Tough on the outside, sweet on the inside

By DEVIN WEEKS

Staff Writer

COEUR d’ALENE — The mud on their legs and shoes was still drying from practice as members of the North Idaho Men's Rugby Club got to work Tuesday evening.

No, they weren't rucking, banana-kicking, passing, tackling or packing into a scrum.

They were doing something much sweeter — preparing thousands of Easter eggs to bring joy to little ones on Easter.

"I think it’s going to be awesome," said Jacob Hansen, one of the team captains. "We love having opportunities to give back to the community and to reach out and to share the rugby culture. That’s a big part of this, reaching out to anyone who wants to come. It’s exciting to be able to do this."

Several club members, their kids and friends gathered at Premier Mortgage Resources in Coeur d'Alene after hours for the Easter egg-stuffing party. The players' strong hands gently popped open the colorful plastic eggs and delicately placed the treats inside, filling huge distribution boxes to max capacity.

"It’s fun having them stuff eggs and not be in the atmosphere you normally see them in," Hansen said. "Usually, they’re grunting and rucking and running and getting dirty, but this is a lot different, so it’s cool. This is also a team bonding for us, too."

The North Idaho Men's Rugby Club, also known as the Osprey, has been at the helm of the annual Easter egg hunt in Coeur d'Alene City Park since 2004, when a local benevolent group that had organized the event gave it up.

“On the front page of the paper, it said the Lions are disbanding and they’re not doing the Easter egg hunt. It was like a week before Easter," said Chris Colligan, a team captain. "I said, ‘I have a rugby team and a mortgage company; we can probably do this.’ I’ve been in charge of this thing ever since."

Colligan has the egg hunt preparations down to a science. He and the club have built relationships with local businesses that donate prizes, candy and funds to support the Coeur d'Alene tradition.

"We’ll walk into places and just dump off trash bags of recycled eggs from last year, and they’re happy to see us," Colligan said. "We’ll go back to the same people every year to help us and they do. The people are great."

Luke Emerson is a "wing" on the team, meaning he's fast and ready to catch and score. He worked through the piles of eggs and candy next to teammate Therrin Yeager, a tight-head prop (a tough guy who usually gets in on the tackling action).

"The thing about an Easter egg — I’m going to get pretty philosophical with you here — you’ve got an Easter egg, and on the outside it may look muscular and strong, but once you break it open, it’s actually sweet," Emerson said, smiling as he popped open a blue egg, revealing a miniature candy bar. "That’s how we feel about Therrin as well. He may look big and blue like this, but on the inside he’s really just a Hershey’s chocolate."

"I just moved up here from Colorado, and I will tell you the difference between the rugby team I played with in Colorado and the rugby team up here is it’s really like a brotherhood that gives back to the community," Yeager said, still grinning from his teammate's analogy. "These guys up here genuinely care about other people."

The camaraderie was evident as the men joked, laughed and drained a few cold beverages during the egg-filling party.

Colligan said his favorite part of the egg hunt is “blowing the whistle and watching all that effort that builds up over the week disappear into kids’ baskets in like, a minute and 15 seconds. That’s pretty fun to watch. We even had a squirrel bring an Easter egg up into the tree. There was this neon green egg floating up the tree. It opened it, it got the candy and then it dropped the egg."

Colligan also has a special Easter egg trick up his sleeve. Throughout the year, he hollows out eggs and fills them with confetti.

"The kids think the confetti eggs are the coolest thing because you can sneak up behind your friend and just smack and their hair is full of confetti," he said.

Colligan is stepping down as egg hunt organizer this year and passing the baton to Hansen, who is coming up on three years on the team.

“I’m excited to jump in my first year and really help the club out any way I can,” Hansen said.

The North Idaho Men's Rugby Club Easter egg hunt will take place in Coeur d'Alene City Park and the Fort Sherman Playground at 1 p.m. on Sunday, rain, snow or shine.

They'll have up to 7,000 eggs scattered about, prizes to give away, music, and "a rugger in a bunny suit," Hansen said with a grin.

"He’ll be hopping around."