A few pictures tell a thousand words for U. Nebraska-Lincoln’s club rugby team.

The first image seen on the team’s website, for example, is of team president Eric Hagen with his face covered in blood.

The spaces where players on the roster who don’t have mug shots would be are filled with images of ex-Cornhusker football star Ndamukong Suh.

The team’s site prominently features a photo of the entire team attempting to hold off the scrum machine, a gigantic tackling sled.

These images drive home a point.

The Nebraska U. rugby team is far from average compared to UNL’s other Rec teams.

The typical UNL Rec team doesn’t have a website.

It doesn’t travel to five states to compete. It doesn’t have a full-time coaching staff.

The average team also isn’t as demanding as the rugby squad.

The team practices at least three hours a week and sometimes up to seven in addition to their game schedule, which includes division rivals Kansas State U., Oklahoma State U. and Truman State U..

But there are no scholarships, so the team can’t punish players for not practicing.

That can lead to some players having more rigorous schedules than others.

“There’s not a whole lot we can do to force players to come to practice,” Hagen said.

“So it’s really what you make of it. We have two mandatory practices, and I lead another, and there’s also another fitness one.

“Our goal is to make the Sweet 16 (national championship) tournament, and we need to work hard to do that. If a player skips, though, his teammates ride him pretty hard.”

The team is able to support itself through alumni and fan donations, memorabilia sales and player dues, but coach Niko Waqalaivi doesn’t have great amounts of financial assistance from the university, making money a problem for the team at times.

“The university does a good job of providing for us, but not when there isn’t class,” Waqalaivi said.

“But the Old Boys (alumni association) are very good about raising money when we need them to.

“Money’s always an issue, but we always have it when we need it.”

On the field, though, those concerns go away.

Due to “communication issues,” the team had to withdraw from the Jackalope Tournament in Laramie, Wyo., and has played just one collegiate match, a 34-5 loss to Iowa State on Sept. 4.

The blowout loss was to be expected, as the team is relying mostly on inexperienced players as it tries to create a rugby program similar to what would be found in South Africa club teams.

Erwin “Smidy” Schmidt, a former NU distance runner and native of South Africa, has been instrumental in that capacity since joining the team as an assistant coach this season.

“We’re building a platform right now,” Schmidt said.

“We’re installing a system and trying to build on it. Our goal is to be a great college team in four or five years.”

That system requires a lot of new players, a job Waqalaivi leaves to players like fifth-year senior hooker Jeff Hunter.

“We try to get high school players who played football or wrestling and want to play a competitive sport,” Hunter said.

“To me, rugby is the greatest sport ever, and just playing the game makes it worth the effort.”

“You have to pay to play, so it’s not exactly easy to recruit.”

Players pay nearly $100 for insurance from the International Rugby Board as well as a few small fees, but those costs vary every year.

Waqalaivi knows all too well the problems facing the program.

After coaching Nebraska in the 1990s, he left the program to coach in Aspen,  Colo., and returned this year to find “the cupboard bare.”

Recruiting had stagnated, players had become complacent and weren’t practicing hard enough, and there wasn’t any experienced depth on the team.

“The key to any sport, any athlete, is competition,” Waqalaivi said.

“We had players who didn’t care as much, who thought they would play regardless. But we brought in more players, installed more competition.

“We can make rugby work here, but we need that competitive spirit to do it.”

A competitive spirit isn’t the only thing — a little luck avoiding injuries would help, too.

While Waqalaivi calls rugby a “contact sport like any other,” the fact remains that with very little padding worn, and high levels of contact, rugby has a high injury risk.

“Rugby has the most injuries per 1,000 minutes played of any sport,” Schmidt said.

“I would know — I tore my ACL playing. This is why I’m a coach now. I was on the track team at UNL but wasn’t allowed to play rugby for this reason.”

Despite the risk of injury and the time commitment involved, the players wouldn’t change a thing.

To them, rugby isn’t a pastime. It’s a lifestyle.

“It’s definitely a lifestyle, no question,” Hagen said.

“We hang out together, party together, do everything together. I’ve made this team my entire life. We pay to play. We’re not getting any benefits.

“We do this because we love it — love the game, love the team.”