The IU Rugby Team celebrated the 50^th anniversary of the club this past weekend. Many of the IU Rugby alumni were in Bloomington to celebrate the past 50 years of Mudshark Rugby.

The Old Boys dubbed this weekend the End of the World Tour. Coming back to Bloomington in full force, the Z Band provided much entertainment including a parade to Evan Williams Field on Saturday. Many prominent alumni were in town for the festivities including Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and the founders of IU Rugby, Robert Pace and Izzy Abramov, among others.

Friday, the Old Boys gathered for a Golf tournament at the Bloomington Country Club organized by Dave Bryant. Saturday came the true test for the Old Boys when they faced off against Purdue’s Alumni. Some of the younger IU alumni wound up donning the Black and Gold just to get some extra minutes. Ultimately the IU alumni overwhelmed the Purdue alumni with a barrage of scores.

After their matches were over the alumni watched the current crop of IU Ruggers host rival Purdue. The match started off with an IU score around the 9-minute mark when freshman scrumhalf Jacob Garwood blocked a Boilermaker kick and pounced on the ball for a try. Purdue’s number 8 answered with a try of his own at the 11 minute mark. Garwood quickly scored his second try of the match less than a minute later. Flanker Conor Casey scored a try off an opportunistic quick tap from 8 meters out before Purdue again took the ball down the field twice for a 21-15 IU lead at the half. In the second half IU came out dominant adding scores by prop Jake Norris, flanker Sam Zivot, No. 8 Jon Purnell, wing Antonio Winn, and centres Eric Miller, Scott Dehnke, and Jake Campbell on their way to a 60-15 victory. IU’s next match will be September 22^nd at the University of Kentucky.

Once the matches were done for the day, the Alumni and current team headed to a banquet at the Indiana Memorial Union. The alumni took turns speaking and reminiscing on the past 50 years of Rugby at IU. Many stories were told that will long be remembered within the IU Rugby family. After the banquet the Old Boys and current squad headed to the Elks Lodge in Bloomington for a social. At the social the IU Ruggers took part in singing all of their favorite songs before heading out on their own.