Teles Earns UQ HS Player Award
University of Arizona business student Bronson Teles has been named the 2016 Mark Loane Medalist and will next year have the opportunity to participate in the UQ Rugby Academy and play for the famous University of Queensland Rugby Club in 2017.
The University of Queensland medal annually recognizes the outstanding potential of America's best high school rugby player based on their skills, ability and aptitude, both on and off the rugby field.
It was commissioned in 2015 to commemorate the achievements of alumnus and former Australian Wallabies rugby captain Mark Loane AM.
The 2016 medal was awarded to Teles at the annual UQ Rugby Dinner in New York City in November, hosted by the Faculty of Business, Economics and Law.
Myers Park over Phoenix in MSIRL Opener
Myers Park defeated Phoenix 38-29 Saturday in the first game of the Mid-South Independent Rugby League (MSIRL), a competition of top teams from the Carolinas and Georgia.
The North Carolina team got two tries from Adam Phifer and tries from Niklas Atzor, Matthew Start, and Ty Graham. They also got a penalty try, while lip Patterson kicking three conversions.
"Our center combination of Adam Phifer and Matthew Start played well for us today," said Myers Park Head Coach Tyree Reed. "They ran hard lines and their quick ball transfer help us spread the Alpharetta defense. They accounted for 21 of our 38 points. We were just able to capitalized on their on mistakes. They had two knock-ons caused by our defense pressure that we turn into two tries for us."
Jesuit Classic Set for April
The Gonzaga HS Jesuit Classic is back for another round on April 22-23 at Morven Park in Leesburg, Va.
The event will feature divisions for Varsity, JV, and Freshman boys HS teams on as many as six grass fields. There is space for 16 Varsity, eight JV, and eight freshman teams.
The hosts, Gonzaga, are expected to field several teams, and other teams are committed. Last year's tournament featured seven ranked teams. But there is room for more.
To register, click for the signup document here.
Link to Signup
Phoenix, Myers Park Start New MSIRL Season
Nine HS boys teams from the South have created a new league, and that league kicks off this weekend.
Teams from North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia have set up the MSIRL - the Mid-South Independent Rugby League - to give top teams from that area tougher competition through the season. The teams involved will still play their in-state competitions, but most of them do pretty well there even if they don’t run out their top lineups every time.
So this plan gives a greater number of challenging games for these strong programs, and also allows younger players in those teams the chance to play more in other games.
The teams involved are Charlotte Catholic, Charlotte Tigers, Union County, and Myers Park from North Carolina, South Greenville, Wando, and Columbia Area from South Carolina, and Phoenix and Lassiter from Georgia.
Harpeth Wins Tennessee HS 7s Title
The relatively new Harpeth Harlequins program completed their first fall of 7s rugby, and with it won the Tennessee state 7s championships.
The Franklin, Tenn.-based program has only completed three season of rugby, and opted out of the fall 7s competition the last couple of years due to competition for players with football and wrestling. However, as the program has grown, they were able to field a team this year, and looked very impressive. At the championship tournament this past weekend at the campus of Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Harpeth went 5-0, scoring 146 points and allowing only 19.
Harpeth faced Sumner County in the final, winning 22-0. Overall through the entire fall, Harpeth was 14-0 in 7s games, outscoring opponents 456-63.
Rogues Win NY 7s Premier
The Upright Rugby Rogues defeated the Rugby Pa All-State team to win the Boys HS Premier division of the New York 7s Saturday at Randall’s Island in New York.
It was a very good day for the Canadian teams, with Equipe Quebec taking 3rd over the Toronto Rugby Reds, and Eastern Ontario taking the Bowl over the USA Rugby Community Olympic Development Program.
Rosters for US HS Teams at NY 7s
What elite-level HS Boys 7s teams are playing in the New York 7s this weekend?
Here's a look at three of the top US-based teams, Eagle Impact Rugby Academy NY, Play Rugby Academy CODP, Northeast Academy - Boston, and Rugby Pa.
Eagle Impact Rugby Academy NY
Tom Treussard Xavier HS, NY
Mike Jennings Staples HS, Conn.
Luke Salls Simsbury HS, Conn.
Sam Louman Pelham HS, NY
Luke Persanis Pelham HS, NY
Liam Anderson Morris RFC, NJ
Filipe Brill Pelham HS, NY
Rafael Quezada NYRC, NY
Chris Newby So. Pines, NC
Sy Custodio Fairfield Prep, Conn.
Paul Devlin Rye HS, NY
Cody Ryan Amoskeag, NH
NE Academy Squads Named for NY 7s
The Northeast Academy has named its squads to play in the New York 7s this weekend.
The Academy will field three men's teams, drawn mostly from college products in New York and New England. The program will also field a HS team made up of players from high school programs in the Boston area.
