Although rugby is not a mainstream American sport, it is well known for being one of the most athletically challenging sports in the world.

Just ask Danny Depperschmidt, the treasurer of Alabama’s rugby club.

“You need the conditioning of soccer, the leverage skills of wrestling, as well as the physicality of football, and you need to mix all of those together to be successful,” Depperschmidt said.

The scoring system of rugby is very similar to the one of American football. In fact, American football came from rugby. The equivalent of a touchdown is called a try; it is worth five points.

The team leader in this category is Bobby Jordan with seven tries during the exhibition season. A conversion is the equivalent of an extra point, which is worth two points. The equivalent of a field goal is a dropkick, which is worth three points. The overall point leader of the team is Patrick Sequeria with 87 points.

The Crimson Tide is coming off a season with a 10-2-1 record. When asked if this gave the team momentum going into the regular season, Depperschmidt said the team’s winning and momentum has been great.

“We have a lot of confidence in our team. We have a lot of young talent. We do a good job with the leadership role. We’re coming together really well.”

This is the Crimson Tide’s first season at the Division-1 level, and there will definitely be bigger challenges and more competition facing the team now.

“Not a lot of us played rugby in high school, so we really have to stress getting better as a team every single practice and individually as well,” Depperschmidt said.

Alabama’s first match of the season is against Louisiana State University. With the football team claiming the national title from Louisiana State last month, it has caused the traditional rivalry to heat up not only in football but in rugby as well.

“We got our schedule last July, and we’ve had February 4 circled on our calendar ever since then,” Depperschmidt said. “Everything that happened during the football season has made this game even bigger.”

Even without the hype surrounding this game, the Tide has enough talent on their team to help them put up a fight against anyone.

“Our pack is incredibly strong, but also very quick,” Depperschmidt said.

The Tide faces LSU Saturday, Feb. 4, at 4 p.m. at the recreation fields.