Sometimes creativity is called for when getting grassroots rugby off of the ground, and that’s exactly what Erik Saxon employed when looking to build girls high school rugby in North Carolina. Teams struggled for permanence, with squads dissolved as quickly as they were assembled, so the Director of the Charlotte Junior Rugby Association centralized the effort and made a substantial first step in sustaining the sport within the girls' sector.

“Over the last two seasons, even with boys programs on the rise, high school girls rugby was practically dormant,” Saxon said. “We had small pockets of girls all around the state wanting to play, but no individual club really had the numbers to form a 7s side.”

The sport needed some momentum, and the best way to build it was having clubs statewide pool their athletes and resources. So Saxon proposed a concept where players across North Carolina traveled to one location every week and played a game. The league would run from November to May, meet every Saturday, and players would join together for a training session and then divided into two teams for a competitive match. Seven clubs agreed and starting sending players and coaches for the inaugural season.

“Some weekends it would be 7 on 7; other weekends we’d get 15-a-side with reserves to spare. It was a pot luck affair,” Saxon said. “But every single Saturday, any high school girl who wanted to play rugby got training and got a match – no cancellations, no forfeits, no driving hours to be let down – we by God got it in.”

There were some downsides, of course – players competed against the same opposition; every weekend was essentially an away game, meaning a four-hour dive to play – but rugby was happening where there was none. It wasn’t long before the North Carolina girls wanted to test themselves, so games were played against Lexington and Charleston, and the team traveled to the Atlanta 7s Festival.

“They didn’t win any of those, but they weren’t blow-outs either,” Saxon said. “Progressively, they’ve gotten better and better, and the matches against out-of-state teams are getting closer and closer. As a coach, that direction is certainly more satisfying to see than the other way around.”

The highlight of the season occurred last weekend, when coach Saxon organized a North Carolina vs. South Carolina all-star exhibition match during the NACRA 7s Olympic-qualifying tournament in Cary, N.C. After the USA Women won their quarterfinal on Sunday, the two high school all-star teams ran out of the tunnel and onto the same field, and played a game in front of hundreds of spectators.

“The highlight for me had to be Scarlett Castillo’s 30-meter run to glory,” Saxon boasted. “Scarlett catches this desperation pop-pass just as she thinks she’s about to ruck over one of her teammates who is being tackled. So, instead of rucking, she ends up with the ball in her hands 30 meters from the try zone. She is a prop playing winger way out on the sideline, right in front of our bench. I’ve never seen a prop run that fast. She took it to the house and scored it in the corner outpacing both the South Carolina wing and scrummy hot on her heals. It was magical. She was giving all of us on the sideline a huge smile and then looked up and realized the crowd was all on their feet and roaring for her. She’ll play rugby for the rest of her life.”

Those moments, the ones that capture players and turn them into devotees, that’s what this season is about. And that’s what Saxon is hoping to replicate at this weekend’s South Regional Cup Tournament, where North Carolina will face teams from Tennessee, Georgia, and South Carolina.

This season went a long way in growing numbers, and next season, Saxon is planning for Eastern and Western high school teams during the regular season and hopes for more stand-alone teams. Fortunately, the majority of the players are sophomores, so the future looks even brighter with some continuity. The other part of the continuity equation is coaches, and this past season was handled by committee: Saxon, Camille Queen, Maddy Clark, and Brie Carlson from the Charlotte area, and Tim Taillon and Andy Thomas coaching in the Triad area.

“It is a work in progress,” Saxon said. “To give you an idea, just to put a single 15s side together this year, girls came in singles or small groups from North Meck, Ardrey Kell, West Meck, South Meck, the Charlotte Tigers, Clayton Copperheads, and the North Raleigh Redhawks. That is seven clubs that all have stand-alone boys teams just to make one girls team. But one is better than none.”

North Carolina Girls All Stars
Forwards
Sophomores
Scarlett Castillo (CJRA Tigers)
Evie Rourmaniere (CJRA Tigers)
Ariel Canty (North Mecklenburg HS)
Allison Royer (Clayton Copperheads)
Summer Beach (Clayton Copperheads)

Juniors
Melina Salazar (North Mecklenburg HS)

Seniors
Megan Stedem (Ardrey Kell HS)
Shirley Cocinero (North Mecklenburg HS)
December Spain (Clayton Copperheads)
Aliesha Smith (Clayton Copperheads)

Backs
Sophomores
Natalie Singh (CJRA Tigers)
Meaghan Harsar (CJRA Tigers)
Cierra Aiken (South Mecklenburg HS)
Maya Fayad (North Mecklenburg HS)
Abigale Thomas (North Raleigh Redhawks)

Juniors
Samantha Lopez (West Mecklenburg HS)
Lily Benitez (North Mecklenburg HS)
Brendelle Hover (North Mecklenburg HS)

Seniors
Sufeeyah Isong (North Mecklenburg HS)
Angela Kyere (North Mecklenburg HS)
Carolyn Mason (Clayton Copperheads)