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jerseys, but for a few minutes near the end of the first half, the only color that mattered was red. That was for the blood escaping from Clayton’s Travis Morrison’s broken nose as he lay prone on the far sideline. “Medic,” was the shout raised by his teammates as they reached for the water bottles. Before the trainers could reach him, however, one of the Southern Pines players decided to lend a hand. “All of a sudden, I saw a guy in a green shirt standing over me,” Morrison said later. “I thought, ‘what are you doing?’ Then the guy said, ‘I’m a doctor. Hold still.’ And he set it back (in place).” He said all of that with a smile that only a rugby player could have five minutes after having his face driven into the dirt. It seems one of the most popular sports in the world has a home right here in Johnston County. The Clayton Rugby Football Club was founded in late 2013 by the same folks that were coaching in the Clayton Copperheads Youth Rugby program that began a year earlier. Practice began the following spring with seven players, and as the calendar flipped to 2017, that number has swelled to more than 60. There are roughly 150 players involved in the separate Copperheads youth program. “It took a while to get going,” club president Ted Hardy said. “But once we started rolling, it took off really fast.” The club fields three different sides, a competitive team, a beginner team and an “Old Boys” team for those 35 and older. The competitive team has already been promoted a level, and according to USA Rugby, the organization is the fifth-fastest growing club in America. So, what makes Eastern North Carolina, and specifically Johnston County, such fertile ground for the sport? “I think there are a few reasons,” Hardy said. “I think North Carolina in general is the next rugby hotbed. … It’s a combination of the climate. There’s moderate weather here for most of the year. We get a longer playing season here. And the diversity, especially here in the Triangle, lends itself well to growing rugby. “It’s the second-most played sport in the world, and we get a lot of people here, international folks that come from other countries that are already familiar with the sport. So, when they come over for work with their kids or whatever, they seem to buy in.” There are some misconceptions about the sport that hinder its growth in some places. Like soccer, it’s not always known for being the most family friendly game to watch or play. But at the Clayton Rugby Football Club, family is at the heart of the club’s mission. The sidelines were dotted with wives and children, packed together in camping chairs. Some even brought their pets along for the fun. “We focus on these real traditional kind of family values,” Hardy said. “Respect. Sportsmanship. Integrity. There’s a big focus on those things in rugby, and it lends well to the sort of family values we have here in Johnston County. “We spend a lot of time focusing on family. We get everybody’s wives and their kids — they’re all welcome around the club. Speaking from experience, I’m originally from Ohio, the club I played for up there was not a wives and kids kind of club. It wasn’t a real inclusive kind of environment, so we’ve kind of gone in the other direction. We prefer to Travis Morrison takes a break after suffering an injury. The teams prepare for a scrum. Nick Taylor gets ready to throw the ball back into play. MARCH 2017 | 21