Wherever possible, we have listed either the college where the player played rugby, or the player's current high school team:
Top HS 7s Teams at NY 7s
The New York 7s kicks off this weekend with 12 divisions of competition.
Once a go-to event on the club 7s calendar, the NY 7s is still that, but has seen the number of HS teams increase dramatically.
This year sees a HS Boys Premier and a HS Boys Open, as well as a HS Girls Premier and HS Girls Open.
Some of these teams know each other and we will certainly see a few in the North American HS 7s elite-level series in 2017. This past weekend, some of the boys teams got a little warmup, with Play Rugby USA playing Eagle Impact Rugby Academy New York twice during the U Rugby Bowl Series weekend. In the opening game, Play Rugby showed like a team that had been training for 7s for a while, and took apart EIRA NY. But in the second game, EIRA rebounded with a better approach - staying out of contact and taking care of the ball a little better.
SoCal HS Varsity Conferences Expand
The Southern California Boys HS season will soon be underway with some significant changes.
The initiative to get the California Interscholastic Federation continues apace, and has expanded. That initiative involves teams following CIF rules in how they populate and support their teams. The teams that follow these protocols are in the Varsity Red competition, and are 100% single-school. Last year, there were seven Varsity Red teams, all in the San Diego area. This year, that San Diego Conference is down to six. Just two years after winning the conference, Fallbrook has moved to Varsity White following a reduction in school support.
Play Rugby USA 7s Program on the Rise
It will be a busy couple of weeks for the Play Rugby USA Academy program as the Bowl Series weekend and then the New York 7s bring some serious competitive opportunities.
Play Rugby will be part of a strong contingent of HS 7s teams playing in between Bowl Series college games this weekend at Iona College. Then next week things get possibly even tougher at the New York 7s.
Play Rugby USA Academy entered 6 teams in the New Jersey Fall 7s series - two Boys Varsity teams, two Girls Varsity teams, and two Boys JV teams. The Boys Varsity 1 was champions in four of the five NJ 7s Series tournaments, going 18-1-1 and outscoring teams 29-5 (on average). Their #2 Varsity team took 3rd in the series.
The Girls #1 team finished 2nd, the Girls #4 4th, and the JV teams were 1st or second in every tournament they played in.
South Age-Grade Tryouts Continue
The USA Rugby South age-grade select side programs continue to prepare for the Barbados 7s; NAHS 7s, and the International RAN U19 fifteens, with the Atlanta Camp this Saturday, Nov. 19.
The camps will be held at 10200 Wooten Rd in Roswell, Ga. The Tiger Rugby Academy will assist.
trying out for this program has broader implications than just the South team, although the South team is pretty important. The USA U20 team will a,so be tracking players through these tryouts, looking for talent, and players who are perhaps too older for U19 consideration could still get a look at either the national U20 or national Collegiate All Americans level.
In this, USA Rugby South is partnering with the USA Rugby Junior All American program.
Two Tie for Rugby Pa 7s Title
La Salle Rugby and Downingtown shared the 2016 Rugby Pennsylvania 7s championship this fall after a wild finish in the final tournament.
La Salle came into the final tournament as defending champs, with several good teams, including Downingtown and Cumberland Valley.
The Explorers began the day against a talented Coventry team. Although a formidable opponent, it was one La Salle has had much success against recently. This year Aidan Kelly turned out to be the Coventry killer, scoring two tries of his own and leading the team with solid defense. Additional offense was provided by Joe Meehan, Jack Desmond and Brian Brunner in the La Salle 31-7 win.
Herriman Wins Utah HS 7s
Herriman HS won the Utah Youth Rugby Boys HS 7s after the final tournament in the fall series, but fell to United in the tournament final.
Herriman Gold was a little banged up after the previous three tournaments, but still got through pool play against Barbarians West, Herriman Red, and Herriman Navy. (Red is the Herriman 2nd team, and the Navy team is the Herriman's top JV side, which was bumped up to the Varsity level for this tournament.)
For the 3rd time, Herriman met Kau Toa in the semifinals. Kau Toa exploited some Herriman mistakes, but the Gold team pulled the game out 19-12. However, Gabe Mahuinga got his second yellow card of the day, and thus was unavailable to play in the final.
RugbyPa Holding All-Star 7s Tryouts
As part of RugbyPA’s developing high performance program, the organization has announced that the RugbyPA High School Boys All State 7s Squad will represent the State at the New York 7’s on Saturday 26 November at Randall’s Island, New York City.
RugbyPA East will be holding 7s high performance selection camps from which the squad will be selected. This is open to all boys grades 9-12.
Malvern Prep- 418 S Warren Ave, Malvern, PA 19355
Sunday 6th November – 12pm – 3pm
Malvern Prep - 418 S Warren Ave, Malvern, PA 19355
Sunday 13th November – 12pm – 3pm
Malvern Prep - 418 S Warren Ave, Malvern, PA 19355
Sunday 13th November – 12pm – 3pm
