Area rugby club raising interest and welts.

Byline: Chris Hansen The Register-Guard

Too many times to remember, Ross Shepard has limped into a courtroom with black eyes, a bruised and battered face, and bandages covering numerous body parts.

And he's the lawyer.

Shepard, the Lane County public defender, is also the founder of the Eugene Rugby Club, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this season. During weekends spent on the pitch, Shepard has acquired various wounds.

"A judge once told me he'd hold me in contempt if I ever showed up in his courtroom wearing a sling again," Shepard said, admitting to not being sure whether His Honor was joking. "Those in the legal community have had good fun with it over the years."

The Eugene Rugby Club improved to 5-1 on Saturday with a 67-7 win against Budd Bay of Olympia on the rugby field on the south side of the Autzen Stadium footbridge.

The team is on the road this Saturday for a pivotal match against the Bend Roughriders.

The winner will represent the Pacific Northwest in the Pacific Coast Regionals in Phoenix the last weekend of April, with the winner advancing to the national tournament.

"It's taken us so long to build this team," Shepard said.

"Five years ago, only three or four players would come out to a practice. But this year we have a really strong team."

In a physical sport in which a winning score of 30-20 would be considered high, Eugene is averaging 57.6 points a match and has outscored its opponents 346-62.

Eugene's roster has 25 players - lawyers, teachers, blue-collar workers, university students - with the average age around 28, though Shepard, at 56, throws the curve off a little bit.

"I'm probably the oldest guy playing club rugby in the world," he said with a laugh.

Shepard got into last Saturday's match against Budd Bay in the second half and played just long enough to get a scratch or two on his long, lean, muscular arms. Back on the sidelines, he took some good-natured ribbing from a handful of his younger teammates.

"I'm fit for an old guy, but I'm just marginally fit for being out on the field," he said. Shepard stays in shape through a grueling Olympic weightlifting program.

"It's worth it," Shepard said. "This is the game we'll be playing in heaven."

Maybe up there they'll have less sun. On Saturday, as the Willamette Valley was treated to a spectacular early spring afternoon, the mates were grumbling about the poor playing conditions.

"We enjoy playing in the mud and rain," Shepard said.

"This is a hard, grinding game. Playing 80 minutes in the sun is a task, and when you get thrown down onto a dry, hard field, it takes its toll."

No need to tell that to Mike Arnold, a 26-year-old wing/forward from Eugene who owns a law firm with his wife.

Midway through the first half, there was concern on the Eugene sideline that Arnold was no longer "playing on the same field" as everyone else. He appeared disoriented after taking a hard hit above his right eye. Arnold waved off his coach, however, and finished the half.

When asked how he felt while watching the second half from the sidelines, Arnold replied, "Little tired, little beat up."

Did he really get his bell rung? "Every week," he answered with a smile.

Arnold went to law school at Oregon only after first making sure there was a rugby club team in Eugene.

A native of Kansas City, Arnold has been playing the sport since he was a sophomore in high school, and has been a member of the Eugene Rugby Club since 1998.

"Rugby is all about finding that boiling point," Arnold said. "We've got hard-working guys who work up stress through the week. We need a release. Some people use punching bags, some people run through the mountains - we just run full speed into each other."

"Yeah, it's anger management," chimed in Rufus Crump, 32, a thick, barrel-chested machinist from Eugene who played football and wrestled at the University of Puget Sound. This is his first season of rugby.

"I work out a lot and I thought I was in great shape, but after my first practice, I swore I'd never come back," Crump said.

He sported a swollen nose and upper lip, the result of taking a kick to the face during practice last week.

"This is a tough sport," he said.

The effects of which were obvious on the field toward the end of the match, as players took a little longer to get off the ground and the pace of the action slowed.

When it was all over, the teams embraced and walked to the sidelines to pack up.

The fun wasn't over, however, as both teams headed to a house where a post-match party awaited with kegs of beer and plenty of food.

"This is how we do it every week," Shepard said.

"It's just part of the camaraderie of the game. As the old saying goes, `It's a barbarian's game played by gentlemen.' '

CAPTION(S):

Three members of the Eugene Rugby Club (in stripes, from left) - Matt Springer, Dave Bell and Mike Arnold - overpower a Budd Bay player.