Composite of a Team

Kevin Wolyniec



*As my time here in Australia reaches its end, I am honored to say that I played an entire season for Monash University Rugby. Every rugby player knows that his team means far more than the sport itself. It is a brotherhood, a family, and a way of life. These are a collection of experiences that I have shared with my Australian rugby brothers*

Chris Lee #13 Wing
I met Chris Lee during orientation week at Monash University. I had already been in Australia for a few days, so I was still rather clueless about the nightlife. After a few emails, we had decided to meet outside the Monash Student Center, the Loyola equivalent of Boulder Garden. As I waited for my tour guide, I was shocked to see so many students walking through campus. At this point in time I was still in my Loyola mindset where I can usually get away without buying textbooks the first week of classes; I would later be rudely mistaken. Chris was also an exchange student studying abroad in Melbourne, coming all the way from the Philippines to study law. He was a rather short, lean individual--not exactly your stereotypical rugby player. After about an hour of chitchat, he told me to go get ready to party at a club in St. Kilda. Before I could even think about my first night in the, I heard someone behind me scream, “Watch out!”
Had I known we were walking through a pick-up Australian footy game, I definitely would’ve have been a bit more careful. I received a devastating blow from behind, and my face smashed into the ground. Dusting my self off, I felt a sharp pain in my upper lip and could taste the dirt and rocks that I had just ingested. Spitting to rid myself of the putrid taste, I noticed a bit of blood on the ground and some pearly white pebbles. Except they weren’t pebbles, they were shattered pieces of my two front teeth. By some divine intervention Chris’ girlfriend was a secretary at a local dentistry clinic in Clayton. And so I spent my first weekend in Melbourne having my teeth grinded and drilled. The next day Chris gave me a phone call and chuckled when he said, “Welcome to Australia mate.”

Justin Van Nierkerk: #9 Fly-half
Just turned out to be one of my good friends in Australia. A South-African native, Justin has spent his entire life playing rugby and it certainly shows on the field. Our first match of the season was against Endeavour Hills, a team well known in Melbourne for foul play and monstrous individuals. “Don’t be nervous,” I remember him saying, “You’re new to the club so you probably won’t even play in the game today.” WRONG! Five minutes into warm-ups, Matt Polymer, a starting second rower, went down clutching his hamstring. Coach approached me and said “Suit up American. You’re starting.”
After a grueling first half of play, our team was down a try, the equivalent of a touchdown. Justin screamed at the top of his lungs “Get off your asses and fucking tackle.” As the clock slowly ticked down, we enter into enemy territory and had the potential to score the winning points. The ball dropped and rolled right to me, and as I quickly scooped it up, I noticed Justin waving his arms frantically in the air. He was wide open, and as I got a last second pass off, my body was hammered into the mud. Justin scored the game-winning try as time expired and the team goes wild. Justin sprinted over to my lifeless body and pounced on top of me to celebrate the victory. “Nice pass, you son of a bitch."

Andrew McMullan – Coach
Andrew McMullan, or Macca as the team calls him, has been coaching at Monash for the past eleven years. He himself played for the club many years ago and led the team to one of its only Australian Club Rugby Championships. After our exciting first game, Macca invited me to meet up with him at the Melbourne Crown for dinner. “Bring a good amount of money,” he told me. A bit confused about where we were going, I later found out that the Crown is one of the largest casinos in Australia, and home to some of the most prestigious and most expensive steak houses. After a $40 “New York” strip and some casual conversation about cricket, rugby, and politics, we hit the tables.
Captivated by what seemed like millions of neon lights, I followed Macca to the Roulette table. “I’ve never been much of a gambler,” I said. To which he replied, “No worries kid, just pick a number or a color.” After a few spins of the wheel, I started to pick up on some strategies at the table. Unfortunately learning these strategies cost me about $300.00, so I decided to throw my last fifty bucks on number 23, the day of my parent’s anniversary. “WINNER” the dealer shouted emphatically. Macca grabbed me by the arm and shook me violently, “You just won a thousand bucks, American.” I was beginning to like Australia.

