Shelton and Tacoma last weekend / Photo courtesy of Shelton Rugby
Sevens and 10s leagues, in lieu of 15s, are becoming more prevalent in the girls’ high school regular seasons. Some of these competitions are vehicles for growth: Arizona, North Carolina, Florida are examples of states building momentum for sustainable leagues. Some of these regular-season competitions are established – Iowa, Texas, Missouri – and 7s is the preference. But other states have transitioned from 15s to 7s and/or 10s because numbers have dropped
Last year, Minnesota held concurrent 7s, 10s and 15s competitions in the spring, and this year numbers do not support 15s. New Jersey’s 15s league dismantled last year and so the state is trying 10s to keep players playing. Washington swapped 15s for 10s last year in an effort to avoid clubs from combining or folding, according to Rugby Washington Girls’ High School Committee’s Rob Atkinson.
“This was a great way to keep both forwards and backs playing in the spring in hopes of it being a building block for 15s down the road,” Atkinson explained.
“I knew that north of the border, BC Rugby was playing 10s in one of their adult women’s divisions, so I reached out to them for guidance on how they did it,” added Atkinson, who serves as head coach for Shelton. “They were great and sent the laws for their style of 10s. We took some of their ideas and incorporated some of our own to come up with the hybrid.”
For example, game-day opponents that have better numbers can opt to play 15s. This year, there are six teams divided into north and south pools, and rosters range from 14-33 players.
“Overall I think the play is competitive,” Atkinson surveyed the field. “One of our clubs, Liberty, from the Seattle metro area, went down to Oregon and played in a pre-season tournament, Prez Fest, and came out champions. Pretty impressive considering that Oregon has been consistently producing some incredible teams and talent in their state. The league seems to have some good competition with some seriously tough and talented girls playing each weekend. While we don’t have a large number of teams, the talent level hasn’t dropped off in our state.”
Rugby Oregon hosts concurrent 10s and 15s seasons in the spring, which gives rebuilding teams the opportunity to grow in 10s and then rejoin the 15s competition once healthy.* The 15s league grew to nine teams this year, and the 10s league has six teams, including the Lady Barbarians, which finished two points shy of rival Grant in the 2017 high school club 15s championship.
Washington will build to a state 10s championship after each team plays a seven-game regular season. Then the top two teams from the north and south pools will advance to crossover semifinals, and the placing round will follow the subsequent weekend. The third-place teams in each pool will also play for fifth overall, and thus everyone gets at least eight games in the spring.
For girls’ high schools, the important question isn’t whether 15s is preferable to 7s and/or 10s, it’s whether a state is moving toward the pared-down versions of the sport due to a drop in numbers. We’re very interested in these answers, and more investigation per state is needed, so stay tuned.
* This sentence has been edited to from, “Rugby Oregon hosts concurrent 10s and 15s seasons in the spring, allowing those teams that need a rebuilding year, are young, or simply prefer 10s to have meaningful competition,” to reflect the true goal of the 10s league.
#RugbyWashington