Rugby Pa Single-School Latest - Conestoga Wins Again
Conestoga HS held onto 1st in the Rugby Pennsylvania’s Single-School White with two big wins over the weekend - defeating Unionville 38-15 on Thursday, and then shutting out Bishop Shanahan 48-0 on Sunday.
That moved Conestoga to 3-1 in league play - their only loss being an 18-14 defeat at the hands of Cumberland Valley. CV, for their pat, lost a close one to Unionville, and also sit at 3-1, but with fewer bonus points.
Greenwich Scores Late to Beat Xavier
Greenwich High School defeated Xavier HS 34-29 Saturday night, scoring in the final moments to pull out a victory.
This was a clash between the #6-ranked Xavier team and the #14-ranked Greenwich squad (both rankings Goff Rugby Report single-school Boys HS rankings). Both teams had logged impressive victories, but both had also stumbled in what is still a relatively young season.
In this annual rivalry game, Greenwich started much the stronger, and led by 13 points at halftime.
Royal Irish Gets By St. Ignatius
Royal Irish needed a late try to come back to beat St. Ignatius 10-8 in a non-conference clash between two highly-ranked teams.
Indianapolis-based Royal Irish is ranked #2 by GRR among HS club teams, and Cleveland-based St. Ignatius is ranked #8 among single-school teams.
Both teams had some good scoring opportunities that didn’t come to fruition. And both teams defended well.
“Our backline in particular didn’t seem to have a lot of time to do anything,” said Royal Irish Head Coach Scott Peterson. “Was it them or us? I don’t know.”
Red Mountain Wins Arizona
Red Mountain defeated Desert Vista 64-5 Saturday to win the Rugby Arizona Boys HS championship.
Finishing undefeated once more in state competition, Red Mountain was led by No. 8 Dalton Hola, who was very active in the breakdown and on defense, but had to leave the game with an injury late. Flyhalf Kristian Sanchez controlled the attack nicely in his last game in league play, using his teammates well. Stephen Schulz was also hugely influential in the game. In the forwards, flanker TJ Beatson was outstanding running with the ball and worked nicely with Hola in causing Desert Vista problems in the breakdown. He also linked nicely with the backs when needed.
Penn Defeats Brownsburg
Penn HS went to 2-0 in Rugby Indiana's Super League with a 37-8 defeat of Brownsburg.
Penn got two tries from Will Vakalahi and also tries from Blake Usenick, Lucas Robinson, Cedric Vakalahi, Rashid Fahim, and Paul. Sam Scholtes had one conversion.
"Overall our team defense has improved," said Head Coach Bart Bottorff, who saw five Penn teams win games today, (freshmen beat Brownsburg's JVs and Agola JVs, the Penn JVs defeated Leo and also Angola) and they gave up only 11 points.
Jesuit Defeats Touring NZ Team
On a day honoring the graduating seniors of Jesuit High School, the Sacramento-based Marauders faced a very skilled team from Rangitoto College in New Zealand, and came away victorious.
Rangitoto was coming off two tour wins against Bellarmine Prep (65-14) and the Solo Falcons in Dixon (34-14).
Union Leads the Field in Oregon
Union HS in Oregon may well have cleared the path to another state title after beating previously-unbeaten Portland Pumas last week, and maybe that’s why the Titans are looking for more challenges.
Union has lost only one league or playoff game in Oregon, ever, and that was the state final in the team’s first season in existence. But they expected, and got, a stern test from the Pumas.
“They are a talented team and they really took the game to us,” said Coach David Curle. “But what we want to do in each game is impose our will. The idea is we can’t let them do that, and if we work as a team and play smart, physical rugby, we can take control. We started to do that.”
Union didn’t take long to turn the tables on the Pumas and led 21-0 midway through the first half, and cruised to a 45-12 win to improve to 5-0.
Boys HS Games This Weekend
Lots of games this weekend in HS Boys rugby. Check back for scores and look for links to reports on some of the games.
