Mystic River Rugby Club has won the 2016 USA Rugby Division 1 National Championship for the first time in the team’s history.

Mystic River Rugby Club has won the 2016 USA Rugby Division 1 National Championship for the first time in the team’s history. The Mystics beat the Austin Blacks 45-33 at Infinity Park in Glendale, Colorado Saturday, June 4.

Club spokesman Dale du Preez said, “We're incredibly happy to share that we won the National Championship match on Saturday evening, which is the first National Championship the club has won in its 42 year history.”

The amateur men’s club, which hails from Pine Banks Park in Malden and Melrose, last qualified for the championship in 1992.

Du Preez said that although the team arrived a couple days before the match, they were very much focused on the task at hand. And, during the game, he said, they had lots of fans in the stands.

“We did have a lot of supporters, especially ex-players, there to watch,” he said.

The Mystics, who also run a youth program out of Pine Banks, travel great distances for many of their games. Matches leading up to the championship round, for instance, were in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Minneapolis, Minnesota and New York.

Du Preez, who played rugby for a number of years but is now retired from the sport, described the championship game as a “see-saw match,” with the Mystics fighting back to win after trailing 26-18 at half time. Four tries from Evin O’Driscoll and an MVP performance from Alatasi Tupou were crucial in the victory, he said.

The team’s starters include a number of men from the area, including Wakefield resident Jon Kokinda, Capt. Mike Bozza, of Lowell, and Cambridge resident Vini Daley. Medford resident Andrew Burns, Everett resident Todd Theodat and Cambridge resident Diego Maquieira are subs.

Mystic Rugby President Brett Willis contributed the victory to the commitment of many over the last few years.

“This National Championship is a testament to the efforts of the current Mystic River squad, but is also a huge tribute to the tireless efforts of so many contributors to the club over the past few years,” Willis said in a statement. “We have made some important structural changes to the club to improve player development, and it’s been crucial that so many players and fans have stuck with us through those changes.”

According to du Preez, some of the team’s players turned down professional contracts in the recently established PRO Rugby competition to pursue the National Title.

This championship is shining a spotlight on a sport that has come a long way over the last 10 years.

“The thing that I think has changed,” du Preez said, “is that a lot of schools have rugby programs now, particularly at the high school level.”

Plus, he said, it’s an Olympic sport.

The Mystics play “rugby sevens,” which, du Preez said, means each team has seven players, as opposed to the usual 15, and the matches are shorter.

“It’s a lot easier to watch,” he said. “You have seven incredibly athletic guys running around crazy.”

There is contact, he said, but there is also a lot of room for movement on the field.

Du Preez said the Mystics are planning a rally to celebrate the championship.