The Central Washington Wildcats women’s rugby team makes the move to D1 Elite Championship and will fight for their family when their back is against the wall.

Come September the Wildcat women will get together for a pre-season meeting with their head coach Trevor Richards, who officially disposed of the interim tag in May. 

“Moving away from the interim tag finally cemented the future for the program,” Richards said. “Life was in limbo for me personally as well as the program, so with the announcement comes a collective team relief and we can all move forward to face a new series of challenges.”

The challenges he might be referring to wear the uniforms of BYU, Life, Lindenwood, and Stanford. This season the Wildcats are officially members of the D1 Elite Championship who Richards calls “the best teams in the country.” 

This is a shift for CWU, which had previously been playing in the National Intercollegiate Rugby Association (NIRA) competition with other varsity programs. But most of those teams are in the Northeast, and being a part of that competition was too difficult for Central, especially when D1 Elite was probably easier to play, and just as difficult.

Family Connection

Many teams pride themselves on having a family atmosphere, but Central Washington might be the closest thing to an actual family as any team in the country. The Wildcats have a couple sets of sisters on the roster this season with the A’Au trio and the Manoa sisters. “When your back is against the wall and the game is on the line it’s easier to fight for your family,” Richards said. “Blood-related, good friends, or complete strangers we want to make it a family even if we come from across the globe.”

Strong Coaching Résumé

Richards has an impressive assistant coaching resume that includes working with legends Waisale Serevi and Matt Hawkins. 

“I’ve collected bits and pieces of both rugby IQ and how to conduct yourself as a coach to build player respect,” Richards said. “But mostly I’ll have to introduce those pieces to the context and level we are operating as a team.” The team lost a handful of senior starters but have a few redshirt freshman that have been around the program awaiting debut. “By mid-February, we will have our system in place and be able to assess where we are at,” Richards said.