Doylestown Rugby hopes to expand its girls' teams. Meet the players already excelling in the sport

When Kayla Robinson joined the Doylestown Women’s Rugby Football Club last season, she struggled with the rules as well as the physicality of the sport.

Kayla, 12, of Upper Moreland, thought about leaving the sport, but several of her older teammates encouraged her to continue playing. Months later, Robinson is now confident about her game. She earned a starting position and was voted as the Most Valuable Player against Conestoga Rugby Club in April.

“I was very surprised and really happy, too,” Kayla said about earning that honor. “I was expecting to not be good when I first started because I have never played a contact sport besides soccer.”

Head coach Stacy Mancuso, who played at Kutztown University and has coached the Doylestown Lady Dragons since 2004, believes recruiting girls to play rugby is more difficult compared to men. She said most girls love the sport and continue playing after their first season, but there is a stigma about girls playing contact sports.

Mancuso believes there are certain characteristics that her players showcase in the sport.

“It usually takes a type of personality to pursue rugby,” Mancuso said. “These girls are amazing. They are strong. They have no fear, and they have confidence.”

What is rugby, and how is it played?

Rugby is similar to American football when it comes to the ability to tackle opponents, but unlike football, rugby players don't wear pads to protect their bodies. A rugby football is shaped differently compared to an American football, too.

Rugby is unique because there are two different styles of games that can be played. Rugby clubs play 15s, which is a traditional style, but they also participate in rugby sevens, where the game is more fast paced and has seven players on the field per team. Doylestown plays rugby sevens in the fall and 15s in the spring.

Some of the most important positions in rugby includes fly half, scrum half and eight man. Fly halves are considered the quarterbacks of rugby because they call most of the plays from the back line. Scrum halves move the ball from the scrum to the back line and control the pace of an offense. The eight-man position helps control the scrum and holds the ball until the scrum half can receive it.

Mancuso believes every position on defense plays a key role, as well.

Mancuso's enthusiasm for the sport has grown as she watches the younger girls attack their new athletic endeavor.

The players come from different backgrounds. Some have been cheerleaders, dancers and theater actors while others have competed in more traditional scholastic sports like soccer.

Mancuso has watched many players have success with rugby regardless of their physical stature.

“There is no one body type,” Mancuso said. “For swimmers, you are supposed to be muscular, long and lean. Every body type, whether you are 70 pounds or 300 pounds, there is a spot for you (in rugby).”

Doylestown’s roster is made up of players who are determined and persistent, but Mancuso said having “grit” is important because the sport can be challenging for newcomers. The roster consists of middle and high school girls. The club combines practices between the two ages groups, but they usually hold separate games for middle and high school girls. Girls from the middle school age group can be elevated to the high school group if they are playing at a higher level.

Doylestown has a flag rugby program with 300 kids and Mancuso estimates it costs $250 per season to play for the club team. Some players start young, while others transition from different sports later on.

Noelle Robinson, 13, of Upper Moreland, started playing contact rugby last season with her younger sister, Kayla. Her previous experience with the sport was playing flag rugby with Blackthorn Rugby. And similar to Kayla’s experience, she struggled early on because the sport is physical. Before the season ended, Noelle developed into a starter and made an impact.

Noelle loves the sport and hopes more girls come out to play.

“Everyone is so sweet,” Noelle said about rugby culture. “Opposite team or not, one second you are attacking each other on the field. Once the game is over, you are all high fiving and giving each other compliments.”

Rugby is growing at the college level

Rugby has experienced a growth in participation throughout the years because more opportunities are available.

Four Doylestown players, including Maggie Walker and Maddie Doyle, were selected for the U.S. Rugby National U18 Camp in July at Mount St. Mary’s University in Maryland. Mancuso helped coach at the camp, which featured 40 girls competing for four days as talent evaluators watched.

There are plenty of opportunities to be recruited to play at the next level, according to Mancuso, who estimates about 80 percent of her players receive offers to play in college.

Doyle, 17, of Pennridge High School, started playing rugby in sixth grade. She remembers watching rugby during the summer Olympics and noticing how fun it looked. She decided to sign up for a Doylestown practice shortly after discovering the sport.

She is now being recruited by several college programs, including Brown, West Chester, Mount St. Mary’s and Life University.

The rising senior is looking to be a part of a competitive program at the next level.

“Just good competition and focus,” Doyle said. “I know everyone at the higher level wants to be there and really wants to push themselves, so I just love that type of community.”

