Rugby is a fast paced game of hard scrums, brutal hits and glorious trys.

And the Danville Oaks rugby club just happens to boast the best teams in the nation.

Both varsity men and women’s teams, which feature several Cal High students, are the top-ranked teams in the nation.

They both have have a chance to win national championships May 5-7 at Treasure Island in San Francisco.

The women’s team’s key to success is their commitment to the team, said senior Queen Hingano.

“We’re the only team that’s really really close like sisters,” Hingano said.

Hingano is a five year veteran of the Oaks, and attributes the team’s success to how family based the team is and how the girls push each other.

After all, their team motto is, “Better never stops.”

Junior Justin Lego also attributes the success of the men’s team to commitment to the team he shares with his teammates.

“The chemistry we have and the friendship is great,” Lego said. “The team is close and we like each other.”

Practice also plays a big role in the success of both teams with the Oaks practicing three times a week for two hours. Players said they work on both rugby skills and fundamentals, as well as conditioning.

“We don’t like it at all or we pretend to like it, it’s mostly sprinting” says Hingano, when discussing the extensive conditioning required for playing rugby.

“We don’t mess around in practice,” said junior Carlos Gomez.

All that conditioning comes in handy come game time.

“The continuous running gets you real tired,” Gomez said.

Added junior Claudio Rodriguez, “It’s nonstop. You’re always running.”

Rodriguez, a five year veteran fly-half, appreciates how rugby provides opportunities for everyone on the team to score.

Rugby players are also always tackling. Like football, rugby is full contact minus the pads. Players try to run the ball down the field to score tries, which are worth five points.

Unlike football, all the passing is backwards. Forward motion passes are not allowed.

The most challenging part of the game for many is simply learning the rules and how to play.

“Everything is backwards,” said Hingano.

Added senior Riley Parker, “The sport can be very confusing at first.”

Parker, a two year veteran of the women’s team, said she plays wing. This means it’s her job to catch the ball and score with it. Wing is usually a position for the fastest player on the field.

As well as her love for the team’s close-knit bond, Parker said she also enjoys the rush of the scrum.

“It’s so so fast paced, it’s an adrenaline rush,” she said.

A scrum is used to restart play in rugby. Players from opposing lines face each other and link arms. Then at the referee’s call of “crouch, bind, set,” the lines try to hook the ball with their legs to regain possession. The player that kicks the ball backward is called the hooker.

Parker is confident that her team is going to make it to nationals and appreciates having that as a goal. She attributes her team’s success to never being satisfied with their game.

“We’re always working to be better than we were yesterday,” Parker said.