Serra rugby off to flying start

And the Padres didn’t just turn to anyone to head up the program. The athletic department snagged one of the most-connected, fanatical coaches you could find in America — and Bob Benson was right in the Padres’ backyard.

“I heard from the (rugby coach) at St. Mary’s College, Tim O’Brien, who said Serra wanted to start a program,” said Benson, an Iowa native who moved to the Peninsula for his career after graduating Harvard Business School, where he first picked up the game.

“I met with Coach Walsh and (freshman head coach Ken) Peralta and they said they would give us the facilities and players and we’d have a good program. They did quite a bit,” Benson said. “They thought the skills taught in rugby are applicable to football — the tackling, the running. And they had football players who wanted a rugby program and who wanted to play rugby for Serra.

“I tell kids, if you like to tackle, you’ll love rugby.”

Which is why last Saturday’s 41-22 win over St. Francis was big a deal for the Padres. The Lancers have developed quite a reputation as one of the premiere high school rugby programs in Northern California in “Single School Division I” — a league of teams comprised of players from just that one school.

And St. Francis flexed its muscle early, jumping out to a 17-0 lead during the 35-minute, running-clock, first half of the 70-minute match.

But Serra got on the scoreboard just before halftime when freshman Paki Latu bulled his way through the Lancers’ defense for a try (worth five points). The Padres maintained that momentum after halftime as they blitzed St. Francis, scoring 36 unanswered points to take a 41-17 lead before the Lancers scored a try at the buzzer for the final score.

Latu scored four times, with Peyton Thomas, Parker Van Doren and Lemani Fehoko also adding scores. Drew Takapoutolo added three conversion kicks (each of which are worth two points).

“[Latu has] played a little bit, two years ago with the (East Palo Alto) Razorhogs. He’s not new to rugby, but new to our team,” Benson said. “There are some guys who are big and some who are fast. He is both big and powerful.

“Peyton Thomas (6-0, 280 pounds) has the nose for rumbling through people. We probably have five or six guys with that capability,” Benson continued. “Van Doren is incredibly fit and probably our best tackler, but also a heavy runner.”

The win over St. Francis only reinforced what Benson and the Padres are coming to believe: they’re pretty good. The Padres opened the season with a convincing 37-12 win over St. Ignatius, with Thomas scoring a pair of tries, along with Van Doren and Dylan Modena.

All of these guys were starters for the Padres’ football team in the fall.

After beating the Wildcats, Serra took on the Dublin club team in a scrimmage, posting a 55-25 win. The Padres will be on the road for the next couple of weeks — traveling to Lafayette to take on Acalanes Saturday before going to Sacramento the following week to face Rio Americano.

Serra returns home for a 3 p.m. match Feb. 28 with Bishop O’Dowd-Oakland.

The Padres’ early success this season is not the result of a slow build over the last three years, however.

“I wish I could say that, but it’s not (how it happened),” Benson said. “It’s a culmination of a lot of things coming together. … The first three years, we had good teams, but not great teams. This year, everything came together.”

Which included, he said, classifying the rugby team under the athletic department umbrella, instead of the administration which other campus clubs are under, which made access to the athletic facilities that much easier.

An increase in roster size this season allowed the Padres to start a junior varsity squad, while Benson also credits the involvement of the parents from this year’s team, including Charis Marquez and Shelby Van Doren, for growing the program’s culture.

“This year, we have more players … and this year we have a lot of parent support, which is a perfect evolution,” Benson said.

And Serra could not have found a better person to head up the program than Benson, who at 77 years old, has been involved with the sport for 50 years — from the highest levels of USA Rugby to the grassroots level.

In addition to coaching, he is still an active player and still playing full contact.

“I still run a lot. I’m OK, speed-wise. I play scrum half,” Benson said. “I’m blessed.”

Making a career move to the Peninsula in the 1980s, Benson joined the Peninsula Green Rugby Club, based in Redwood City, in 1990 and was still with the club 30 years later when it was initially shut down because of the 2020 pandemic. When the world opened back up, Pen Green didn’t. Financially, it did not work.

“When we were running Peninsula Green, I was spending 8 to 10,000 dollars of my own money for fields and tournaments,” Benson said. “I had just retired (as the pandemic hit) and my wife said we can’t afford to keep doing this.”

Now, Benson and the Padres are ready to ride the wave, which they hope puts them in the Rugby Norcal championship game at 9 a.m. March 7 at a place to be determined. If things work out, Serra could be hosting that match.

“Without hubris, we’re a strong team,” Benson said. “The goal is to be there (in that title game). The goal is to win all our games and then win that one.”