It was an unexpected surprise for Cole Burton, who, while out on the town one night, was invited to practice a sport he had never dreamed of playing before.

It didn't take long for Burton, 24, of Cape Girardeau to make the switch from his high school days of football and golf to rugby.

"I just showed up one day and started learning. From day one it was the most fun sport I ever played," Burton said.

Burton now joins teammates in playing sevens, a form of rugby played in the summer. Sevens has similar rules as regular rugby, but there are only seven players on the field as opposed to 15.

"It's a lot more aggressive rugby with only half the players," he said. "It's a lot more fast-paced, and you have to be in great shape to play sevens."

Burton mixed golf and football during his high school days -- an unusual mix, but he said he enjoyed football more because of the chance to take out all his aggression through a hit. Hence his passion for rugby.

"Where else do you get to take out all that aggression?" Burton said. "Where else do you get to knock the hell out of a guy and then get up and do it again."

And if asked to choose between football and rugby?

"Rugby, of course," he said. "Football is start and stop, start and stop. Rugby is 40 minutes of intense, nonstop action, a five-minute break and then another 40 minutes of intensity. It's great."

Even after three years of trying his hand at the sport, he says he's still learning.

"I learn something every time I go out there. Every practice and every game I learn something new," Burton said.

Now that Burton is playing nearly every week of the year, the learning comes from experience. However, there was a time when research was key. He said he would spend hours and every extra minute he had looking up history of the sport. He also spent time surfing the Web for new rugby sites.

"I was out to learn everything I could." he said. "Once I played that first game, I was addicted. I was in awe."

It seems the learning is paying off, since Burton and his teammates recently rolled through their first summer tournament. It was a tournament in which they weren't expected to finish very well.

"We have a good mix of players, some out of high school and some just out of college. We started playing together three years ago and are beginning to become pretty much unstoppable," he said. "We didn't even breathe heavy in the tournament. It was great. It was by far the most fun tournament I've ever played in."

When on the field, Burton spends most of his time as either the eight man or a flanker. The flanker is similar to the linebacker in football, and his job is to tackle the opponent with the ball and make the ball available for a turnover.

An eight man is a transition player who plays both in the front and back of the play, depending on the situation.

"The big part of rugby is that you have to be a transition player," Burton said. "No questions asked. Whenever you need 15 to play and only 15 show up, you play anywhere they put you. You always have to be ready to do whatever it takes. It's something that you learn to love.

"Rugby just makes everything else mediocre."