NOVA U-19 WINS FIRST-EVER VIRGINIA RUGBY TITLE

Gareth Willatt grew up around rugby. His father played when he was in high school in his native England and Willatt, a senior at Oakton, was often exposed to the game both in trips overseas and watching it on television.

But none of that fully prepared Willatt for what he did Saturday. For despite all of his experience, the most of any player on the field, Willatt was perhaps the most nervous.

He was about to star in Virginia’s first-ever unofficial state championship rugby game as part of the Virginia Rugby organization. The game was played at South County High School in Fairfax County in the football stadium with more than 100 spectators.

Willatt and his NOVA U-19 team, the largest club in Virginia, still came out victorious, defeating the expansion Western Suburbs U-19 club, 15-10, claiming the first trophy in a league that is hoping to bring the sport of rugby to the mainstream high school sports playing field.

“It was a pretty big deal,” Willatt said. “Playing in a football stadium, it’s pretty nerve-wracking. … It means the world to me, actually. It’s one of the highlights of my rugby career, to play in a state final and win the first one ever.”

Wilkinson scored NOVA’s first try and added the kick to give NOVA a lead it would never relinquish. NOVA’s Tyler Pierce of Oakton scored his team’s second try on a pass from Willatt. Western Suburbs’ Justin Belcher of Loudoun Valley scored and DJ Gutch added the kick to make the score 12-7 by the end of the first half. Willatt and Gutch each split the uprights for field goals in the second half for the final margin.

NOVA finished an undefeated season at 9-0. Western Suburbs, who was an expansion team this season, finished 6-3 after upsetting the Springfield Youth Club West End in the semifinals. Western Suburbs previously lost to NOVA, 18-7, in their regular season meeting.

NOVA’s players were from Chantilly, Oakton, Robinson, Westfield, Herndon, Stonebridge, Potomac Falls, Centreville and Paul VI. NOVA’s coach, Mike Murphy, teaches at Chantilly.

“It’s one of the most amazing things we’ve done,” said NOVA’s Philip Wilkinson, who was named the game’s most valuable player. “The whole team brought it together. From February we played our hearts out, practiced forever just trying to get ready for this one moment.”

But more important than the play on the field was the game’s significance.

“Most heart, hardest playing, biggest tackles, best effort in the biggest stage for us in high school rugby, so yeah, it’s the best game,” Murphy said. “For the sport of rugby, it’s been amazing.”

NOVA is used to practicing on the turf at Old Redskins Park and playing games on recreational park soccer fields, not in stadiums. They are accustomed to an underground that few people understand or even wish to understand.

But under the guidance of Rugby Virginia, the sport is trying to go mainstream. Rugby Virginia is an eight-team league that was created by taking teams from the Potomac Rugby Union’s summer youth leagues. It has one team comprising of only players from one high school – T.C. Williams – but is looking to start more.

The first step towards getting rugby recognized by the Virginia High School Leagues was to form an unofficial state championship. Previously, Virginia teams would compete against teams from Maryland and the District for a title. But Virginia Union started Saturday’s Virginia state championship as a way to centralize the sport and make it easier to understand and sell to other Virginia high school athletic directors.

“It’s easier to understand for everybody, for the layman who doesn’t know anything about rugby but knows a little bit about high school competition,” Virginia Rugby Executive Director Frederick Bardot said. “It’s a long process but there are more and more kids playing rugby so we hope to get there at some point.”

In its current form, Virginia Rugby is mostly a group of athletes put together from other sports. There are some football players who are trying to stay in shape for the fall season and have more excuses to slam into their opposition. There are players who were cut from other spring sports teams.

But there wasn’t a player on Saturday, despite the heat index that rose above 100 degrees, that regretting making the jump to another – even if foreign – sport.

“We’re trying to spread the word. If you’ve never played rugby before it’s a great sport. Come out and give it a try. You’ll love it, I guarantee it. … I played football, but it’s way better. You don’t have the pads. It’s really a brotherhood. You love your teammates.”