Chris Kaznowski #7 Flanker
Chris Kaznowski is the only other American on the Monash Rugby team. In fact, he actually lives two towns over from me back in New York. Now the team was fortunate enough to have two obnoxious loud-mouthed New Yorkers. About halfway through the season, we celebrated Chris’ 21st birthday at a pub in the city called Campari House. Campari is a well-known hot spot in inner city Melbourne, and damn near impossible to get into if you show up past eleven o’clock. In Australia, the legal drinking is age is only 18, but the tradition of celebrating a 21st birthday is still alive and well outside the United States.
If I ever have to define rugby brotherhood to an outsider, the night of Chris’ birthday is the story to tell. Rugby players, both professional and collegiate, have a reputation for getting a little rambunctious. Although I have spent a great deal of time at Loyola trying to disband this stereotype, my efforts were futile against a young man celebrating his adulthood. After Kaznowksi put down a thousand dollar bar tab for all of his guests, his kind gesture lasted about 15 minutes when he was ejected from the pub for starting obscene chants that were disturbing other patrons. Chanting and drinking songs are popular to the Australian party-scene, but not necessarily acceptable at high-end establishments. Chris decided to sing a well-known Aussie song that calls the name of one of your mates (this time it was Justin) to make them finish whatever they are drinking. Guilty by association, and maybe because I was singing along too, this was my first experience in Australia of being dragged out of a club. Being the responsible and probably only sober person at the party, I dragged Chris into a taxi and took back to campus to sleep of his celebratory evening.

This is the Australia drinking song we were chanting:
“Here’s to Justin, he’s true blue, He’s a pisspot through and through, He’s a bastard so they say, he tried to go to heaven but he went the other way, so Go, Go Go, Go.”

Christian Evensen # 15 Fullback
Christian Evensen is one of the most talented kickers that I have ever had the fortune to play with. Christian’s father is from England, and his mother hails from New South Wales in Australia. Despite his passion for rugby, Christian is a diehard Australian Football (Footy) fan. Footy is one of Australia’s most popular sports, as it is an aggressive combination of soccer and American football. The players can only pass and score by kicking the ball with their feet, and tackling is most certainly encouraged. Christian took me to my first footy game, Geelong vs. Hawthorne, at MGN stadium in Melbourne city. The roar of the crowd was overwhelming as fans cheered on their favorite players, sporting their team’s colors and booing any bad call made by the officials. Christian did his best to explain the rules and the point system to me, but I will admit I still don’t understand the game at all. However, it was an amazing experience, and I would compare it to my first baseball/football game. Australian culture revolves around sports, and footy players are considered celebrities. After four quarters of what appeared to be pure mayhem, Geelong won the match. The loss upset the home team fans, who began to throw their garbage ("rubbish" in Australian) all over the field. If you’ve ever been to an American sporting event, you can most certainly say that this in fact a global tradition.

Leslie Ong # 3 Prop
Leslie has the body type of your traditional rugby prop; he is a massive human being. It was a Tuesday night and we were walking back to the residence halls to shower up. “Come over to my place for dinner,” he said with a mischievous smile. I was in for a real surprise. I found Leslie outside his apartment standing over a smoking hot grill. A quick look under the lid and I saw that it was just your standard hot dog and steak bbq. After eating until my stomach was ready to burst, Leslie politely asked me, “So how do you like kangaroo?” Although it was delicious, I had actually visited a kangaroo reserve the weekend before, where I fed and pet live kangaroos. Needless to say, I’ve since tried to avoid the Australian kangaroo delicacy.

Alex Lindros # 12 Inside Center
Lindros spent the majority of our season on the bench with a broken wrist. He did, however, manage to get me to visit Cairnes, Australia for our semester’s spring break. Although we only went for a few days, it was probably the most extreme weekend of my life. Our first day we went white water rafting followed by snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef. I can’t even begin to describe the beautiful marine life under the water’s of Australia’s Gold Coast: sea turtles, sting rays, clown fish, and some of the most vibrantly colored corals that the world has to offer. Our second day included a skydive at 14,000 feet, which I will save for another essay because the thrill and exhilaration of putting your life on the line deserves more than just a paragraph. Needless to say, our trip was a great success, and on our final night, we attached rubber cords to our ankles at the AJ Hackett Bungy center and plunged 150 feet down.
One word--breathtaking.