NorCal SS Latest: DLS, BOD, St Francis
De La Salle remains atop the NorCal Single-School D1 after the Spartans beat St. Ignatius SF 45-21.
Three tries from center Jimmy Rainsford led DLS to their 4th straight win in the competition. Head Coach Derek Holmberg had praise for Ignatius, saying that the Wildcats are "really well coached and the players played with a lot of heart. Really impressive for a second year program."
DLS did find some playing time for players who need it, but this was still a good showing from Ignatius.
The big battle was in the middle of Tier 1, where two 2-1 teams, Jesuit of Sacramento and St. Francis faced off. The talk about St. Francis is usually about how "athletic" they are which can sometimes be a backhanded compliment because it can overlook how a team understand its rugby. And that, said Jesuit Head Coach Andrew Acosta, was part of the difference.
Woodlands Storms Past Strake Jesuit
The meeting between the top HS club team in Texas and likely the top Single-School team in Texas was set for a Friday night showdown; cold temperature restrictions at Strake ended up moving the game to Saturday, and on Saturday Woodlands took control.
The cold snap that had affected the Houston area all week had led to multiple cancelations across different sports. However, as the temperature rose and the wind settled, the rugby game kicked off Saturday morning.
It didn’t take long for Woodlands to seize the momentum. Center Junior Alatini opened the scoring with a try three minutes in. Neel Menon added the conversion, and a few minutes later No. 8 Orin Hart crossed over. Alatini added his second before 10 minutes were up and Woodlands led 17-0.
Gregory the Great Defeats Gonzaga in DC
Gregory the Great, ranked #11 by GRR, defeated Gonzaga, ranked #2, Saturday at Gonzaga in an early-season clash.
GGA came into the game 2-0 after beating Vienna and Fort Hunt. Meanwhile, this was Gonzaga's first game of the season.
It was a back-and-forth match with the teams trading try for try, and plenty of big collisions. With four minutes to go the teams were tied 17-17 when GGA was yellow-carded. They played the final minutes shorthanded but managed to score the game-winner to take the game 24-17.
Jesuit New Orleans Defeats Brother Martin
New Orleans Jesuit reversed an earlier loss to Brother Martin, winning this week's league game 31-19 in Louisiana.
The first meeting between the two was a season warmup, and went Brother Martin's way by the score of 31-15, a virtual mirror image of the second game. While the first match between the two was wet and muddy, this one was just plain windy. With 20-mph winds, lineouts were very challenging.
But the Blue Jays put in a solid game. Scrumhalf Jonah Ory was "the difference-maker" said Head Coach Adam Massey. It was his kicking that kept Brother Martin backpedaling.
No. 8 Gio Matranga was very smooth with ball in hand and caused Brother Martin problems when he was on defense.
Warmups, Championships, and Contenders in HS Weekend
We're about a week from several leagues kicking off.
So this week is warmup time for some. The biggest tournament with that in mind is the Puriri Tournament in St. George, Utah. Mostly these are Utah temas, but Red Mountain out of Arizona competes there and so does Hawaii team Kahuku.
While this is a warmup tournament, it's a pretty serious warmup tournament and the players don't hold back.
Rugby Ohio Latest: Changes at the Top
Just about a week after GRR published an interview with Rugby Ohio Board President Chris Northup, the organization has a new president.
Northup said in this article on February 12—Rugby Ohio Had a Board Meeting, But Did Anything Happen?—that he would step down if he saw that things were going to be OK (we're paraphrasing), and added that such a move could happen as early as March. Well, it happened this week.
Northup stepped down and Mark Weidner, the head of the change-agent group that wanted to to open up the Board elections and cut dues, is in as Board President.
Leinster School of Excellence in Syracuse Useful for All Levels
The Leinster Rugby School of Excellence at Syracuse University is set for the end of July..
The camp will run July 27-August 1, 2025 and will provide training and educational programs for rugby athletes for boys and for girls age 13-17.
HS Boys Club Top 50 2025: Week 5
We're starting to see more ranked teams playing other ranked teams and that's had a serious effect on the rankings.
But remember, if your favorite team has not been playing and you see the ranking dropping, the competition always wins—when those teams play they will move up.
We do make mistakes, however, and we have three mistakes to fix this week. The first is that we had Key Biscayne down as having beaten Okapi Pink ... not it was Okapi White, which is the "Okapi" that we actually rank. So we had to bring that result back into the equation with a different look.
The second is that we had New Trier as a school team but they are a club. This is a common thing to happen to us each year so ... well it happens. The third is that Roswell's win over Greer hadn't been taken into account. So, yes, we own up to it.
Anyway ...
