You ever notice that technical and engineering colleges seem to do well in rugby?

It’s noticeable. RPI made the conference playoffs in both men and women. RIT women made the national playoffs, and so did Colorado School of Mines.

NC State, which has a strong engineering program, and they along with Cal Poly and Texas A&M have all been successful in rugby.

And then there’s one more—Missouri S&T.

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“I’ve noticed that,” said S&T prop Austin McMillen about the success of technical and engineering schools. McMillen helped lead a hard-nosed effort against Montana State and Illinois State—he scored the game-winning try against Illinois State on Sunday to make the national men’s DII college semifinals. “I think it partly has to do with how we approach things. We go into anything with a plan, we’re going to stick with that plan. Things don’t go well early in the game we don’t veer away.”

Having signed on Daniel Boyd and  coach this season, S&T has ended two years of being player-coached. Even then they have performed well.

“When we were student-run, I think it benefited us that we have difficult class schedules,” said McMillen. 

Playing rugby is a nice break from schoolwork, and at the same time they can’t afford to waste time. So the players came together as a group to be serious about their rugby even when there wasn’t an older coach to lead the way.

“Our schedule helps us keep a level head when we play,” said McMillen. “That’s why we stick to the plan. And it feels good. It feels good to play at the level we think we can play; it feels good to be in the sport where we are.”