Prevailing theories say rugby was founded nearly 5,000 miles away and almost 200 years ago, so many close to the game say its foreign – one parent called them “exotic” – qualities are partly responsible for its meteoric growth in the Houston area.

The other reasons, almost unanimously agreed on by those interviewed for this story, seem to correspond with the popular needs of teenagers.

For one …

“It attracts players because there’s a lot of action,” Strake Jesuit coach Bill Rung said. “During the game you move around a lot. It’s not a lot of static action, like baseball. If you’re in rugby, you’re constantly moving.”

And …

“There’s room for every body type, no matter your size of speed,” St. Thomas coach Jim Wolfinger said. “There’s always a position to suit any kid. In general, you don’t get cut.”

Long played in this area at the club level – many area coaches once played for the Houston Old Boys for some period in the past 30 years – rugby has taken off in popularity and acceptance in this decade.

St. Thomas has had a team since 1999, and more recently teams have popped up at Strake Jesuit, Westside, Mount Carmel and in the Austin and Dallas areas. Club teams exist in Katy, The Woodlands, the Austin area and at the Houston Athletic Rugby Club.

The Texas Youth Rugby Association’s state tournament will be next weekend at Strake Jesuit.

“Rugby really caught fire (in this area) four or five years ago,” said Wolfinger, who tried for several years to convince St. Thomas to add a rugby team. “More teams started and people became more aware. We went to the national championships (in 2007) and that was a big deal for us. But it’s taken all these years. We were a bit slow in progressing to this point, and luckily at our school we have an (athletic director) who is friendly and not antagonistic to our sport.”

On a national level, rugby is most popular in New York and New England, the West Coast and some pockets of the Midwest.

At St. Thomas, it’s as mainstream as football and basketball are in some other schools. The Eagles regularly draws hundreds of fans to its games, with the team’s public address announcer regularly explaining plays and rules to fans.

Five Eagles and assistant coach Brett Mills recently traveled overseas for national tournament. Conor Mills, Paul Rogers, Bryan Henry, Andres Diaz and Joel Manek participated in an international festival in England, where Mills and Rogers were on a U-17 team that defeated teams from Portugal and Romania but lost to England.

Wolfinger, a New Jersey native, long had hoped to see other schools adopt the sport.

The latest was Strake Jesuit, whose team was founded late in the fall. A handshake agreement sealed their season in early January, and the Crusaders played their first game in February.

Patrick Connolly, a junior at Strake Jesuit, and about 20 friends played club rugby and suggested starting a team to the administration. A Facebook page devoted to the cause drew more than 80 friends.

“It got fueled in part because of cafeteria conversations,” said John Connolly, Patrick’s father who played rugby as a youth in the Bronx. “This has been an incredibly positive thing on campus.”

Rung, a Brooklyn native, met with Strake Jesuit athletic director Bill McDonald on Jan. 2. The team held its first practice two days later.

“We had virtually no experience,” Rung recalled. “I’m fortunate to have great assistant coaches along with me. We’re making sure that the rugby that’s taught is the right rugby.”

The Crusaders recently learned they’ll be back for the 2009 season as the school’s 13th varsity sport.

The state tournament will be for high school single-school and multi-school (club) teams, U-15 and U-17. Games will begin at 10 a.m. April 26 at three fields at Strake Jesuit; championship games will be April 27 at Crusader Stadium.
***
Texas Youth Rugby Association state tournament

Quarterfinals
Saturday’s Games
Round Rock Stony Point at Dallas Jesuit, noon
Coppell at Westside, time TBA
Strake Jesuit at Allen, time TBA
NOTE: Canterbury opted not to make the trip to Houston, thereby giving St. Thomas an automatic victory and advancing the Eagles to next weekend’s semifinals.

State tournament
SINGLE SCHOOL
Semifinals: 1:30 and 3 p.m. Saturday, April 26 at Strake Jesuit practice field
Championship: 2 p.m. Sunday, April 27 at Crusader Stadium
MULTI-SCHOOL (club teams)
Semifinals: 1:30 and 3 p.m. Saturday, April 26 at Strake Jesuit Gessner Field
Championship: 12:30 p.m. Sunday, April 27 at Crusader Stadium
***
The lingo
A sampling of common terms in rugby:

Try: The rugby equivalent of a touchdown in American football. To do it you have to actually touch the ball in the try zone. A try is worth five points.

Scrum: One of the familiar sights of rugby, scrums occur when the ball is put back into play after an infraction. Each team’s forwards lock together in a set manner, trying to position the scrum so that each team's hooker can kick or “hook” the ball back to the number 8 and gain possession for the team.

Pitch: The field.

Try Zone: The rugby equivalent of an end zone. Players must touch the ball down to score, the origination of the term “touchdown.”

Conversion: After scoring a try, the scoring team attempts to kick the ball through the uprights from any point on an imaginary line that runs the length of the field through where the ball was touched down. Conversions are worth two points.

Drop Goal: Worth three points, a drop goal may be scored at any by simply kicking the ball through the uprights after it has been dropped and touched the ground.

Forwards: The group of players normally numbered 1 through 8 who bind together into scrums, lineup for lineouts.

Pack: Another name for all the forwards, usually when they are bound for a scrum.

Penalty Try: The awarding of a try due to a flagrant violation by an opposing side that prevents an obvious try from being scored.

Source: The Rugby Library.

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