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PROVIDENCE - What better way to celebrate your 30th anniversary than by chalking up an overtime victory?

That was the case with the Providence College men's rugby team, as the alumni recently took on the current team in the annual alumni game. The alumni team, despite missing seven key players to injuries, managed to score a try in sudden death overtime to take home the win and subsequent bragging rights.

The game, while being a friendly contest with 15 players to a side, has the legitimacy and intensity of an official rugby match.

"The game went well and the alumni earned the win," said current PC coach Ronan Hingerty who refereed the match.

Under a cloudless sky and with temperatures hovering in the mid-80's, weather could not have been better for a rugby match. Remarkably, a couple members of the alumni, who currently play for the Boston Irish Wolfhounds Rugby Club, recalled playing in snowy conditions in New Hampshire just a few weeks earlier. The annual alumni game relies on massive amounts of support from the alumni.

"Even when guys can't make it to the game, there is support from classes that go way back ... if guys can't play, they come to watch or send in financial contributions or other things in order to make sure the team survives budget cuts, and things of that nature," said Hingerty. The PC rugby team has a lot of camaraderie and it would probably be more accurate to refer to them as a family rather than a team. Many of the alumni have maintained lifelong relationships with one another, and some have even attended each other's weddings.

The 30th anniversary celebration was organized by Hingerty's wife, who set up a program to acknowledge the fact that the program has existed for three decades.

The success of PC rugby, and the long duration of its existence, can be attributed to the determination and commitment of its alumni, beginning with former players from the class of 1979 including Rob Boyle, Tim Callahan, and Steve Napa among others. The idea of a club rugby team was initially a tough sell to an administration, whose main focus was and has seemingly always been on the basketball team. Coming out from under the shadow of the basketball program is a challenge for most of the athletic teams at PC, but it was especially hard for rugby, a sport that is still trying to gain acceptance and popularity in the country, never mind the New England.

The Providence rugby team was formed on a shoestring budget but now the team is ranked among the best small programs in the nation, and they have the hardware to back up that claim.

The team won the Division 2 Beast of the East Tournament in 2001, 2005, and recently took home the 2009 Beast of the East title with a victory over Bryant College in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The team has won four Beast of the East titles, three of which have come under Hingerty.

Rather than going on vacation earlier this year, Hingerty and the players decided to spend their spring break playing rugby in Bermuda against international competition. The team was invited by Hingerty's friend and Bermuda resident Mike Kane Bryant who coached men's rugby at PC for 13 years. In their first match in Bermuda, PC defeated the U19 Bermuda National Team 38-0. In their second match, the Friars defeated a combined squad of the Bermuda U19 Team, a teacher's rugby club, and a police rugby club, 29-0. Many of the players on this team were adults from countries like Scotland, Wales, and New Zealand, places where rugby is one of if not the most popular sport.

"The guys played out of their skin," said Hingerty. Not bad for a bunch of college kids from New England.

The players in Bermuda were blown away by the Providence players' rugby knowledge and skill. The victories in Bermuda were certainly impressive, but the Providence players' were probably less shocked by the results than their opponents were. Many of the players on the team started playing rugby as freshmen in high school in Boston College High programs, and at schools such as St. John's Prep and Bishop Hendricken Catholic High School in Rhode Island, which boasts one of the premier high school athletic programs in the country.

Aside from the experience, talent, and instinct, the PC men's rugby team can attribute much of its success to coach Hingerty. Born and raised in Ireland, Hingerty has been able to get the most out of his players, pushing them to play far beyond themselves and beyond their experience through sheer effort and tenacity. The PC coach has been involved in rugby as a coach and player for 36 years, and began playing the sport at the age of six. The players have responded well to Hingerty's no nonsense approach. He is extremely tough on his players, especially in terms of their physical training. For Hingerty and his players, the philosophy is as follows:

"Respect in rugby is earned both on and off the field, and discipline, respect, and sportsmanship for others is the cornerstone of the sport and of PC rugby."

As the success of PC rugby continues, the popularity of the sport continues to grow throughout southern New England. The recently-played Beast of the East tournament final played between Providence and Bryant College shows how far the game has come in this area, and the state of Rhode Island.

Nevertheless Hingerty admits, "it is not a commonplace sport, nor a sport that is well known in this neck of the woods. The game is misunderstood but it impacts lives tremendously."

The PC rugby alumni, coaches, and current players are a band of brothers. They play the game the right way, and are not only ambassadors for the sport, but for Providence College as well.