Around the Nation in HS Rugby
While we have touched on a few leagues and contests around the nation, there’s more to cove.
So here goes:
Texas
St. Thomas of Houston logged their first win of the season with a 51-5 defeat of HCYA. No. 8 Matthew Brolan was forced to step in about 15 minutes into the match and exploded. He played the rest of the game, capping it off with a 65-meter run for his second try of the day.
AH Green was very good at flyhalf and scored two tries.
Faith Family Academy showed well in a win over Great Hearts. Senior Center Isaac Whittle scored three long-range tries for FFA.
Eastside Overcomes NorCal Visitors Marin
Eastside Lions in Washington state beat touring Marin Highlanders of Northern California 26-14 in a really entertaining match.
This game had a bit of everything.
Eastside fullback Parker Jackson nearly opened the scoring within minutes, bursting onto the ball and carving through the Highlanders' defense down the left flank. But the final pass didn’t stick, letting Marin off the hook.
The Lions soon converted their early pressure into points. After hammering away at the Highlanders' defense with powerful forward carries, Eastside earned a penalty and scrumhalf Jerry Fleming sniped over.
HS Boys School Top 50 Week 6
We have a new #1.
De La Salle is an outstanding team and while they generally don't play at the National Championships, they have to be considered a #1 contender. It is, however, very difficult for a team such as DLS to end the season at #1 without going to the Boys HS National Championships. It can happen—for example, if Jesuit Sacramento loses to De La Salle twice this season and goes on to win it all in Elkhart, then, yes, you could be thinking DLS is #1. There is no truth to the rumor that we moved them to #1 because we have some nice photos of the Spartans.
But generally it's tough, so if they put in the results during the winter, they should get a chance to be considered for #1. With Gonzaga and St. Ignatius idle, this might be the time.
Pendleton Opens Account With Win at St. Xavier
An early Midwest cross-border matchup saw 2024 Indiana state winners Pendleton beat 2024 Ohio state finalists St. Xavier 40-8 Saturday in the opener for both teams.
It was difficult weather-wise and early days for both but the teams overcame the weather to put together some good moments of rugby.
At the eight minute mark, Jacob Rowley took a pass from Garrett Pederson and rumbled 40 meters to score and put Pendleton up 5-0. St. Xavier earned a penalty and took the option for the kick, which Jake Schleif slotted to make it 5-3.
But overall the visitors from Indiana seemed to be playing with confidence.
NorCal Single-School Latest: DLS Over Jesuit and More
De La Salle defeated Jesuit Sacramento 27-12 in Northern California single-school action.
Missing a few players due to injury, DLS was able to welcome back center Peter McKenna back from a hamstring issue. He was moved to flyhalf for this game and logged a very good performance, finding gaps and using his support. In fact, he set up the opening try with a line break that allowed the forwards to swarm in.
Lock Adam Devlin crashed over for the 5-0 lead.
A few minutes later, the Spartans backs moved the ball wide off a lineout and fullback Brayden Park pulled off a nice sidestep and was in from 20 meters. Park converted for the 12-0 lead.
Then, as halftime approached, hooker Harrison Kapust fed wing Carson Phillips and he hit scrumhalf Tyler Holmberg, who was running a classic #9 support line, on the inside for the try.
South Meck Wins NC Final
South Meck completed their second-half surge with a 41-19 victory over Charlotte Catholic Sunday in the North Carolina Single-School league final.
South Meck had an excellent game from their interior backs Jameson Beatty, Jackson Wilson, and Brody Evans. They had the better of field position for most of the game, and their forwards worked very hard to consolidate line breaks and keep the pressure on.
Early in the game it was just that sort of pressure that allowed Evans to snake through for the opening try. Beatty converted for a 7-0 lead.
Charlotte Catholic responded. After counter-attacking on a kick Catholic got a lineout and then Vince Keller took a low pass and was through. Roman Hyland converted.
"Unbelievable" Facilities for USAR Talent ID Camp at Rhinos HP Venue
This week sees the next USA Rugby Talent ID camp held at the Rhinos Rugby High-Performance facility in San Clemente, Calif.
This camp will be somewhat unique in that Rhinos has some additional facilities on offer.
“I think the what impresses me about Rhinos is our assets,” said Todd Clever, the San Clemente Rhinos General Manager, who played for and captained the USA more than any other player.
. “It’s pretty unbelievable. This is a professional environment and I think it’s going to be a great experience for the players as they see what we have to offer.”
Clever, who also runs his foundation that helps provide organizations and athletes with resources to grow the game, said the Rhinos High Performance Program's hosting of the talent ID camp was a no-brainer.
