Rugby: Harlequins confident going into national tournament

On an overcast evening, surrounded by the towering trees that border Founder’s Field in Cheswick, the sounds of cleats hitting the ground and a ball exchanging hands is the only sound reverberating in an area accustomed to birds chirping and the occasional passing car. Despite the removed setting, the Pittsburgh Harlequins were hard at work, preparing to do something fundamentally at odds with the tranquility — continue to make some noise in the rugby world. Though it was hardly expected by any rugby analyst or prognosticator, the Harlequins will be competing against the nation’s best teams in the USA Rugby Seven-a-Side Rugby Championships this weekend in San Francisco

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On an overcast evening, surrounded by the towering trees that border Founder’s Field in Cheswick, the sounds of cleats hitting the ground and a ball exchanging hands is the only sound reverberating in an area accustomed to birds chirping and the occasional passing car. Despite the removed setting, the Pittsburgh Harlequins were hard at work, preparing to do something fundamentally at odds with the tranquility — continue to make some noise in the rugby world.

Though it was hardly expected by any rugby analyst or prognosticator, the Harlequins will be competing against the nation’s best teams in the USA Rugby Seven-a-Side Rugby Championships this weekend in San Francisco.

“We’re a big surprise — we’re quite the underdog as they would say,” Harlequins coach Steven Hunt said.

The Harlequins’ inclusion among the game’s elite this season certainly has come as a shock to many in the rugby community — including Rugby Magazine which asked ‘Did anyone have the Pittsburgh Harlequins on their radar?’ in a recent article — and the team looks to build on its underdog story entering the tournament. The tournament features the nation’s 16 best teams by way of regional qualifiers.

The teams are divided into four pools of four teams each. The Harlequins’ pool features perennial contender Atlanta Old White, which has advanced to the tournament’s quarterfinals in each of the past two seasons, the Woodland Exiles from Houston and Middlesex, a Boston-area team.

With the top two seeds in each group advancing to the quarterfinals, many challenges await a young Harlequins team comprised heavily of college-aged players.

“I’d say we have as much talent as they have, but experience is another thing, and that’s where we’re very much lacking — our average age is 21-22 years old,” Hunt said. “These guys [on other teams] are 30-35 years old, they have international players, they have players from all over the world that have been playing since they were 5 years old.

“A lot of these guys have played longer since our guys have been alive. It is what it is, we’re going to go out there and give it our best.”

The road to the national rugby championship has been a long one for the Harlequins, one that is a testament to the growth and maturation of not only the club, but also the emergence of rugby in the Pittsburgh area. The club began in 1973 and slowly has been growing since, with Hunt, who has played rugby in the area for 30 years and joined the Harlequins in 1998, noting that in his time with the team, it has “come a long way.”

Even the team that will be competing in San Francisco has made significant improvement. The same group of players that lost to the Schuylkill River Exiles by 30 and 45 points at the beginning of the season nearly defeated their cross-state foes in the Mid-Atlantic Seven’s Championship, losing, 21-14, July 23. Despite the loss, the Harlequins advanced to the national tournament by virtue of their second-place finish.

Players hope that the same things that contributed to the Harlequins’ improvement this season will carry over into the tournament.

“We have to work on our game plan, we have to stick to our offensive and defensive strategies, especially maintaining possession,” player and club president Geoff Jordan said. “I think if we stick to those key aspects, we’re going to have a pretty good chance.”

With the national tournament in front of them, the Harlequins hope to continue to do what they have been doing this season — representing Pittsburgh and shocking the rugby world in the process.

“If you ask any of the rugby oddsmakers, they’ll say we have no chance of getting out of our pool, and the bloggers are all saying ‘Pittsburgh’s got no chance,’” Hunt said. “We’re a big underdog, and that’s a good way to do it — to go in there and surprise some people and give them the business.”

First published on August 5, 2011 at 12:00 am