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CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. - P.E.I. rugby looks to be in good hands for 2018, that after Island ruggers produced a laundry list of successes last season.

And it makes the president of the P.E.I. Rugby Union proud.

“2017 was the most successful to date for P.E.I. rugby,” said Craig Inward, who helps coach the Charlottetown Rugby Football Club senior women’s team.

Those high moments included the under-18 men’s and women’s provincial sevens teams winning in their respective divisions at a recent tournament in New York City, and the Hunter’s Ale House Mudmen earning its first Nova Scotia Elite League title and reaching the Maritime final for the first time in 62 years.

Also the first-year women’s Charlottetown Rugby Football Club team went undefeated, cruising to the Nova Scotia Tier A crown, and the UPEI men's varsity team played at the national finals after winning the Maritime university championship.

Other good points saw the under-18 15s men’s team earn a bronze medal at the Eastern Canadians, both men’s and women’s under-18 7s teams excelling at Nova Scotia and New Brunswick tourneys and the selection of Summerside’s Jonathan Ross for the Canadian under-19 team touring Ireland Dec. 27-Jan. 7.

Not bad given the province’s small numbers of athletes for which rugby is often not the first choice.

Inward sees the spike beginning with Rugby Canada’s professionalization of the sport in 1995 that’s funnelled money, coaching and knowledge down to the provinces with the aim of developing ruggers for its programs.

Not to mention rugby’s strong high school presence, where almost 400 male and female athletes hit P.E.I. fields each spring at the senior AAA, AA and A levels.

“Rugby in Island (high schools) has been very strong the last 25 years,” said Inward, who works with the Montague Regional High School women’s program.

The PEIRU runs a burgeoning no-contact rookie rugby program for kids four to 12 years old (it increased to 80 players this year from about 20 each of its first three years). It also runs the provincial presentative under-16 and under-18 15s programs and in seven-a-side plans a co-ed under-14 modified contact league and under-18 full contact circuit for 2018.

Getting athletes into rugby is easier than keeping them, however, and that’s where the grail of Rugby Canada comes in, shining a way to the future for those athletes wanting to go further than the club level.

“There’s a big drop-off in participation after 18. (We want to) convince more and more top athletes to see rugby as an opportunity. Rugby can take them across the world. It’s a great way to build connections and test yourself athletically.”

And beyond that, Inward said enticing alumni to return also strengthens the clubs at the community level where rugby thrives.

“It’s not that different between professional ranks and amateur ranks. You could be in a men’s league practice playing against Canadian national players playing the next week versus New Zealand.”

More 2018 highlights include the PEIRU’s annual awards Jan. 27, 5-9 p.m., at the Charlottetown Fire Hall, which will unveil the organization’s inaugural Hall of Fame inductee class, and the Atlantic Canadian championships July 6-8 in Montague. It features under-16 and under-18 men’s and women’s teams and a senior women’s division.

Inward, who’s a coach with the provincial women’s under-18 squad, also hopes to get the ball rolling in 2018 on a dedicated rugby space.

“We’d like to have guaranteed access. Imagine a hockey team without an arena, a soccer team without a pitch.”

Also on tap is a February summit with groups with interests in rugby to talk about ways to deal with the sport’s expected growth.

Contact the PEIRU at peiruinformation@gmail.com.