About the Wolfhounds

Kids age 6 through high school can play in the Hounds Youth Rugby program.  While we want your children to start playing rugby as early as possible, we find that typically kids under the age of 6 are not ready for the length of the practice and do not yet have the physical skills necessary.  We may make a case by case exception, but we ask that you as the parent who knows your child best evaluate first whether they can truly handle this and still have fun.  We know you are eager, but there are plenty of rugby years ahead of them if they enjoy themselves.  If they do not enjoy themselves, your child may end up with bad rugby associations and not want to play rugby!  No one wants that!

Unfortunately, we do not currently have a fall season though we do have fall and winter clinics.  We start in the spring and play until the end of June or July depending on the age group and participant availability.

For practices, all that is needed is shorts, a t-shirt, a mouth guard (required), and sneakers or cleats (preferred - molded plastic soccer cleats work best for youth rugby).  Rugby cleats cannot have a single center front cleat.  For games, each player wears the "kit":  a Wolfhounds jersey, rugby shorts, rugby socks, cleats or sneakers, and a mouth guard.  Please leave watches or jewelry at home.  Don't forget your water bottle!  See the Equipment section on our Play page.  

No problem!  Most kids come to our team without any kind of experience.  We welcome all newcomers to the sport regardless of whether your child is starting in Kindergarten or High School.

Absolutely!  Girls are awesome ruggers, and colleges are increasingly recruiting women rugby players with scholarships.  We added a girls high school team in 2025, are adding a girls middle school team in 2026, and plan to continue adding separate teams for girls as we have the numbers of girls and coaches to do so. 

While you don't have to be Irish to play on the Wolfhounds, it is certainly not frowned upon!  The men's Wolfhounds team embodies the international nature of rugby, bringing together the closely linked communities of Boston and Ireland, with players from all over Ireland, the United States, New Zealand, England, Australia, Argentina, Canada, South Africa and Venezuela.  We embrace that diversity on the youth team as well! 

Flag rugby is played through the age of 12 and is touch only.  Tackling in rugby begins when kids are in 7th grade and is carefully taught to promote safety above all else.    

In flag rugby, players do not make contact with each and are not allowed to dive on the ground - even when attempting to score.    

All rugby coaches must undergo training certification developed by USA Rugby, the US governing body of the sport, which includes training on safety in the game.  

Middle school rugby begins to include contact and tackling but still has modifications to the game to provide less contact for the younger players.  High school rugby is the full game.  

With all contact games there is always some risk of injury. However, player safety is paramount. The laws prohibit deliberate contact with the head or neck of player, making contact with a player while the player is jumping other than to compete for the ball, and tacklers are responsible for the safety of the player they are tackling. Referees are empowered to sanction, sin bin, or send off players they deem to be playing dangerously or recklessly.  Safety instructions are used all the way through rugby to the highest professional levels.    

USA Rugby's SafeSport program was created with the U.S. Center for Safe Sport to provide guidance and rules for all who participate in rugby to keep kids safe on the field and off the field.  All coaches are required to do SafeSport training and have background checks per USA Rugby rules.

Our games are typically held on Sunday mornings.  However, sometimes we play on Saturdays depending upon field availability and opponent schedules.  This usually only happens 1-2 times a season, if that.  Our "games" are really mini tournaments where we will compete against typically 2 to 4 other local rugby clubs in a day.  As the 7's games are only 7 minutes per half, the games are 14 minutes long with a short break in the middle.  Because the games are short, the kids play multiple games during the tournament, usually competing against each opponent at least once.