Meet rugby: A game that hurts so good

T he baseball player ambles to home plate now with pads for elbows and shins, not to mention the requisite helmet for the noggin. And while a fastball to the dome isn't a pleasant thought, at least there's protection.

Football players and hockey players wear buffers from scalp to shin, too. But the rugby guy? Maybe Clorox is tougher. Maybe. "There is a level of pain and discomfort," New London police officer and St. Bernard graduate Brendan Benway was saying recently. "No pads. No blocking."

And for Benway, a member of the New London County Rugby Club, whose playoffs begin soon, no pads and no blocking continue to hurt so good.

They're quite the story, these rugby romantics. They love their game and the people with whom they share it, even if they're trying to dismember each other occasionally.

"It's really the brotherhood and the camaraderie," Benway, also the School Resource Officer at

London High, said. "It's more about the people you play with. Sure, you're trying to beat the crap out of each other, but when it's over, you shake hands and realize that's it. It's over. You really make friends for life doing this. Guys who have retired continue to come back and to watch. And they pick right up where they left off."

The two-minute drill version of the particulars: The New London team participates in the New England Rugby Football Union with clubs from Springfield, Boston, Vermont, New Hampshire and Saratoga, N.Y. The game, which could be seven on seven or 15 on 15, has 40-minute halves of running time, but when time expires the game continues until a score, penalty or the ball goes out of bounds.

There is a "friendly" to be played Saturday at Clark Lane Middle School before the playoffs begin later in April. It's a nonprofit that survives on its sponsors — they're always looking for more — and have even cultivated a U-19 club for aspiring high school players.

Funny, though, how such a savage sport at times helped inspire Benway to become a police officer — and maybe even a better one the older he gets. Benway and Bennie Dover SRO Mike Lewis are quite the kid friendly team.

"When I was playing at Eastern (Connecticut), the players did community service," Benway said. "We would cook and serve meals at the soup kitchen and sit down and have a meal with them. We got to know their stories. You get to understand people.

"It really got me involved in wanting to work with the community and being non-judgmental," he said, "because as a police officer, you should be that way."

Then there's the physical nature of the game. Are you empowered in everyday life to know that you can survive what happens on the field and carry it over to the job?

"It does give you a sense of confidence," Benway said. "You can get beat down inside the game. And you realize that you survive and that you'll do OK for yourself. It helps you get through things physically and mentally."

The New London team began in 2003 and what Benway called "a handful of guys." Now there are nearly 30 in the program, a diverse group, too. There are Navy guys because of the sub base, Electric Boat employees, and people of varying backgrounds that solidify what Benway called the "brotherhood."

"I started out as a soccer player," Benway said. "But in college, I was living with rugby players and they're the ones who got me interested. I've been playing ever since."

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro