Rugby Rules In North Carolina

New Zealander Geoffrey Maw, who lives in North Carolina’s Elizabeth City, is starting a rugby club for high school-age players in Elizabeth City and Pasquotank and Perquimans Counties. Maw — a real estate agent who since 1984 has been one of the area’s top 10 per cent best-selling realtors — is confident he will be able to field a complete team by next spring. “Rugby is a great game,” Maw said. “It’s unique, the most physical, hardest sport you can play because there are no protective pads like in football and no non-contact rules like in soccer.” Maw thinks he will have the most success recruiting football players. “Rugby is booming across the [US] in youth leagues because there is a void for the kid who wants to play a contact sport, but may not be gifted enough or big enough to play high school football.”