Walker, 17, of Conwell-Egan Catholic High School, joined organized rugby because her father played rugby when he was younger. Her brother started playing the sport, so she signed up with him.

Walker loves rugby because she gets to tackle her opponents.

“I like hitting people,” Walker said.

Walker loves the physical side of the game, saying it helps relieves stress and anger. Yet that also came with a price for Walker, who once dislocated her shoulder mid-game and popped it back into place. Walker is aggressive and plays good defense at the number eight position.

Doyle, who plays fly half, creates plays for her teammates and finds space for them to score.

Doyle and Walker both look up to former Doylestown players who compete in college like Nina Mason and Sophia Linder, who committed to rugby programs last spring.

Mason, 19, of Life University, got involved with rugby because her dad and grandfather played. In eighth grade, Mason began playing with Doylestown and, five years later, has developed into a reliable starter with a Division III program.

“It is awesome,” Mason said about her experience. “I love it because it is the highest level that you can be at.”

Life head coach Rosalind Chou watched Mason play with Doylestown and Atlantis Rugby during her high school career. Mason also played football at Neshaminy High School as a punter.

Mason plays fly half or scrum half for sevens and for 15s she plays at fly half and other positions.

“My dad has probably been the most helpful with it,” Mason said. “He has made me train and get better since eighth grade. I wanna be better than everyone else. I want to better than myself yesterday. It motivates me to just do better every day.”

Linder, 19, who attends and plays rugby at Army-West Point, grew up playing soccer, and transitioned to rugby at 14 years old. Linder was a physical soccer player who often received yellow and red cards because of her aggressiveness as a kid. Her mother, Michele Canuso-Bedesem, played Division I field hockey and club rugby at Penn. Canuso-Bedesem, the athletic director of the Westtown School, introduced her daughter to rugby.

Linder first joined Doylestown as a junior and became an instant leader on the team.

“My favorite part about playing for Doylestown was teaching all the younger girls how to play,” said Linder, who started at Army as a freshman and scored a hat trick in the NCAA national semifinal game. “They bring in a lot of really young girls, like middle school and freshmen. That is how my game got so much better, by teaching other girls how to play and being able to implement skills that I am teaching on to the field. And being a role model for them was really fun.”

How Doylestown girls' rugby plans to grow

Even though Doylestown and other local rugby clubs have experienced success, there is still room to grow.

Most players have to drive long distances for games. Other local organizations have flag rugby youth programs for girls, but most have not established middle school and high school girls’ programs.

According to World Rugby, 2.7 million women play rugby globally, but at the local level, Pennsylvania only has 17 women's high school rugby programs compared to 32 men's high school programs, according to Pennsylvania Rugby.

Doylestown has offered to support local programs to increase the number of girls who play.

“We are offering to come out and do free clinics,” Mancuso said. “You can play rugby but not really know how to coach. Maybe you don’t have the tools to coach. Teaching local areas the tools to coach. If we can get coaches in different areas and then we can recruit girls. Putting it out there in different social media. Helping them get the word out.”

One of the most difficult challenges is convincing girls to play the sport. While rugby is a fast-growing game, traditional sports like field hockey, soccer, basketball and lacrosse are more popular among middle school and high school girls.

Most Bucks and Montgomery County high schools do not have rugby programs. La Salle College High School, an all-boys Catholic school, is the only school with a rugby program in the area.

So how are clubs like Doylestown and other programs planning to get more girls involved?

The answer is complicated.

“We are still not seeing the numbers that you would think are available in this area,” assistant head coach Shane Flynn said. “Just with the number of high schools and the number of great athletes out there. Rugby is still numbers-wise significantly behind where we want it to be. We are looking at how to get that growth.”

The pandemic has further limited participation.

Doylestown plans to start more media campaigns, run free clinics and host informational sessions for parents and players.

Overall, Mancuso is encouraged with the progress of women’s rugby, but she believes there is more work to be done.

“I would definitely like to see the sport grow to what I know it can be,” Mancuso said. “That’s producing higher level athletes earlier on. And being able to have them go on to play at the national level and play at that Olympic level. We need to do a better job of recruiting at the local level. It would be nice to see more girls come out.

“Some people don’t even know rugby exists in this country or even around in their area. Usually, when people even drive by the field sometimes, they will drive in and say, ‘Is this rugby? I didn’t know this was here.’ And how many times do they drive by this field in a day?”

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Doylestown Rugby Club looks for new ways to recruit more girls