When the national all-star 7s championships dissolved, so did the majority of territorial all-star 7s teams. The South kept its men’s program alive, playing in regional tournaments and also taking advantage of its proximity to Rugby Americas North (RAN) competitions. It wasn’t until this past week that the women snapped its hiatus, and the Panthers celebrated by winning the RAN 10s in Miami Friday. [lead photo: USA Rugby South all-star 10s team]
While the USA Rugby South women’s program fell into dormancy, Ros Chou made sure that its potential revival remained in conversation. The current Life University women’s coach engaged South administrators like Gary Kent and Kevin Kitto regularly, but the timing, personnel and funding never lined up. But when RAN announced plans for a Super Week – a weeklong rugby competition for multiple divisions in Miami – that included a women’s 10s division, South Director of Rugby Kitto knew it was time to relaunch the women’s all-star program.
Chou was a natural choice for head coach, but she had little time to assemble a squad, especially as her Running Eagles played in the DI Elite and 7s national championships and CRC 7s. Despite her coaching network and player recommendations, Chou didn’t get an overwhelming response from South players, which is reflected in the Life-heavy roster. By game day, only two non-Life players made the trip – but they were influential.
“Zoe Sanchez was great,” Chou said of the co-captain and Orlando standout (Nicole Strasko was the other captain). “She played every minute at nine. She was phenomenal, had some clutch plays, important breakaways and tries.
“Ally Gallagher’s from Eckerd and went to the Junior All-American camp,” Chou continued. “She was just excited to play with different players and learn as much as possible. She’s fit and picked it up quickly.”
The rest of the 14-player squad hailed from Life, which ended up working in the team’s favor considering the lone training session as prep for the tournament. Players knew each other’s style and spoke the same language, but there was still room for surprise.
“I brought some players who weren’t on the CRC or 7s nationals teams, who were on the cusp of making those teams, as well as some tight five players,” Chou said. “They got their chance to do this and it was really exciting. Angie Owens, for example, did well in 15s but she is not, as of yet, a 7s player. She did, however, stabilize our scrum in 10s, and that was very helpful.”
Even though Chou got her team together in time for the tournament, she and the players didn’t have much knowledge on 10s. The version was chosen as an intermediate step for those Caribbean nations building toward fuller 15s leagues.
“We were learning as we went along. My assumption was it was 50/50 between 15s and 7s play, but it’s more like 75% 7s,” Chou explained. “The one thing you couldn’t treat like 7s was the set piece. On day one, we were getting beaten up pretty badly in the scrum and could not get a good platform for our ball. We made that adjustment today [Friday] against the Bahamas. That’s the only piece that’s more like 15s. The open play, how we defended – that was all 7s.”
On day one, Thursday, USA Rugby South beat Trinidad & Tobago 17-10 and Jamaica 14-12. On Friday, the Panthers beat the Bahamas 34-0, and T&T 31-22 in the final.
“The competition was great,” Chou said. “When I played with the [Atlanta] Quins, we played these Caribbean teams at Tobago 7s, and they have come an extremely long way since then. The standard of play was great.
“It was all about fun,” the coach added. “For those coming from our [Life’s] program, they know there are certain expectations on how we’re supposed to perform. But with this new competition and new opponents, it was: Let’s figure this out together, see if we can improve each game, and if the outcome is that we do well, then winning is a bonus.”
The RAS 10s trophy also highlights the resurgence of the USA Rugby South’s women’s program, and the hope is that this success will garner more player interest. Chou served as head coach, but she hasn’t committed one way or the other in terms of the future.
“The South matters to me a great deal, having grown up here and played here,” she said. “Repping women in the South is important to me and I want there to be more playing opportunities for women on different kinds of teams and at different levels. … I’m not certain what that means for my future. We’ll see. I had fun and I enjoyed working with Kitto in the South.”
For now, it was all about taking that first step to re-establishing a South all-star 7s program and building interest for the future.
USA Rugby South 10s Team
Natalie Barrera – Life
Gabi Bergamin – Life
N’Keiah Butler – Life
Allison Gallagher – Eckerd College
Cynthia Kelly – Life
Karissa Lacy – Life
Darian Lovelace – Life
Gracie Martinez – Life
Angie Owens – Life
Zoe Sanchez – Orlando
Kimberly Semiglia – Life
Nicole Strasko – Life
Brittany Wilcox – Life
Whitney Wilson – Life