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It’s Thursday, the sun is starting to set and the stadium lights are beginning to glow. Rugby coach Paul Negus ties up his cleats and runs onto the Woodside High School artificial turf field to greet his team.
The Peninsula Green Rugby Football Club “Beavers” arrange themselves in a line and begin running up the field, passing the ball backwards to the players beside them, a passing rule in rugby. “Come on guys, keep the ball low. Keep it under nice, lean, control,” shouts Negus.
The high school rugby club was initially formed in 1998 at Sacred Heart Prep out of a desire to play the then lesser-known sport, which wasn’t offered at any of the local schools at the time.
“When I came here, initially there wasn’t much rugby around,” recalls Negus. “But now the game is growing extraordinarily fast and the standard is getting better and better. It’s very gratifying.”
In its first year, the team — made up of players from Atherton, Menlo Park, Woodside, San Mateo, Redwood City and Palo Alto — went on to make the playoffs.
In the second year, it made fourth in the state. Now in its ninth year, the current team with members who range in ages from 15 to 19 will go on as a second seed into the playoffs after losing 29-15 to East Palo Alto last Saturday, April 14.
If all goes well, the team could head to the Northern California Rugby Football Union high school division finals.
This season as they have worked together learning the ins and outs of tries, rucks, line-outs and scrums, members have formed close friendships in the oftentimes brutal sport that uses no pads or helmets.
“It’s great to get out here with these guys. They’re some of my best friends outside of school,” said 18-year-old Teague Scott of Menlo-Atherton High School.
