Latest Commits: Who Gets Help from Next Phase?
In our GRR form asking players to tell us their college commits, we have a special question.
That question is: Did You Use Next Phase Rugby?
Now, remember that Next Phase Rugby is not only a GRR sponsor, GRR Editor Alex Goff is actually a partner in the company. We freely admit we're promoting the college recruiting app here (go to nextphaserugby.com ... see?). But the stats were giving you here are very interesting.
St. Edward Putting It Together in Ohio
St. Edward continues to take steps forward in Ohio, and did so this past weekend with a win over Archbishop Moeller.
There's a four-team chase in the single-school arena in the Buckeye State, and with Ignatius winning comfortably over St. Xavier the chase to unseat SIHS came down, in part, to this past weekend's victory over Moeller. They accomplished this despite some injuries, chief among these was the injury to starting flyhalf Conor McGuirk.
Tommy Patton was drafted in as a replacement and, according to Head Coach Greg Miranda, was "a pretty seamless step-in as he has performed great over the last two matches."
Against Moeller a heavy tackle pushed Patton out of the game and co-captain and fullback Seamus Kennedy was then brought in. Kennedy is an excellent leader and smart rugby player and led well, even scoring a try.
Ireland Tour Kick-Starts St. Augustine Hermits' Season
St. Augustine out of New Jersey just returned from a very successful tour of Ireland.
The tour was run by GRR sponsor Irish Rugby Tours, and took them through a series of competitive games, high-level coaching, and cultural experiences.
"The tour was fantastic!" enthused Head Coach Brendan Towell. "We have used Irish Rugby Tours four times and each time they put together a tour that allows for high level rugby and educational experiences. They partner with Mannings Coach Bus Company which also does a terrific job. This time they did so for a massive group of 79 total (players, coaches, trainers, and some family members). This meant navigating two buses and sometimes two hotels—they did it masterfully."
Tropical 7s Boys HS Brackets Set
The Topical 7s tournament kicks off April 7, this coming Friday, in Tampa, Fla.
It's a massive tournament and one that remains hugely popular among high school, youth, and college-level teams.
Here are the Boys HS brackets.
The U18 Boys Elite includes the return of Canadian team Upright Rugby Rogues, as well as teams rom New Zealand (Rangatua) and the UK (Future Elite Sports). Other established and newer academy teams are in the action.
The U18 Boys Open program features a combination of academy teams, overseas and Canadian teams, and one or two stand-alone HS teams.
The U16 brackets remain robust and they are also a combination of compilation sides and stand-alone teams.
GRR HS Club Rankings Week 11
Well we don't have a lot of changes.
As we often say, if the high-ranked team won every time then it wouldn't be fun—well I guess this past week wasn't so much fun. Of the top 13, one was idle, and two are on tour; the other 10 won.
Loudoun battled against Fort Hunt and get a chance to move up a bit after a competitive loss. Valor moves up seven spots with another victory in Colorado.
Massive Clash as Eastside Beats Rainier in Washington
Eastside defeated rivals Rainier Highlanders in a key Rugby Washington league game this weekend.
This was a dramatic and intense game. Both the Lions and the Highlanders were undefeated going into this game and had won their games in convincing fashion and it was fitting that the game was played under dark, ominous clouds, which then gave way to glorious sunshine.
Brady McHugh, Lewis Chambers, Kieran O’Meara
For much of the first half, the score remained locked at 0-0 as both teams slammed into each other. Eastside scored first, getting a free kick and sending the ball wide where speedy hooker Brady McHugh raced in.
Kieran O'Meara slotted the conversion to close the first act at 7-0.
GRR HS School Team Rankings Week 11
Gonzaga, ranked #1, is on tour in France, so it's unlikely anything will happen there that will dislodge them, and likely those games will only help them.
Good time to remind you that touring is a really good idea, especially with Irish Rugby Tours>>
Wins over ranked opponents see St. Ignatius, Sacramento Jesuit, Staples, and St. Edward move up a place within the top 15.
Not a ton of major movers, but we will see more in the coming weeks.
East Coast HS Action: Fairfield, Morris, Fort Hunt
Siena College served as neutral-site hosts for Fairfield Prep (Conn.) and Canisius (NY).
It was a big win for Fairfield as they ran out 65-0 winners. Charles Dooley, Nick Vittoria, and Wally Wuchiski all scored two tries each.
Mike Silk, Jackson Hicks, Matt Samuelson, Brice Muller, and Tanner Langis also touched down. Vittoria added three conversions for 16 points, and Emmet Derby added two.
This followed up on Fairfield winning their own invitational tournament the week before.
