15s and 7s Rugby World Cup properties will no longer include gender in their titles, “…furthering its commitment to equality and brand consistency across its portfolio.” This is a first for a major sporting federation, and will ensure that the competitions have equal billing from a brand perspective, regardless of whether the events feature men or women.
International Rugby Today
When asked who the most dominant franchise in the world was, many people may argue it is the New York Yankees, Green Bay Packers, Los Angeles Lakers, Real Madrid, and so on and so on. Due to its lack of popularity, many would forget to consider rugby and its long history. But, the professional team that holds the most success ever in terms of win percentage is the New Zealand All Blacks. The sport’s winning percentage isn’t even close to other teams considering how long the team has been playing.
The New Zealand All Blacks have played 625 matches in its history, dating back to their first international test match in 1903. Of those 625 matches played, they have won 480, which is a 76% win rate over 120 years.
List of their accomplishments over the years:
- First country to win 3 Rugby World Cups; 1987, 2011, and 2015
- First country to win back-to-back Rugby World Cups
- Have one every Rugby World Cup pool match they have played, finishing top of their pool in all nine tournaments.
- Holds the record for the most consecutive wins at the Rugby World Cup, with 18 straight wins, spanning from 2011 to 2019.
- Has played against 19 nations, 12 of which have never won a game against the All Blacks
- Has played 45 matches against multinational all-star teams, losing only 8 matches.
- Since the World Rugby Rankings began in 2003, New Zealand has held the number one ranking longer than all other teams combined.
- Tied with England for most consecutive test match wins as the number one ranked nation.
- In their first world tour in 1905, consisting of 34 matches, New Zealand suffered only one loss: their first test loss, against Wales.
- Only international team in rugby to have a winning record against every nation they have played.
- Have only lost at home 42 times.
- Hold the record for most consecutive test wins at home: 47, achieved between 2009 and 2017
- From 2000–2009, New Zealand won 100 tests, 92% of their total games played.
- Longest unbeaten streak is 23 tests, achieved between 1987–1990
- In 2013, New Zealand won every test they played during the calendar year: 14
- Largest test win was 145–17 against Japan in 1995.
- Their heaviest loss is only by a margin of 21 points: 7–28 and 26–47, both against Australia.
- Competing in the Rugby Championship against Argentina, Australia, and South Africa, they have won the trophy 19 times during the competitions 27 year history.
When rugby was reintroduced at the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, it showcased a faster, more electrifying form of rugby, 7s (click here to read more about 7s and about the team at Southern Virginia). This was the first time rugby 7s could be seen in the Olympics. Team Fiji took home the gold medal. Fiji would also go on to defend their gold medal at the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, remaining the only country to win gold for rugby 7s. Along with the showcasing of rugby 7s at the Summer Olympic Games, every year the HSBC World Rugby Seven Series produces around 11 tournaments worldwide. Click here to read more about the series.
Rugby is growing rapidly across the United States, with over 1,200 high school teams, 900 college teams, 700 senior club teams, and 400 youth teams. For the 2021–2022 season, the high school champion for boys was St. Ignatius of Cleveland, Ohio and for the girls, Divine Savior Holy Angels of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. At the DI collegiate level for the 2022–2023 season, the National Collegiate Men’s champion was Brown University and the women’s champion was the University of Michigan. The USA Rugby men’s final will feature the U.S. Naval Academy and Cal-Berkeley. The National Collegiate Rugby 7s men’s champion was Mount St. Marys and for the women’s, Brown University.
The United States introduced Major League Rugby in 2018 with seven teams, expanding to twelve teams by 2023. This was the first installation of professional rugby in the United States.
Although New Zealand is the top, most decorated nation in all of world rugby, the team that currently sits at the top of the world rankings is Ireland, the home country of Southern Virginia University’s head coach, David Smyth.
Rugby at Southern Virginia
Coach Smyth brought rugby to the University in 2019, receiving an invitation into the Rugby East Conference at the Division I Varsity level of the National Collegiate Rugby organization. The sport has brought a lot of cultural diversity to the University, as well as national exposure by competing against universities such as Penn State, the U.S. Naval Academy, the Army, South Carolina, University of Virginia, and Virginia Tech.
Southern Virginia competes in rugby 15s during the fall semester and rugby 7s during the spring semester. In the teams third official 15s season, they finished in the top 20 in the nation for Division I Varsity, with two wins over top ten teams. The 7s team also finished third in the Rugby East Conference, qualifying for the national tournament held in Washington, D.C. Due to the tournament being played on Sunday, the team was unable to compete.
To read more about Southern Virginia rugby, click here.
Full interview with Coach David Smyth
Where were you born?
