Teams from the Carolinas are on the rise.  A quick glance through this publication’s single school and club rankings and you will see more than a handful of teams from that region.   The area in and around Charlotte, NC in particular has more than a dozen high school teams in action this season.  One of those teams, you might not have heard much about…yet. 

This is the beginning of the 3rd season for the South Meck High School Sabres Rugby Football Club.  The school itself is huge – 3,000 students.  They also have a history of winning in several other sports including multiple state titles in baseball, soccer, swimming – including producing Olympic Gold Medalist Ricky Berens.  But rugby is new and getting it going has been a challenging labor of love for head coach Cam Hayes.

“Year one we only won one match and barley could get 15 regulars to practice,” said Hayes.  “But last year, year two, we grew our numbers, grew our rugby IQ, and won seven matches – just falling one win shy of the highly competitive state playoffs.”

This year, year three for the Sabres, the team is lager still – nearly 40 strong.  Returning players are older, stronger, and make up what every successful team needs – a core of leaders who know what it takes to raise the level of play and to work together.  Last Friday night the Sabres put it all together to win the season opener against cross-town rival Ardrey Kell HS Knights 22-12.

In less than three years, South Meck has gone from a team with a few fast athletes giving this rugby thing a try, to a proper rugby side who understand the laws, concepts, dynamics and culture of the game.   Will they win Nationals this year?, likely not, but they are a hot pick to have a great season and go deep into their own state playoffs. 

It is stories like the Sabres story that together account for rugby being the fastest growing youth sport in American.  Coaches like Cam Hayes bringing rugby to places it simply wasn’t even on the radar before.  The normal challenges of finding practice space, figuring out how to mesh with other established school sports, getting buy-in from school administration, recruiting players, recruiting parents and fans are all very real challenges for start-up teams everywhere.  Effort over time though, yields results.  The faces of the Sabres players after starting their 3rd season with a win tells the whole story – pure rugby joy.

South Meck 22 Ardrey Kell 12
Man of the Match: Connor Hayes
Tries: Donzavius Guy 2, Jamel McClendon, Connor Hayes
Convs: Taran Heise

There's more work to do, but this is an excellent start to a young team.

A final note, and perhaps tip for all the high school start-ups out there.  Hayes is one of a growing core group of high school coaches in the Charlotte area whoalso volunteers to help coach middle school age and elementary school age rugby teams.  He also often invites his high school players out to mentor these younger kids and to cheer for them on their game days. Assisting and volunteering with your own potential feeder system just makes good sense and is a win-win for all involved.  Most kids have already chosen their favorite sport to play before they enter high school.

This coming weekend in North Carolina, the 1-0 South Meck Sabres are at 1-0 Berry Academy, who beat East Meck 58-12 last week. Also 1-0 in the single-school league, Myers Park will visit Hough.

In the club league, Charlotte Catholic (a single-school team that opted to play in the club league Charlotte Catholic Opens NC Season), is 1-0 and hosts Raleigh in the Rattlesnakes' first game of the season. Chapel Hill (Highlanders Start Season Strong), also 1-0, hosts North Raleigh.  

- Erik Saxon