Rugby Pennsylvania is a month out (April 11) from its girls’ high school spring season, and as expected, Covid-19 has reshaped the competition this spring. Teams that can play 15s are divided into east (4) and west (2) brackets, while rebuilding teams are playing in a 7s series. Division I Moon Area found itself in a difficult position, with just one opponent in State College in the west, but saw opportunity in the open calendar.
Where other programs shrunk during the pandemic, the Tigers registered 41 players this spring, allowing head coach Rocky Nurss to schedule varsity and JV matches.
“Strangely we grew from last year,” Nurss said. “I don’t want to say it was a surprise, but I didn’t know what to expect [for 2020-21]. I certainly would have bet against us growing. I wish I had a magic formula [for the growth] because I would share it with every school in the U.S.”
Nurss explained that the girls’ rugby team is a varsity club at Moon Area High School, and that designation brings legitimacy, recognition, infrastructure and access to facilities. The team doesn’t receive any funding from the school, but the school support is a big factor in the team’s health.
“And we just have the best group of girls on the team,” the coach enthused. “They’re very positive and friendly and bring that attitude of teaching the game to the younger players. Then we grow from there.”
Nurss credited all of the returners for keeping everyone engaged while seasons were canceled and players coped with isolation. There were lots of virtual and social media activities, as well as rugby-oriented tasks, like law quizzes and getting certified via World Rugby’s Rugby Ready program.
“Anything to feel like they’re rugby players,” Nurss said of the motivation.
Moon Area watched as football, soccer, basketball and wrestling progressed through their seasons, and felt confident that it too would be playing rugby this spring. At the end of January, the Tigers were able to start indoor training at the high school, all while following school and state safety regulations – whichever were stricter in any given time period.
Rugby PA put out the call for teams to declare their intentions for the spring and get their players registered. When the competition shook out, eight teams (five in the east, three in the west) opted for 7s. Conestoga, Downingtown, Doylestown and South Jersey opted for 15s and comprise the east bracket, while Moon Area and State College make up the west’s 15s competition.
That left a lot of open Saturdays on Moon Area’s calendar, so Nurss started looking across state lines.
“We’re lucky that Pittsburgh – we’re even northwest of Pittsburgh – isn’t far from Cleveland,” Nurss said. “Rugby Ohio teams are two hours away, which is even closer than State College. We’ve worked to build relationships with Ohio clubs – doing things with the Midwest Rugby Union or 7s tournaments and stuff like that. We reached out to them and found teams with gaps in their schedule.
“One of the challenges, though, is that Covid rules from the state and school are dynamic, to say the least,” Nurss added. “The school said that we could travel out of state but could not stay overnight, so that took some options out.”
Moon Area makes the first of three trips to Cleveland on March 20, when the Tigers attend Mentor’s North Coast High School Rugby Festival. The team has been invited to the tournament in years past but the event conflicted with Rugby PA obligations. Teams will get two 15s matches, each 45 minutes long, all during one Saturday.
“It seems very pre-season-y,” Nurss said of the new competition. “There are open subs and it’s more of a, ‘Let’s try to get minutes and work out the kinks,’ which is extra important in a year like this where returners aren’t as veteran as we’re used to.”
The team will then return to Ohio to play Highland on March 28 and St. Joseph Academy on April 25. In between those two trips, both squads will travel to Buffalo on April 18 for games against City Honors. Varsity contests its two league matches against State College on April 11 and May 2, and the JV side will play Holidaysburg on those dates as well.
“Goal setting is always tricky at this level when you have 15 first-year players,” Nurss said. “They’re not saying, ‘Let’s win a championship.’ They’re still feeling out the sport and asking whether it’s for them. Then there are seniors who have had the opportunity to play higher-level ball and want to talk about goal setting. The goal every season is to play rugby at the highest level possible, and to have fun doing it. Sometimes that includes exciting things like championships, and other times it’s just amazing to get on the field and play against great opponents.”
The 7s series will not name a champion, but the 15s semifinals and championship will occur May 15-16. When the Rugby PA season ends, Moon Area transitions to West Pitt, and approximately 80% of the roster remains the same. Nurss is hopeful for a summer 7s season, although many of the tournaments the team tends to attend are run by senior clubs, so it’ll depend on that tier’s appetite to host. In the meantime, the Tigers will enjoy the rugby that’s in front of them, whether in Pennsylvania, Ohio or upstate New York.
HS GIRLS – 15s
HS GIRLS – DEVELOPMENTAL 7s
