On a crisp Monday evening, hours after a pelting hailstorm, the Kitsap Renegades practiced for a match that won’t happen.

The U19 boys rugby team was scheduled to face the Tacoma Tsunami on Saturday in the first Washington Youth Rugby-sanctioned match of the spring season, but the game was canceled because Kitsap is five players shy of the required 15 to field a competitive team.

“It’s a tough sell to say, ‘Hey, we’re going to play this game that you’ve never seen before, never heard of, and it’s going to be great,’” coach Nate Jensen said.

Interest in boys youth rugby is slim across the county, and it’s reflected in the numbers.

Jensen, 31, has 10 players on his roster, a modest number considering the team is open countywide to players ages 14 to 19. The girls U19 team, the Kitsap Grenades, has faired better with 17 players, enough to field a team.

Both teams belong to the Kitsap Football Rugby Union.

Union President Scott Kirvan said the reason there are more players on the girls team is because it has built a following over the past couple years. Current players recruit their classmates and friends to play, and over time, the numbers grow.

The boys team, however, has been nonexistent for the past two years.

“It just takes time to build it up,” Kirvan said.

For Jensen, the low numbers are troublesome because attracting youth athletes is vital to rugby’s sustainability in Kitsap.

“If you want to have a successful unit, you’ve got to get young kids hooked and started,” Jensen said. “You start from there and build a future.”

Rugby isn’t a sanctioned high school sport, and in turn, isn’t popular among athletes who have the option to play baseball, fastpitch, golf, track and field, girls tennis or boys soccer during the spring season.

Additionally, many students work part-time jobs or are occupied with other extracurricular activities that take precedence. Some take drivers education classes and can’t get to and from practices, others simply have different priorities.

“They are busy, busy kids,” Jensen said. “They are doing their own thing.”

Jensen said the fact rugby isn’t mainstream, like football or baseball or basketball, adds to the challenge of attracting players. The sport is rarely televised and students aren’t exposed to it like they are to others.

Kyle Cavazos, a sophomore at Olympic High School, said many of his classmates are unaware youth rugby exists in Kitsap. And many of those who shy away from playing do so because of the toll it takes on the body.

Other than a mouthpiece, rugby players don’t wear protective gear.

“Some kids don’t want to risk getting hurt if they are playing other sports,” he said. “It’s a lot of contact, a lot of speed, a lot of strength, and it’s with no pads.”

Olympic Athletic Director Nate Andrews said there has never been much interest in rugby among students at his school.

Since the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association doesn’t sanction the sport, administrators don’t promote it to students. There also is liability given the risk of injury, and many students simply prefer other, non-contact sports.

“I think it takes a special kind of kid to want to play,” Andrews said.

For the athletes who do play, rugby provides cross-training to other sports and fosters a team dynamic they may otherwise not experience.

Jensen said most players return for more after attending their first practice.

“They fall in love with it,” he said.

Tevyn Toledo, a junior at Central Kitsap High School, turned out for the Renegades after a friend suggested he try the sport. A strong safety and running back for the Central Kitsap football team, Toledo wanted to play another contact sport and deliver big hits.

He wasn’t concerned with the sport’s popularity, or lack thereof.

“That’s what I came out for, the hitting,” Toledo said. “I feel it the next morning.”

About half the Renegades players are from North Kitsap High School and the other half are from the Central Kitsap and Bremerton area. But Jensen said it’s been difficult to reach the edges of the county, particularly Bainbridge Island and Port Orchard.

The team practices in Silverdale, a central location, but that’s a half-hour drive, or longer, for those living in the outer stretches of the county.

“It’s just hard to pull everyone in,” Jensen said.

Although the Renegades won’t compete in sanctioned matches this season, Jensen is scheduling “friendly” matches against the teams they would have faced. He tentatively scheduled an exhibition match with Gig Harbor March 20 or 21.

Kitsap Rugby also offers seven-man rugby during the summer, so Jensen is focused on getting his players ready for that season.

And it’s never too late to turn out.

“I will take anybody and everyone that wants to come out,” he said. “I don’t want to exclude anyone from playing rugby.”