It didn't take long for the ASU rugby football club to make its presence felt.
Now, the club hopes its first-game success can last all year.
The club shut down the NAU squad last Friday night, earning an impressive 22-0 victory over its neighbors to the north in its fall season debut at the band field.
The event marked the first time that ASU had beaten NAU in some years.
"The effort was good," coach Gary B. Lane said. "We came out hard and gave a good first performance."
Lane, who has 32 years experience in the sport, is optimistic about the upcoming season.
"This team has a lot of experience, we have a lot of returners," Lane said.
One of those returners is team captain J.P McGlynn. McGlynn, 21, said that the first game back on the field was a learning experience.
"It's just like riding a bike," McGlynn said. "It just takes a little while to dust off the cobwebs."
McGlynn, a communications major, delivered a performance that indicated those cobwebs are gone.
He scored two touchdowns in the game, contributing 10 of ASU's 22 points.
A native of Chicago, McGlynn grew up watching the Bears.
He said he had tried to pattern his rugby game after Walter Payton's game on the football field, because he was so tenacious carrying the ball.
It is quite fitting that "Sweetness" is McGlynn's favorite player considering the aggression McGlynn also brings to the field and the intensity he shows in the game.
McGlynn said he was pleased with the club's first game, especially the performance of his teammate, Matt Bryan, who battled hard carrying the ball during the game and had a touchdown after a 60-yard sprint.
"Matt Bryan had some great runs," McGlynn said. "We did a lot better than we did last season."
After a less-than-stellar season last spring, where the club posted a losing record, the club's hard work paid off this summer when it went undefeated against three teams in Australia.
Club president Chris Margrett said the victories in Australia boosted the club's confidence, especially since the players there were so much more experienced.
"The players over in Australia have been playing since they were very young," Margrett said.
Margrett, 21, is also known as "Bilbo" because of the hobbit-esque hair he sports when it is grown out.
He was a swimmer in high school, and he started rugby his senior year.
"My friend turned me on to rugby, and I've been playing ever since," Margrett said.
Margrett said that based on the first game of the season, the club could have a lot of success this year.
"Everybody kept their heads on straight," Margrett said. "We stepped up, a lot of guys turned on their engines. If we can keep our composure, we could do well this season."
Margrett, an ASU senior and five-year veteran in the sport, said that the work the team puts in this fall could make all the difference in the spring.
"It's the growing experience in the fall preseason that's important," Margrett said. "In the spring is when I want us to jump out in front."
The club next plays the Scottsdale men's club on Saturday.
Reach the reporter at branko.seretti@asu.edu.