I was born in a little village named Ballymoney, Northern Ireland. But growing up, I was raised in the town of Londonderry, Northern Ireland.
When did you start playing rugby?
I started playing rugby when I was 11 years old when I entered Grammar School. The main sport at the school -it was an all boy school- was rugby, so it was either that or cricket.
How was the rugby scene in Ireland growing up?
For me, it was very good because I grew up in Ireland during The Troubles. So for young people, you know, it was very hard to dodge that and stay out of the way of that. So rugby actually helped me at that end because I got in with a bunch of good guys that weren’t interested in fighting and killing and blowing people up. We were just interested in going to school and being involved in something more, where we could be a member of a team and contribute in some way and rugby was our vehicle to be able to do that.
When did you move to the States?
I [first] moved to the States when I was 19 to serve a mission [for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints] in California, Oakland, the Bay Area. I served there for two years. Then I went back to Ireland for three weeks. And then I came back to BYU and entered there as a student to play rugby.
What made you want to come to the States besides to play rugby?
When I was back in Northern Ireland after my mission, we were still a country that was involved in civil unrest and a lot of troubles and there wasn’t much of a future for guys my age. So a lot of people my age at that time were leaving, they were going to London, New Zealand, Australia, America really wherever they could to get a better chance of having somewhat of a successful life. So when I had the opportunity to go to BYU, my father said, “Get out of here.”
What position did you play at Brigham Young University?
Scrum half and a little bit of fly half, 9 and 10, you know, whatever. It was sort of horses for courses depending on who we were playing and what we needed at that time.
When did you start coaching?
About a year after I graduated, I started coaching at BYU as an assistant coach and I was there for a couple of years. I then moved to London for my profession. I was in London for a couple of years and then came back to BYU as an assistant coach for another year. In 1990, they asked me to be the head coach. I coached from 1990 to 2003. I then took a sabbatical and moved to Samoa for a year. I came back and helped again at BYU and the head coach that had taken my place left. BYU then asked me to come back as the head coach in 2005. I was there until 2018.
How many national championships were you a part of and how many did you win?
While at BYU, we made the final 12 times and won 5 national championships.
What made you leave Brigham Young University and coach at Utah Valley University?
They asked me to go over there, and honestly, the reason was, I still wanted to be involved in the game because it helps me stay young, and I just love the sport of rugby. I love to win and I like the interactions with the players, it just ticked a lot of boxes for me. I wanted to still be involved in some shape, form or fashion. When I went over to UVU, a couple of other coaches from BYU that were there with me came over as well. So yeah, it was just to keep the game growing.
How did rugby at Southern Virginia come about?
The athletic director at the time, Jason Lamb, used to be the lacrosse coach at BYU. We shared an office at BYU for about 15 years. [He eventually] ended up here [at Southern Virginia] as the athletic director. We talked for a couple of years about the possibility of starting rugby at SVU. But it was just a matter of timing and things that were going on in life and is it something that we could do and when would we do it. In 2019, it worked for me, it worked for them, so we said, “let’s give it a go.”
How have you liked your time here in Buena Vista and coaching at Southern Virginia?
I love SVU and I love the people here! I love Virgina and I love the rugby players. We started the program from scratch. The first year we were D3, which really wasn’t a fit for us because we were bringing in D1 players. After that we were invited into Rugby East, which is, from top to bottom, probably the toughest collegiate rugby conference in the country. When you look at our team against teams like Army, Navy, and Penn State that have had rugby at their schools for a long, long time, I think, for a team that’s basically in its second year of existence, to go up against those teams, it was fairly evident that we were the most improved team in the conference over the course of the year.
Do you still plan on coaching for a while? What are your plans after you leave Southern Virginia University?
I haven’t decided for sure. I’ve been coaching now for 36 years, and it’s been the greatest thing I’ve known. It’s given me the most satisfaction in my life. But you know, it’s like anything else in life, you gotta climb mountains as you’re doing it and I don’t know how many more mountains I have in me. So we’re just playing it by ear.
Final remarks from Coach Smyth
Rugby in this country is a sport that’s on the rise. From some reports, it’s the fastest growing sport on college campuses. I think it’s a unique game in the sense that it gives young men and women the opportunity to compete, but it also, as a sport, can provide a network for those young men and women to jump onto the next thing in life and be successful off the field. It’s a sport that gives opportunities for a lot of young people that are looking to make a difference in the world. At the end of the day, rugby is going to stop. You need that degree to fall back on to be able to go out there and get a job that will provide for yourself and your family and to be a positive contributor to society. Rugby is a great avenue and a great vehicle to get you there, but you still have to be able to perform and excel in the classroom.
How Rugby Made Its Way to Buena Vista: A Timeline was originally published in The Herald on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.