Florida Youth Rugby Video - West Pines v Key Biscayne
Highlights from Key Biscayne v West Pines - Florida Youth Rugby action - from April, 2016.
If you don't see the embedded video, please refresh the page.
Greenwich v Xavier a Heated Rivalry
Longtime Tri-State-Area rivals Xavier HS and Greenwich meet up this weekend.
It’s a big game for Greenwich, which has run into some tough games of late - losing to Fort Hunt in the Jesuit Rugby Classic, and losing to Fairfield Pegasi in Conecticutt.
But it’s not all bad new for Greenwich, as they still managed a win over a tough Charlotte Catholic team as well as wins over Good Counsel and West End at the JRC. They needed some big performances from Luke Bienstock, flyhalf Fermin Moraiz, and scrumhalf Soh Nakayama, and got them.
Gonzaga Survives Georgetown Prep Scare
In a very close, perhaps surprisingly close, clash in the MAVRC HS conference, #1 single-school Gonzaga had to come back to beat #13 Georgetown 20-10 Thursday night.
Gonzaga had the run of play for much of the first half but made a series of execution errors that made it difficult to score.
Vegas HS Team Impressive over Tourists
The Black Hawks HS Rugby Club out of Las Vegas, a new team this year, hosted Cranbrook HS out of Sydney, Australia this week, and won in a thriller.
It was an impressive victory for Black Hawks, and Coach Leonard Nell said he was exceedingly proud of his team's performance.
When Kevin Lee of Tour Time America, based in Scottsdale Ariz., proposed that Cranbrook would play the Black Hawks, Coach Nell jumped at the opportunity to have his boys play against a team that carried such a reputation.
Cranbrook High School Rugby is home to an elite team of rugby players that range from Elementary aged players up through High School. Based in Australia this elite team has deep roots in rugby that span over 12 years for most of their players.
2016 Boys HS Club Rankings #10
Not a lot of changes in the Boys HS Club Rankings for this week, although we do have a couple of new teams; Hilo Reign comes in after winning a playoff game in Hawaii, and West Carroll belatedly comes in after beating the ranked Maryland Exiles.
Little Rocky continues to log good scores and we move them up. Tampa comes back close to the top ten after a good playoff win. Orlando moves up after winning in the playoffs, albeit with overtime penalty kicks. Fort Hunt continues their inexorable rise. They're a force. The same could be said of Peninsula Green.
EIRA Player of the Week - Bailey Wilson
Many of the HS programs that finish at or near the top every year are senior-heavy; the programs are deep and naturally the older players have certain advantages.
But every now and then a player breaks through from the younger levels, and that’s why we’re takubg ti Bailey Wilson.
The sophomore is a starting openside flanker for United in Utah, and he’s most certainly not just there to make up the numbers.
“His IQ is very impressive,” said Coach Colin Puriri. “He understands the game extremely well and is a leader for us - our forwards captain. He’s got a great motor, too.”
Wilson was born in Australia but move to the USA at the age of 12, when he family relocated to Florida. There he played for the Orlando club before work prompted his family to move to Utah two years ago.
Fort Hunt Impresses at JRC
Fort Hunt came out of the Jesuit Rugby Classic with A 3-1 and another jolt of confidence for this highly-regarded Virginia team.
For Coach Dale Roach, it was a gratifying experience, shutting out St. Xavier, Gonzaga’s 2nd side, and Greenwich, before losing 24-0 to Gonzaga’s 1sts in the final.
Fort Hunt’s solid tackling and pressure defense was on display through the weekend.
“I am really proud of how well these guys played this weekend against tough competition,” said Roach. “It was great to see.”
No. 8 Chad Abdulla continued to run with authority, breaking tackles and scoring tries, and flanker Gabe Rudasill is new to rugby - introduced to the game by HS All American prop Sean Dowling - but is an accomplished athlete who took to the game quickly.
