Now winding down the spring’s 15s, Des Moines’ ruggers are already looking forward to returning to the pitch this fall for more garryowens, breakaways, mauls, rucks and takes – and hopefully a few tries along the way.

Yes, those are real words.

And some Central Iowa athletes believe those terms will become more familiar in the coming years as rugby gains popularity in the United States. The sport, whose biggest hotbeds are New Zealand and South Africa, has gone from relative obscurity several decades ago in Iowa to a point at which about two dozen teams now compete in the state.    Rugby was the earliest form of the sport that evolved into American football. The object of the game is for a 15-player team to move the ball down the field, or pitch, by running or passing – forward passing is not allowed – and scoring by a try, grounding the ball over the opponents’ goal line, or a goal, which involves kicking the ball between two upright goalposts, like in football.

Phil Kaser had never even heard of rugby in 1970 when, as an Iowa State University freshman, some friends dragged him to a game on campus. “They were shorthanded, so I got dragged into playing,” he says. “And I fell in love with it.”

He joined the Iowa State team and played against the Des Moines Rugby Club in the first game in that organization’s history. Three years later, he returned to his hometown of Des Moines and joined the Des Moines Rugby Club.

Now 54, “I play old boys’ rugby,” says Kaser, a self-employed property management and bookkeeping professional. He also coaches the club’s high school girls’ team, which formed five years ago. The club added a boys’ high school team 10 years ago and a women’s team eight years ago.

Today, more than 100 ruggers participate in the club’s fall and spring seasons, playing at the team’s West Des Moines fields against teams from Iowa and surrounding states, or at tournaments across the state and country. The spring season came to an end this weekend with the All Iowa Tournament in Waterloo. This fall, Kaser plans to travel to New Zealand for a tournament that brings together about 200 rugby teams from around the world. The event, he says, is as much about the parties and parades as it is about the games. “It’s like a vacation with 5,000 friends,” he said.

In fact, those who play rugby say one of the biggest reasons they enjoy the sport is the camaraderie, not only within teams but also between teams. One of the sport’s traditions is for the home team to host a social for its opponent after a game. In addition to four playing fields, the Des Moines Rugby Club’s $500,000 complex in West Des Moines includes a clubhouse with four locker rooms, a bar, a kitchen and a social room. The opponents retreat to the clubhouse after games for dinner, drinks, some rugby songs and maybe a replaying of the game on the big-screen television.

“Rugby is pretty much my life,” says McHenry, 27, a groundskeeper at The Fountains apartment complex in West Des Moines. “People ask me what I do and I say, ‘I’m a rugby bum.’ When you get into it, it’s a way of life.”

McHenry loved rugby so much he moved to Des Moines from Mason City so he could play at a more challenging level. Now captain of the Des Moines club, he traveled to Orlando in December to compete in the National 15s All-Star Tournament.

He doesn’t consider himself a first-class athlete. Like many rugby players, he played football in high school. But he believes his four years of wrestling provide him with the best skill set for the pitch.

“A tackle in rugby would be more like a two-legged takeout in wrestling,” he said. “In rugby, you can’t just knock somebody down; you have to wrap ‘em up and take ‘em to the ground.”

The club’s president, Jesse Jordan, a network technician for Iowa Realty, said people of any size or shape can play rugby. Rugby, like soccer, involves continuous action, making stamina a necessity. But the club members all object to the belief among some that rugby is a dangerous sport. Kaser compares rugby to sandlot football, “and the earlier football games in the U.S. were rugby football games.”

“I think people have the misconception of it being a brutal sport with people maiming each other,” said McHenry. “But there are no more injuries in rugby than there are in football or any other contact sport.”