After coming off a disappointing loss to Nebraska on Saturday at Memorial Stadium, the K-State men's rugby team must wait until next semester to see if it can make it into its conference's regional tournament.

The loss to Nebraska was the first for the team in the Heart of America Central League. Conner Smith, team co-captain and fifth-year student in architectural engineering, said the team members did not take advantage of the opportunity to separate themselves from the pack.

"What the game culminated to is that it gave us a chance to be in the driver's seat in the division," Smith said.

The chance to claim control of the league is gone, but to many on the team, the loss was actually a confidence builder.

"Nebraska is a dominant team, and we went toe-to-toe with them," said Dan Knapp, team co-captain and sophomore in communications.

Earlier in the year, the squad opened up its season by beating Truman State University for the first time in the team's history. The victory against Truman State and narrow loss to Nebraska is evidence of a team on the rise.

In recent history, the team found itself toward the bottom of the league standings, and it struggled constantly to remain competitive. However this year's team seems to be much more formidable.

"It's no longer like 'Oh, good we get to play K-State this week,'" Knapp said.

He said the team is more regimented, and they have picked up a lot of Kansas City talent - students who had the chance to play rugby before college.

Many high schools in the Kansas City, Kan., area offer rugby as one of the sports available to students. As a result, players like Knapp and Conner had the opportunity to get years of rugby experience before beginning collegiate play.

Team member Matt Pfannenstiel, junior in kinesiology, is relatively new to the game and started playing rugby as a way to get back into competition after an ankle injury in high school ended his football-playing days.

While trying to get used to the sport, Pfannenstiel learned there is quite a difference between American football and rugby.

"In rugby, there's more endurance that goes into the game," Pfannenstiel said. "There are two 40-minute halves, and you have continuous play."

The only break in the action comes if there is an injury, and with 80 minutes of constant head-jarring action, the likelihood of injuries increase.

The game itself can be somewhat complicated for those who grew up playing football or soccer, but there is one way to break it down.

"Basically how I describe it is like a football kick return," Knapp said. "It's like a never-ending kick return."

There are several differences from other sports, but not all of them are in the way rugby is played.

"Another hard part would be like mentally letting go of fear," Knapp said. "The speedy quick guys have to buck up and tackle the huge guys."

After every match the team shares a meal and celebrates with its opposition. This bonding between the rugby players is one of the most enjoyable aspects of the game for many on the team.

"It's supposed to be a gentleman's game," Connor said. "After the game everything is left on the field."

The team, now 1-1 on the season, must think about its next two games in the spring if it wants to move on to the postseason.

In order to move on to the regional tournament next year, the team must be one of the top-two teams in the conference. Still standing in its way will be Oklahoma and Oklahoma State, both of which will pose challenges to the revamped K-State squad, and the team will need to defeat both teams to move on.

The team is looking forward to the two contests with a confident attitude, and team members have little doubt they will move on to postseason play.

"Everything is looking good on the horizon," Conner said. "There is just one blemish on the record."