The US Eagles won two World Cups under Wagner Ruiz’s direction. He will lead the Boston Banshees in a historic Women’s Elite Rugby match on Saturday against the New York Exiles, a six-team semi-professional league in its inaugural season. But even illustrious careers have to start somewhere, and Wagner Ruiz’s story is typical of the American game in all its unruly glory.
“In high school, I played basketball, softball, and soccer, and unfortunately, or fortunately, I was a little too aggressive for some of those,” Wagner Ruiz said, before heading out for training. “I received yellow cards, fell out, and other such things. But a friend of mine once said, “There’s this sport where you can hit people and not get in trouble for it.” Also, I needed that because I was an angry teenager. And so I found rugby.”
Her first club was a men’s club: the Northern Colorado Flamingoes, a pink-clad band from Fort Collins, near the Wyoming line.
“I played with them for a little bit, just to run around and get an idea of what the heck was going on. And then I got to college and played … I never looked back. I played all over the country and all over the world.”
Wagner Ruiz played hooker for Beantown RFC in Boston, the team that is now the Banshees’ backbone, and Glendale in Colorado, also known as RugbyTown USA, the team that is now the Denver Onyx’s foundation. He won 28 caps for the USA. She taught math too.
I retired in 2014 and immediately started coaching the Gray Wolves – they were the Glendale Raptors then. I didn’t leave teaching until 2017 when I started moving around the country with my late wife, who was a Marine.”
Wagner Ruiz has spoken of Kandis Ruiz elsewhere, of her loss, and of support from the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, or TAPS, named for the bugle call played over military graves. “There are people that I’ve met through my time with TAPS that I consider some of my closest friends,” she has said. “We are bound by our losses, but we can rely on one another to get through the toughest times and celebrate the best times as well.” Additionally, rugby players treat one another like family. Ruiz played too, for clubs including Glendale and the US Under-20s.
Wagner Ruiz has coached Life University and Atlanta Harlequins; with Atavus, in Seattle; and at Brown, the Ivy League college in Providence, Rhode Island. Her “full-time day job” is there, as an assistant, “then I get to coach the Banshees at night.”
That seems apt, given WER marketing. The Banshees are “supernatural, otherworldly, bringing wails of fury … born of Celtic mythology and the New England history of rebellious women … harbingers of doom to our opponents.” But if training nights in Weymouth might turn a little harum-scarum, Wagner Ruiz hopes to stir up home game days too, first in Quincy, home to the New England Free Jacks of MLR, the men’s pro league.
Wagner Ruiz describes the daily challenge of switching between sevens, Brown’s spring game, and WER’s 15-a-side. However, women’s rugby players have never had it easy, and the new league just wants to make their lives easier. Other coaches are working in New York, Denver, the Bay Area, the Twin Cities, and Chicago, all of which are based on clubs from the amateur Women’s Premier League. The regular season will run for 10 games before playoffs in June.
Wagner Ruiz says that he is “really excited. Not that right now there’s a lot of money but … the stepping stone is now they get to just play. Players are not required to raise money for their club, they are not required to pay the coaches, and they are not required to locate field space. The league has hired general managers and coaches. It should allow athletes to hone their craft.”
agner Ruiz has coached at national level, U20s and talent ID, giving her insight into players who might boost the Eagles at World Cups after the one in England this summer. The state of the college game, she said, “speaks highly of what’s happening in high schools, because the level of talent and the level of athlete that is looking to play rugby in college has grown.
Some athletes have been playing sports since they were eight or nine years old. Therefore, they already know the rules. They already know how to avoid being caught. They already are comfortable in contact. Those are the three big things we want them to have, and then being able to read space and all those other things.”
At the mention of the writer Malcolm Gladwell, who devoted a chapter of his latest book to why women’s rugby is growing in elite colleges, like many in US rugby Wagner Ruiz gives a rueful shake of the head. Maybe the simple fact an esteemed New Yorker writer noticed speaks for how the game, like women’s sports in general, has begun to surge. Happier thoughts pertain to Ilona Maher’s meteoric rise to fame as a social media whiz and reality television star who has done for women’s rugby what Caitlin Clark has done for the WNBA. Maher was a standout for Quinnipiac University and the USA sevens. Maher recently completed a stint with Bristol in England. Back home, she is competing for a World Cup spot. The fact that every fan has access to such a role model on their phone is simply encouraging news. “Isn’t Ilona a Vermont native? A true New Englander to the core. I think something with this league is, that we’re a bit on the coattails of the US bronze medal [in Olympic sevens, in Paris last year], and then yes, Ilona’s success and being a very public figure has brought more publicity in general. Young athletes see her as a beautiful, big, strong woman – I think about my [six-year-old] daughter, right? I hope kids see Ilona and realize, ‘I can do anything.’ The great thing about rugby is that anyone can play. It doesn’t matter who you are, what you look like, shape, size, etc. It’s a spot just for you. The team led by Wagner Ruiz is based in Beantown, but it also has talent that was selected through a process that involved all six WER coaches. There are “a few sevens Eagles, a few Olympians … five or six current [15s] Eagles, and then a handful that have been to national identification camps and have played along the pathways.”
The center Emily Henrich, who had time in England with Leicester, is one established Eagle. The prop Lauren Ferridge, like Henrich out of Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, is among those chasing a cap.
The majority of players have day jobs,” Wagner Ruiz said. “There are a select few that have decided to move here for the five months that we’re training and stock up money or work remotely. In three to five years, however, if that is a thing of the past, and athletes can come to the facility, whatever that looks like, and be there to train, then lift, and then do a recovery session, that’s kind of my vision. However, for the most part, people are keeping some semblance of a nine to five. After two games in Quincy, the Banshees will play three home games in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. It all comes down to logistics. Wagner Ruiz speaks warmly of the relationship with the Free Jacks. They have achieved success by hoisting championship banners at Boston’s Logan Airport, along with the Boston Celtics (NBA), Boston Bruins (NHL), Boston Red Sox (MLB), and New England Patriots (NFL). Rugby is gaining a presence.
Wagner Ruiz responded, “I think success is putting on a good show,” when questioned about the Banshees’ and WER’s potential paths to success. I want us to have a team that plays good rugby, and the athletes to be good ambassadors for the sport.”
To the average US sports fan, rugby has a somewhat “traditional” appeal, a sport for non-conformists but very social too. Wagner Ruiz speaks enthusiastically about a game in which “you beat the crap out of each other, and then you hang out afterward and have a good meal together” as she does about elite performance.
“We all want this league to succeed. And for that to happen, we need good rugby. We require great games. We need to be entertaining, exciting, and fast-paced, with close scores that entice spectators to attend. How many rugby matches have we viewed that were okay? We know that so and so will win, or it will be a blowout. Then it’s boring rugby.
“We want to be exciting, that makes our fanbase want to come back year after year after year. And that, to me, is a success.”
WER will stream live and on-demand for free on DAZN
