East Scarlets a Leader in Introducing Rugby to Iowa High Schools
It was Senior Night for the East High rugby squad on Tuesday at Williams Stadium and the Scarlet took to the pitch with a purpose. By the time the night was over they’d beaten both Roosevelt (35-7, to avenge an earlier defeat) and Lincoln (42-14) ,and likely qualified for the championship bracket of the state tournament they’ll be hosting on May 17. That should be a demolition derby minus the cars.
First, some background: the Iowa High School Rugby Association bills itself as the first sanctioned high school rugby “sevens” league in the nation. Since it was established in 2010 participation has mushroomed to more than 400 players statewide.
And this year East becomes the only public high school in the country to offer varsity letters in the sport.
Sevens, by the way, is a streamlined version of traditional rugby. Instead of 15 players per team on the field, or pitch, at a time there are only seven. And they play fast-paced games consisting of two seven minute halves with a one minute break in between.
Rugby used to be an Olympic sport and will be again, starting in 2016, for the first time since 1924, according to East Coach Clint Gadbury who heads a program that’s gone from scratch to enough players to field both varsity and JV teams in three years.
“There’s a place in rugby for kids of any size,” Gadbury stresses. As long as their hearts are big, he might have added. As the old saying goes, “it’s not the size of the dog in the fight…”
The objective of the game is to score a try (seven points in high school) by advancing the ball forward into the try zone where it must be touched down. None of that “breaking the plane of the goal line” nonsense of American football. Forward passes are illegal. The basic plan of attack resembles the frantic final play of a football game when the team that’s behind has the ball and tries a series of desperate laterals. A rugby ball, which resembles a white watermelon or a tyrannosaurus egg, can only be kicked forward. Rugby is a tackling sport. Aficionados like to stiff-arm the inevitable comparisons with football. Think tackle keep away, they say. But the similarities are obvious. Rugby is football without protective pads and breath-catching intermissions after every play. The huddles include both teams with arms locked together for a scrum. Scrums establish possession, sort of like face-offs in hockey or jump balls in basketball.
Rugby’s tailor-made for teenagers feeling their oats and spectators who like to cringe while watching between the fingers of hands over their eyes. And it’s rich in traditions of sportsmanship and fellowship. After vanquishing Roosevelt, for instance, the East squad clustered on the sideline for ceremonial cheers that saluted their opponents, the officials, their fans and, last but not least, their triumph. Even those who imagine rugby’s not their style might want to check it out. Who can’t get with a sport where the object of the game is a TRY?
Follow the East High Scarlet Rugby Club on Twitter at @EastHighRugby. And to learn more about the growth of high school rugby in Des Moines and around the state, visit the Iowa High School Rugby Association.