In New Jersey, Morris took on a combined Franking, Bridgetwaer, Central Monmouth team. Franklin is a young program with mostly U16 players, so on the U19 level they have combined with Bridgewater and Central Monmouth.
HS Rugby Action Around the Nation
Around the nation in HS Rugby so far ...
Tri-State Area
Greenwich of Connecticut defeated Rye of New York 27-14. It was a tough, competitive game in which Rye wasn't helped by a red card (two yellow-card-worthy high tackles).
"This was our second Top-10 opponent in the span of six days," said Rye Head Coach Jim O'Hara. "We proved we can play with the best. But we’ll keep working and take some lessons from this."
Archer Fenton at scrumhalf was a standout for Rye.
From the Greenwich side of things, the team leaders did superbly to keep Greenwich focused and organized.
Segundo Mas, Benja Thompson, and Jake Pobjoy were outstanding in that regard for GHS, which is racking up some solid results. Certainly they are playing in a more unified way than last year.
Staples Edges Aspetuck
Staples HS produced a big result in Connecticut, getting by a very tough Aspetuck team 16-14.
The game was described as a slugfest by Staples Head Coach Neal Seideman. For a young Aspetuck team, they found themselves relying on speedster Pearson Hill once more but they needed more than one or two players to defeat the state's top teams.
All of the 30 points scored in the game were scored in the first half.
The teams battled throughout, with both sides putting together productive sequences only to all to commit a turnover thanks to some patient and tough defense. With the rain making ball handling difficult, the turnovers were even more common.
St. Ignatius Rebounds for Big Win in Ohio
St. Ignatius of Cleveland defeated St. Xavier 62-12 Saturday on a very, very windy day in Ohio.
Ignatius used defensive pressure as much as anything else to get the job done, pushing St. X back and forcing turnovers and errors simply by making tackles. With players such as Cole Sutkus, Pat Cooney, and Michael Krebs they produced scoring chances early.
The first two tries came off defensive pressure, and the third came off a kick and a series of offloads and hard runs that set up Ryan Putka for a try. Prop David Kotnik capped off another solid offensive move that was a bit more about Ignatius putting together an attacking movement.
In Like a Tiger: HS Games This Weekend
April approaches ferociously in HS rugby.
We will see several teams take trips and, frankly, we think your team should think about a tour too. Check with Irish Rugby Tours about how that can happen.
This weekend, though, we have plenty of action with about 13 all-rankings clashes.
Moeller vs St. Edward, Strake Jesuit vs St. Thomas, Xavier vs Vienna, St. Thomas Aquinas vs Valor and also Regis Jesuit, and the Battle of Charlotte all highlight the weekend.
US Rugby Foundation Sends Funding to Nine Developing HS Programs
The US Rugby Foundation and USA Youth & High School Rugby have partnered in an effort to increase the number of high school rugby programs throughout the United States.
With the USRF providing the funding and the USAY&HSR doing the vetting process, there have been a total of 14 new high school rugby programs selected to receive the seed funding that have come through the first and second application rounds. The goal is for at least 20 new high school rugby programs to be created through this process.
A key mission and function of this program is to drive sustainable growth and legacies for the entire community to benefit from. As such, applications that were submitted to USAY&HSR were assessed based on the following criteria: governance structure, financial plan and budget, rugby development plan, and fields/equipment.
Castle Rock to 3-0 in Colorado HS D2
Colorado HS teams are a hardy bunch and they got going this past weekend despite the snow.
Chief among these are the Castle Rock Pirates, who won their third game in a row in D2. After playing D1 teams East HS and NCOS Falcons in a couple of preseason friendlies, the Pirates came out of the blocks nicely.
They beat the Titans 38-17 in their opener and shut out Aspen after that 37-0.
That set up last weekend's snow-covered clash with the Hammers, which the Pirates won 24-5.
Subzero temperatures and three inches of snow covering the Highlands Ranch High School field didn't Castle Rock and Fort Collins from entertaining the large crowd of chilly supporters.
GRR HS School Team Rankings Week 10
This was a difficult ranking to finalize not because of the changes at the top, but the changes throughout the middle.
We had a lot of results, including some teams ranked relatively low winning and some teams ranked higher up losing games. Sometimes a big loss drops you down far (depends on where the team is ranked) and sometimes it takes you down just a little bit. You have to look at it in part like a percentage but in reverse. Each place drop in the Top 10 is like a 10% drop in where they stand, because it is so difficult to be at that level.
Yes St. Ignatius lost (by a large margin) to Gonzaga, and it might seem putting Gonzaga up just one spot isn't enough ... but of course they are as high as they can go. Ignatius dropping three spots is "so what?" but it's not. It's a massive drop for a Top 10 team. Dropping from 19 to 38 is about the same.
