HS Boys

Gamebreakers in HS Rugby This Week

We're happy to see more rugby being played around the country, and even happier that additional leagues will kick off in the coming weeks.

So our Gamebreakers are coming from more and more states too. Here's a look at some of the best Boys HS performers from around the country:

Julius Tikuisuva, West Valley Warriors

In a win over Mountain Ridge, the hard-hitting center scored three tries for West Valley.

Aaron Kervin, Cardinal Gibbons

Playing flanker for Gibbons in the Florida playoff win over Okapi, Kervin covered the ground nicely and was a massive defensive presence. He stole ball and got work done all day and was named the player of the game.

Warriors, Herriman Show Claws in Utah

Chugging along in Utah Youth Rugby's league, two very powerful teams continue on their winning ways.

West Valley Warriors defeated Mountain Ridge 52-14 over the weekend. They scored in just a few minutes through No. 8 Lorenzo Tu'aone and didn't look back. They are a very imposing team with Tu'aone, prop Griffin Lokotui, flankers Fangaleka Tukuafu and Latu Sotele, and lock AJ Fiefia. Out wide their backs can run with Saia Lomu and Julius Tikuisuva patrolling midfield and Maea Liuaki Giles playing an effective fullback and kicking well.

Boys 2021 HS Club Rankings Week 7

We had several games throughout the HS club scene in which teams lost games, but they lost them in tight circumstances and as a result get a boost, or don't get hit that hard.

We even have examples of teams (a couple from Florida) who come into the rankings despite losing games, but those games were close, and we've been trying to get to a Top 50 anyway, so we expand to a Top 45.

Indiana team Pendleton jumps in with a win over the Raptors in Tennessee; Snow Canyon comes in after beating the SLV Rhinos, but ... but ... it was a two-point win after Snow Canyon had been shut out by West Valley (OK, they do that to a lot of people) and tied Provo. So Snow Canyon moves up but SLV, for the moment stays at #13.

Raleigh, Boca, Harpeth, and Berks all get boosts after winning.

Queen City Rugby Jamboree Open to Teams of All Levels

The Charlotte Junior Rugby Association has announced it is hosting the Queen City Rugby Jamboree at the end of May in Matthews, NC.

This will be a High School and Youth tournament on five turf fields at the Sportsplex in Matthews and will be held over Memorial Day Weekend, May 29 and 30. Most of the brackets are 15-a-side brackets, but younger divisions will play 7s. The divisions start at 10-and-under and go all the way to elite High School.

Competition will be in the following divisions:

HS Boys 15s – Elite division (9th-12th grade)

HS Boys 15s – Intermediate Division (9th-12th grade)

HS Boys 15s Developmental Division (9th-12th grade)

HS Girls 15s – Elite Division (9th-12th grade – will allow 8th graders with director approval)

Florida Playoffs Tight and Promise to Get Tighter

We're down to four boys HS teams in Florida after this past weekend's quarterfinals and the quarters bore out what coaches have been saying—this is a very competitive league.

"In this league, competition around Florida has steadily increased as teams are getting bigger and bigger and more players—national and international talent—are coming in with experience," said Jacksonville Head Coach Aaron Church. "The quarterfinals were a testament to that; across the state everyone stepped up their game."

Boys 2021 School HS Rankings Week 7

So we've changed things a little bit.

We continue to rank teams who have not played yet, but we're staying more wary of them. As a result, we've moved everyone who is expected to play soon but who haven't played yet to the bottom of the rankings. Because we've done this, and because we're a little later in the spring, we've got more of those teams on our list.

Snow Canyon Wins in Dramatic Style Over SLV Rhinos

In something of an upset in Utah's HS league, Snow Canyon edged the Salt Lake Valley Rhinos 38-36 Saturday.

Snow Canyon, which is playing as a club this year after most of its history as a single-school team, was ranked in the GRR Top 30 before dropping out after a 29-0 loss to the West Valley Warriors and stayed out after tying Provo. Meanwhile, Salt Lake Valley vaulted into the rankings after beating United.

So both teams were teams in flux, figuring out where they stood in a very, very competitive Utah Youth Rugby league.

Intense Game in Houston as Woodlands Faces SoCal Crusaders

The Woodlands cruised through much of a very active weekend, but ran into a bit of a brick wall on Sunday.

Woodlands beat St. Pius X 76-0 on Thursday Woodlands Opens Busy Weekend With Big Win and then rolled through with their JV beating Brazoria and then shut out Rock Rugby by a surprisingly big score 94-0. All of this was, in part, designed to test the team in preparation for HS Nationals. So the final test was on Sunday, as Woodlands played the SoCal Crusaders touring team as part of a curtain-raiser for a Major League Rugby game.

