Morgan Suniga, an 18-year-old senior at Wellington High School, realizes that the sport of rugby is her ticket to a college education and worldwide travel. It helps that she enjoys playing rugby, understands the sport and plays very well.
Suniga is currently preparing for the 2025 season, which starts in January. Meanwhile, she’s actively recruiting more high-school-age girls to join her on this athletic journey with the Wellington Wizards Rugby Club.
Five years ago, Suniga was first introduced to rugby with the Wellington Wizards by her sister MacKenzie. While her sister is no longer playing rugby, Suniga quickly realized that this is the sport for her. It was love at first sight, and she has been playing rugby ever since.
After being taught how to play by the Wizards’ coaches, Suniga has determined that her best position is to play scrum half, which is somewhat similar in responsibility to the quarterback in American football. To play scrum half, you must be smart, quick, alert, clever, strong and vocal. According to her coaches, Suniga checks all those boxes.
In rugby, the scrum half is the heartbeat of the team and the link between the eight players in the “pack” that form the scrum, and the six players in the backline. Those backline players are the equivalent of a tailback or a running back in American football.
According to Wellington Wizards Rugby Club President Alan Lawson, Suniga has the ideal demeanor to play rugby.
“You find the true character of the individual when you play rugby,” Lawson said. “She’s tough, plays hard, plays smart, and she never stops moving or talking. When in charge, take charge. She does just that.”
In rugby, the scrum half must verbally direct the “pack” of eight teammates that play alongside you. The pack’s job is to secure possession of the ball after a tackle takes place, and then give the ball to their scrum half, that being Suniga. From there, the scrum half can either run with the ball, pass the ball to a nearby teammate or kick the ball down the field. The kick can be high in the air or along the ground.
“She has a split second to make the right decision, and she rarely makes a wrong decision,” said Ron Vargo, one of the Wizards’ longtime coaches.
What’s even more remarkable is that in the last 12 months, all of Suniga’s games with the Wizards have been with and against boys her own age, since there are not enough girls to form an all-girls rugby team with the Wizards, yet. Suniga and the leadership of the Wizards are trying to change that.
Being the only girl on an all-boys team has not been an issue for Suniga or her male teammates.
“I have earned the respect of the boys, and they have my back on the field during games,” said Suniga, who has a 3.8 unweighted GPA and a 4.6 weighted GPA at WHS.
In her five years playing rugby, Suniga has been chosen to travel overseas with two different all-girls all-star U.S. rugby squads.
“In June 2022, I traveled to Ireland with the Celtic Barbarians,” Suniga recalled. “In June 2023, I traveled to Germany and Austria with the Texas U18 Outlaws.”
Despite being so passionate about rugby, Suniga believes in cross-training to remain physically fit and mentally tough.
“I wrestle and run track at Wellington High School in order to be a better rugby player,” Suniga said.
It’s no coincidence that she’s good at wrestling, and she’s also a fast runner.
As a sophomore, while wrestling at the 120-pound weight class, she won the Florida High School Athletic Association’s district title. She didn’t wrestle during her junior year, but she plans to wrestle at the 130-pound weight class this coming winter. This past summer, she was able to get a head start on her senior year of wrestling.
“In June, I went to the AAU Scholastic Duals, where I became an All-American and placed third,” Suniga said.
In track, she runs the 200-meter dash, the 400-meter dash and is a member of the 4 x 400-meter relay team.
As for her plans after high school, Suniga will be attending college and playing rugby — it’s just a matter of where.
Suniga just returned from a four-day trip to Annapolis, Maryland, where she toured the U.S. Naval Academy and visited with the head coach of the women’s rugby team, Murph McCarthy.
She enjoyed her visit to Annapolis.
“I thought it was really pretty, the girls I stayed with were nice, and the town is very cute,” Suniga said. “The classes were surprisingly small.”
In addition to the Naval Academy, she has looked at Dartmouth, Brown and Queens University of Charlotte. From Sept. 27-29, she will visit Newberry College in South Carolina.
Suniga is quick to dispel popular misconceptions about rugby.
“It’s not a dangerous sport, and girls are meant to play rugby,” Suniga said. “After all, did you see the bronze-medal-winning performance by the U.S. Women’s National Sevens rugby team at the Paris Olympics?”
Don’t be surprised if Suniga is a member of that squad at the next Summer Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028.
When asked to compare rugby to American football, she doesn’t hesitate to answer that question. “Rugby is the better sport,” Suniga said.
The Wellington Wizards practice on Monday and Wednesday nights from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Greenview Shores Park behind Wellington High School. Three more Sunday morning introductory clinics are scheduled from 10 to 11:30 a.m. on Oct. 6, Oct. 27 and Nov. 3. To learn more, visit www.wizardsrugby.com or e-mail registration@wizardsrugby.com.
