Moses Manu finished his senior football season playing defensive end for the Wildcats, with 34 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss and two sacks. He was not finished making big plays as a Wildcat though.

In early March, Manu joined the K-State/Fort Riley Rugby Club. The addition was immediate. In the first game of the season, before he joined the team, the Wildcats beat Benedictine College 3-0. The following week, with Manu staring at flanker, the Wildcats pounded Oklahoma State, 61-0, and Oklahoma, 51-12.

The Wildcats closed the season May 3, shutting out the Topeka Rugby Club 52-0, to finish with a 10-3 record. The club's vice president, sophomore center Tyler Hodges, said Manu was a game changer for the Wildcats all season.

"He's able to break a big run at anytime, and that's something that's pretty hard to come by," Hodges said.

Manu's athleticism made him force on defense, as well.

"He's definitely aggressive," said sophomore hooker Dan Knapp. "When you're in a game and Moses makes a big hit, it just fires you up. He makes you want to play better."

Manu said rugby was always his first love. He grew up in New Zealand and played from age five to 13. He then moved to Australia, where he played until he was 17. Both nations have rich rugby traditions - traditions that played a major role in his life.

"My Christmas present when I was four was a rugby ball," Manu said. "Its just part of the culture."

He played organized rugby until he moved from Australia to California, his senior year of high school, where he started playing football.

Even after playing football in high school, junior college and at K-State, he said he still prefers rugby. However, there are several ways football has helped him on the rugby field, he said. Football made him a more aggressive and physical rugby player, which, on a few occasions, has got him in trouble for illegal tackles.

"I always forget that I don't have pads and a helmet," he said.

While Manu dwarfs many of the other players on the team at 6-foot-2 and 250 pounds and possesses the dynamic athleticism to change a game in an instant, teammates said he is one of the team's most unselfish players. His teammates also said there were several opportunities for easy scores that Manu gave up, just to pass the ball.

"He's one of the better team player's we've got," Hodges said. "Even though he's probably the biggest, best athlete we've got, he's still into the team concept." Regularly one of the first players to arrive at practice and one of the last to leave, Manu brought a sense of dedication to the team as well.

"The first time I met him, he said rugby was his first love," Knapp said. "It's one thing to be out here and just playing, but if you love the sport, then you're really committed to it. And he was really committed to it."

Though he is graduating this semester, Manu could leave a lasting influence on the team, as he has recruited several current Wildcat football players to join the rugby team. He said offensive linemen Alesana Alesana and Ben Liu, as well as linebackers Reggie Walker, and Hansen Sekona, who have all played rugby before, expressed interest in playing for the club - after their final football season with the Wildcats.

If Manu stays in Manhattan after he graduates, he said he will continue to play for the team in the club games, but will not be eligible to play in intercollegiate games. But no matter where he ends up after graduation, he plans on playing rugby.

He said he will play club rugby wherever he lives next year, and eventually wants to try out for the U.S. national team.

"If I do move somewhere else I'll still look for a club," Manu said. "I still love this game, so I just want to keep playing it; it's just part of my life."