Joplin happy to keep up in fast-paced rugby competition

It was 1979 when Tim Joplin first saw a rugby match. Twenty-four years later he's competing in the playoffs with the Kohlfeld Scorpions of Cape Girardeau.

"I was out in Chicago for college and just happened to go and see a game," he said. "I started playing the week after, and I've just never stopped. I've been in love since the first time I played."

The Scorpions is a Division 2 club team started in 1972. The team has won three Missouri titles and looks to take things a step further this year.

"We play Fort Collins in a couple of weeks, and if we win we will advance to the western finals," Joplin said.

Fifty percent of the team's members are college students at Southeast Missouri State University, while the other 50 percent are adults who just enjoy the competition.

"It's really not that hard to keep up," Joplin, 44, said. "We're all used to our own positions, and you're positioned according to how you play. The faster kids play in the back, and some of us slower guys play up front."

Conditioning is a must for the squad, which plays two 40-minute halves with a five-minute halftime. The toughest part is that no substitutions are allowed unless an injury occurs.

"Yeah, you've got to be in good condition," he said. "There is a level of fitness you have to have."

The sport of football emerged from rugby, and the two sports have similarities.

"The goal is still to get the ball across the line and into the end zone," Joplin said.

There is a difference, however. Competitors can run the ball, lateral it, and kick it to move it down field. A try is similar to a touchdown in football and is worth five points. A penalty kick relates to a field goal and is also worth three points, and the point-after is worth two points. Play seldom stops unless the ball goes out of bounds or there is an infraction.

"Everybody is involved all the time," Joplin said. "It's a sport where not one single person can really take over."

The game is played in full contact, yet no pads are ever used, and surprisingly the injury rate is one of the lowest in sports played in America, studies have shown.

Joplin attended Southern Illinois University in Carbondale before going to Chicago to the National College of Chiropractics. He now works as a chiropractor. In his free time this summer, he said he hopes to go to Australia for the Rugby World Cup with the rest of the team.

"This is a sport that can take you all over the world," he said.