MBA Rugby Tournament - UK invades USA
A team of Warwick Business School's MBA students were one of a select few travelling to the USA last weekend to partake in the tenth annual International MBA Rugby Tournament in North Carolina USA, at Duke University. Only 5 of the 25 teams entering were from outside the USA, and 4 of these were from the British Isles.
From England came teams of MBA students from Cranfield School of Management, London Business School, and Warwick Business School, with the Smurfit School from University College Dublin emerging as the eventual tournament winners. The other non-US team was from Sydney.
Warwick Business School is sited only a few miles from Rugby School where the game of rugby was born back in the 1830s.
Warwick was drawn in the first round against two of the 'giants' of the US business schools, Stanford and Duke, the hosts themselves. Warwick managed a draw against Stanford, but then did not have enough reserve players to respond to the strength of Duke. They withdrew from the second round of the tournament due to exhaustion and injuries.
One of Warwick's team, Paul Doyne-Ditmas, was unlucky enough to suffer a broken leg. This was the worst injury of the tournament, so it was fortunate that team medic and supporter, fellow student Dr Kate Clemons was on hand to assist with treatment. By coincidence, Kate attended Rugby School for her secondary education.
In spite of his injury, Paul would not have missed participating in the tournament: The Warwick team had a great experience and we were treated to some fabulous rugby. The occasion was almost like an MBA course when you learn most about working with colleagues in both adversity and celebration. We did not have a large pool of students from which to form a team - for instance, US Stanford's team had more UK nationals than we did! - but everyone made their own contribution and we are proud of our efforts.
He continued: We are indebted and grateful to Rolls-Royce, Commerce Quest, Grant Thornton, and Carlsberg Tetley, whose financial sponsorship made our attendance possible.
Diana Holton, Press Information Officer Tel: 024 7652 2985 Email: mailto:diana.holton@wbs.ac.uk