Bishop O’Dowd vs. Carondelet JV / Photo: Jackie Finlan
It’s a short-and-sweet season in Rugby NorCal, and like most everywhere else in the country, the focus is game time and flexibility. The girls’ high school field has reduced due to the disruptive nature of Covid-19, so some teams have temporarily combined, and any variation between 7s and 15s is acceptable. Schedules are confirmed by the week, and teams remain nimble as they react to cancelations. But with all of those caveats, rugby is back in Sacramento and the Bay Area.
“It’s really exciting to have the girls back and to be coaching again,” Bishop O’Dowd (BOD) head coach Julia Diskin said. “Just like everyone else, our season was cut short in March 2020, and it’s really refreshing to be back on the pitch and start playing.”
The Dragons began pre-season in March but with all of the team sports relocating to the spring, there have been a lot of negotiations regarding field space and practice times. To boot, the dioceses add another layer of governance in terms of Return to Play, so the varsity program wasn’t able to really host full training sessions until a couple of weeks ago. Diskin was expecting a smaller roster, and the current team numbers less than 15 players, all of whom are returners and mostly juniors.
“We only have three weekends of play,” Diskin said. “This year in NorCal, it was a, ‘Schedule your own games, make your own season,’ kind of situation. You weren’t on your own necessarily; there’s just a lot going on with numbers and different counties’ guidelines.
Dragons’ Vanessa Ortiz-Pallen / Photo: Jackie Finlan
“So the mindset is different this year, and so are the goals,” said Diskin, who’s been head coach since 2011. “We always try to max everyone’s playing time in the regular season, but this year that’s especially true since the girls have missed the whole season and we just want them to enjoy rugby. We’re not playing for any type of placement. We can only have short-term goals because the season so short. It’s really putting together some great plays and building off of what we started in 2020.”
Maia Newton represents the senior class leadership. Traditionally, she’d be found in the back three in 15s, but she’s good anywhere. She’s a good kicker, dropkicks included, and one of the fittest players on the pitch.
A trio of juniors builds excitement for a full season next year. Catherine Otuhiva is a center and, like Ysa Lucero, has a good, sturdy body type. Otuhiva has good ballhandling, pace and line-breaking ability. Lucero can be found at hooker or center, and she applies good field vision from both positions. Vanessa Ortiz-Pallen is also a very influential player, doing damage from either halfback position in 7s, and hooker or flanker in 15s. She’s very good around the breakdown and contact, like her older sister, Bianca.
Photo: Jackie Finlan
“Bianca is helping us coach and it’s really exciting,” Diskin said of the former Central Washington University standout. “I’m so happy to have her back, and the girls are learning a lot from her. It’s always good to have someone on the coaching staff who is still playing rugby, and she’s coming off a great collegiate career.
“All of the assistant coaches, except one [a BOD alum], were former players of mine,” the BOD alumna continued. “It makes you feel like you’re doing something right.”
Last Saturday, the Dragons held their first of three game days, hosting Carondelet in two 7s games. The Walnut Creek team is in a very different situation than Bishop O’Dowd is and has games scheduled through June 5.
Photo: Jackie Finlan
“Even though everyone is struggling with numbers and we didn’t get all of our returners back, we have 23 players this season,” Carondelet head coach Adam Chaffey marveled at his roster. “It’s been a good year even though nothing’s really happened for them.”
A few years ago, when the high school was building a new athletic complex, Chaffey began asking what it would take to start a rugby program. He committed as head coach, worked on funding – which does not come from the school – and built the roster. In 2019, he had 22 players, then 25 in 2020.
“Since I’m a teacher, every time I’m in class, I give a three-minute pep talk about why you should play rugby,” the campus minister and religious studies teacher said. “We have good numbers because we keep it fun. I’m not the type of coach who says, ‘Here are our best 17 players, and everyone else is on the bench.’ Everyone plays.”
Carondelet JV standout Niala Cole / Photo: Jackie Finlan
Chaffey indicated that the players run the team themselves, so there’s a lot of ownership and investment in the program’s success.
Carondelet has been able to train since November, so that has certainly helped the roster and game readiness, but not necessarily game flow.
“It’s already a little confusing when we go from 15s to 7s, but now we might be playing 12s this weekend – oh wait, it’s 10s instead,” Chaffey referenced the quick pivoting that Covid-19 forces. “It’s actually good for the new girls, because it helps them understand certain concepts. So when we had a 7s scrimmage [last] Tuesday and they got to see why team defense and spreading out is so important.”
Carondelet has just four seniors, and captains Savannah Short and Lucy Lamborn are the standouts.
“Savannah is a utility player but I love her as a flanker in 15s,” Chaffey said. “We tried her at outside center because she’s fast and has lots of acceleration, but she wasn’t really doing anything out there – through no fault of her own. Her normal role has her much more involved. She’s great in the rucks, a great counter-rucker and ball runner.”
Savannah Short considers options / Photo: Jackie Finlan
Lamborn is always around the ball as well, taking kickoffs and extra points, and managing play from flyhalf. She injects an element of surprise, like the chip-kick from a penalty that was chased down by a teammate for a try against Bishop O’Dowd last Saturday. Lamborn scores, too, and has good power she puts to use over the ball and through the defense.
Julia Jarrett injects nice pace onto the pitch, as does newcomer Olivia Mazoleweski, a soccer convert.
“She’s basically faster than me,” Chaffey said.
Carondelet reported to Oakland with two game days behind it, and requested 7s games for its varsity and JV squads. Carondelet won the varsity match 29-7, as Jarrett, Lamborn (2), Ariana Fabian and Taylor Pires scored tries, and Lamborn kicked two conversions. BOD got its try after a big breakaway from Ortiz-Pallen – which Jarrett chased down – and offload to Otuhiva, who ran hard all game. Newtown converted.
Photo: Jackie Finlan
BOD’s influential players – most notably, Ortiz-Pallen – controlled the JV match, and the Dragons won 29-5. Niala Cole stood out for Carondelet and has varsity potential.
“It feels like there’s three tiers of teams,” Chaffy generalized Rugby NorCal during normal times. “There’s the [Sacramento] Amazons’ level with nationally ranked teams. There’s the middle level, where teams have plenty of players and some talent, but maybe skills aren’t there yet. And then you have others that struggle for numbers and can do 10s or combine for 15s. We fit into the middle really well.”
Carondelet hosts Mother Lode this Saturday, and Bishop O’Dowd welcomes Pleasanton for a night game. Sacramento’s Harlequins are scheduled to travel to Lamorinda in Orinda.
Stay tuned for continued coverage.