Bixby Wins Close One In Germantown

Rugby Oklahoma’s Bixby Rugby produced some notable results in a small tournament in Germantown, Tenn. over the weekend.

Bixby defeated Christian Brothers HS out of the Memphis area 41-19 and Father Ryan out of the Nashville area 21-7.

But perhaps the biggest result was a 15-13 defeat of Germantown, secured on the last play of the game.

In other results, Father Ryan beat Christian Brothers 7-0, and Germantown beat Little Rock 42-0.

Germantown, ranked #18 among HS clubs, went up 10-3 at halftime but had difficulty keeping 15 players on the field—hit as they were with three yellow cards.

For the #4-ranked School team Bixby, the comeback actually happened just before halftime. With Germantown up 10-0, fullback Drak Poth slotted a penalty goal to get his team on the board.

Charlotte Rugby Club Hosts HS Bonanza in NC

Some highly-rated HS rugby teams gathered in Charlotte, NC this weekend to celebrate the return to action for the Charlotte RFC’s rugby facility.

The Charlotte Men’s and Women’s club has been shut down for over a year, but this weekend they were able to open up their field for an event. The club had decided quite some time ago to make it a youth-oriented event, and flood the place with volunteers to make it special. This they did, ensuring that Charlotte Tigers, Aspetuck Boys, Charlotte Tigress, Aspetuck Girls, Wando Boys and Girls, Raleigh Redhawks Boys and Girls, and the Okapi U16 Boys all had an enjoyable time celebrating the game.

It was a grand gesture from the senior club and a smart one, too, as they look to the future.

As for the present, the Tigers especially came out looking good. Here’s a look at what happened.

Royal Irish Backs Speed By Ignatius

Showcasing a very effective and dynamic backline, Royal Irish rode a torrid first half to beat #6 school team St. Ignatius 36-14 Saturday at Fortess Obetz just outside Columbus, Ohio.

This was an intriguing bellwether game for the #3 HS club and the #6 school team, and in the end Royal Irish showed themselves to be (almost) every bit as advertised.

It must be noted that Ignatius was playing during their spring break and were missing a couple of players due to that and injury, and star loose forward Marty Lenehan was not available as he was serving a suspension for a red card received two weeks ago.

However, while those absences made the St. Ignatius job harder, Royal Irish is still the real deal.

Woodlands Opens Busy Weekend With Big Win

Woodlands opened a very busy weekend with a 76-0 defeat of St. Pius X Thursday night.

With a league game plus games with Major League Rugby academies scheduled for this weekend, Woodlands is trying to replicate the difficulties involved in playing at the HS National Championships.

Thursday went fairly well with flyhalf Alexander Clark logging an impressive 31 points from three tries and eight conversions. Wing Joseph Golden and fullback Cole Scharffenorth each scored two tries, while hooker Cody Clough, No. 8 Jack Johnson, scrumhalf Benjamin Urbanovsky, center Tommy Kratt, and wing Lane O'Brien all scored one try.

Wild HS Rugby Weekend Across the Country

Over 60 15s games and over100 15s and 7s games combined are on the slate for this weekend, although our list covers more than a weekend.

With games going on almost every day of the week we've got results ongoing. As you see below, Harpeth, Sumner County, Brother Martin, and Woodlands have already got scores in.

We have some top-10 matchups, such as St. Ignatius (S6) vs Royal Irish (C3) and Aspetuck (C8) against Charlotte Tigers (C1).

And Rugby PA kicks off. 

See below also the Iowa Youth Rugby 7s matchups for Friday.

Iowa 7s League Starts With a Bang

Ranked teams in bold. Check back for scores.

Gamebreakers in HS Rugby This Week

We took a week away from the Gamebreakers as Spring Break cut back the number of games, but we've now got two weeks (albeit small weeks) of action to recognize.

Here are our Gamebreakers for the end of March and the beginning of April.

Ryan Williams, Atlas Faafetai, and Brendan Amatu, Alaska Youth Rugby

The three produced some key defensive plays and sparked a comeback to overhaul Maui in the Cup Final of the Boys U18 bracket at the Tropical 7s.

Although the Cup is the consolation trophy (as opposed to the Championship), this was an impressive showing from Alaska as they finished the event 4-1-1.

Bennett Bodenhammer, St. Thomas Aquinas

The Aquinas fullback was very good on covering kicks and was some key defensive and offensive plays against the Kansas City Jr. Blues. His efforts earned him player of the game honors.