Traditionally, SoCal Youth Rugby (SCYR) hosts separate high school and club seasons that offer 7s and 15s options, but everything has merged for spring 2021 to mitigate Covid-19 restrictions on sports. In the girls’ U18 7s division, two teams are undefeated after two rounds: Fallbrook and Orange County’s Los Alamitos.
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Fallbrook is the known entity and has long finished first or second in whatever SoCal competition it’s competing in. Los Al is comparatively young but has been making steady gains since its debut in the 2017-18 season. Current girls’ head coach Rudy Bautista, a long-time club player in SoCal, assumed the lead role in 2019, and he’s supported by assistant coaches Ronnie Lauti and Steve Faupusa.
“When I came on, they had a good amount of girls who were interested in playing,” Bautista recounted the state of the team when he arrived two years ago. “It was just a matter of them playing other sports and seeing how that would mix with our practices. Other coaches feel differently about new sports, and some want the athletes all to themselves. But we still have a lot of girls who play other sports, and I encourage that. My daughter [Simone Bautista] runs track and others play softball [during the rugby season]. As long as they talk with me, and let me know when they can come to practice, then we can work it out.”
Student-athletes reacted positively to the flexibility as well as the Bautista’s approach to coaching.
“I’ve seen a lot clubs where the high school boys get all of the attention and training, and they’re coached differently than the girls,” Bautista said. “The boys are learning to pass off the right hand and left hand, and to hit the rucks at a faster pace, but not the girls. I didn’t like that and saw it as a major problem. Maybe the girls aren’t playing at the boys’ level yet, but you have to teach them all that stuff so they can get to that level.
Rudy Bautista with ball in hand / Photo: Paul Rudman, KLCfotos.com
“So when I was joining the staff here, I told the admin that I would train the girls just like the boys. Everything’s the same. Nothing’s watered down,” the coach continued. “The players were all for it. The girls come out and try rugby, and they like it so much that maybe that they don’t want to play the other sport they’re coming from. It’s all shapes and sizes and everyone gets to score. Everyone who comes out loves it.”
Covid-19 impacted the roster a bit this year. With the shortened season, four players opted to align with their summer club teams and just start training earlier. The team has 12 healthy players, and together they’ve defeated the Aztecs, Belmont Shore, Carlsbad Thunder, Empire, San Clemente and San Diego Mustangs to go undefeated so far.
“The difference-makers are our passing and fitness,” Bautista reviewed the competition.
“I told the girls from the beginning that I wanted them to buy into what we’re doing. That since we’re doing 7s and it’s full field, we can win half of the games just being the fitter team. So we’re running full-field Broncos once a week, and other days we do EIRA’s jingle jangles – how many times can you run to the 40 and back in four minutes. We record everyone’s times and track that, and just do a lot of fitness. Now they’re seeing how fit they are compared to other teams.
Dartmouth commit Sia Meni
“Other teams like to play crash ball, which is fine for 15s, but we’re playing 7s so it’s easy to stop,” Bautista addressed the concentration on ballhandling drills. “We just pass, pass, pass and get it to our wingers so they can do their thing. Once the girls bought in, it was easy for us.”
Captain Sia Meni leads the Griffins.
“She is a very good player who is committed to Ivy League Dartmouth when she graduates,” Bautista said. “She’s not only a great player but everyone listens to her, and she motivates everyone when their tired or down. Whatever the case, she can rile up everyone. She’ll have a lot of success in college.”
The team is mostly seniors this year, and most have post-high school rugby plans. Reign Jefferson will join Meni in Hanover, N.H., this fall, and compete in NIRA’s Division I. They’ll likely cross paths with Maci McKenzie, who has committed to the DI NCAA varsity program at Brown University.
Dartmouth commit Reign Jefferson
Javonna and Savonna McGlothan joined Los Al via Carson High and the South Bay Spartans, which aren’t competing this spring. Javonna is heading to Lindenwood University, which just won its third-straight DI Elite National Championship, while Savonna McGlothan and Jersey Lauti relocate to Arizona this fall with DI Grand Canyon University. Finally, Kirstyn Luper will attend Long Beach City College and play for Long Beach State, a DII program.
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“Simone, my daughter, has been playing since she was six years old,” Bautista said of the co-captain. “Her rugby IQ is everything, and she has such passion for the sport. She’s only a junior and still undecided, but she’s looking at Lindenwood and Central Washington.”
Fellow juniors Jazel Rugama and Aliyah Becerril bulk up the roster, and watch for sophomore Alexa Hartenberg, a true up-and-comer who will grow in prominence the next couple of years.
Junior Simone Bautista
Games are scheduled through May 22, but at the moment, Los Al and Fallbrook aren’t scheduled to meet each other during the regular season. Per Bautista, there might be an end-of-season final between the top-two teams, or a champion may be named by standings. If hosting a championship is an issue of field availability, then Los Al has it covered, as it’s allowed to host games on its high school grounds. The coach expects the U18 title to come down to Fallbrook and Los Al.
“All the girls feel this is a special team and we can win something – if we have an end-of-season tournament or 1 vs. 2,” Bautista said. “The girls want that so we hope it happens.”
Afterward, players will disperse to their summer clubs for a summer 7s season. The coaching staff doesn’t funnel players to a single team, so long as they play, and he carries the same attitude toward next-level participation. Coach Bautista is loosely affiliated with the Eagle Impact Rugby Academy (EIRA) and players have been attending their either-other-Sunday training sessions in Costa Mesa.
Junior Jazel Rugama
“They’re divided by age groups and I like it that way,” Bautista said of the joint girls-and-boys sessions. “It’s good for them to combine with the boys who are going to other top schools and see how fast that ball’s moving.
“I always encourage them to play on travel teams, whatever team you can get on,” the coach added. “You can’t get better unless you play at the next level. I’m affiliated with EIRA so if they want to try it out and practice with them, they can, but I’m not pushing anyone. We have Rhinos [Rugby Academy in Irvine], and Belmont Shore has its own program that goes on tours.”
Meni and Simone Bautista have been training with EIRA and were selected for a combination squad with the Utah Lions to compete in the NAI 7s this summer. Simone will bring that experience back to the squad, which has some recruitment work to ahead of the 2021-22 season.
“I’m not worried,” Bautista said. “With the team having so much success and just talking to people at the school, I know players will want to come out. We’ll use the summer to recruit and we’ll have a high school team for next year.”