Canadian International, Rock Rugby Coach Dies In Car Accident
Former Canadian international and Rocky Rugby coach in Texas, Todd Knight, died December 30, 2020 in a car accident.
According to reports Knight was traveling in his car alone in very bad weather and his car struck a utility pole and flipped. No other cars were involved.
Knight played for Shawnigan Lake School in British Columbia and was also a BC and Canada U19 player. He went on to play for the University of Victoria and made the Crimson Tide and BC U23 teams. He was then capped by the Canadian national team and also played for Stade Langonais in France as well as the Kitsilano club in Vancouver.
Newcomers Mountain Ridge Climbing High In Utah Fall 7s
New high school program Mountain Ridge is enjoying a strong start to a very promising rugby lifespan in Utah.
The single-school team in the southern part of Salt Lake County came out of the Herriman HS program and has former Herriman coaches and players on its staff. With some players of varied experience, and the influx of some talented players who have moved from Oregon, Mountain Ridge now sits atop the Utah Youth Rugby standings after a 3-1 performance on Saturday.
It’s worth noting that United, which was an impressive 4-0 last week, did not play this week as they are under quarantine. The United girls team did play and finished 2nd to Provo.
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Commits: Talent From Wisconsin; Talent To Utah, Cal
The latest list of college commits includes some fancy talent among girls HS rugby in Wisconsin.
While the Badger State is dispersing its abilities throughout the land, on the men's side, Utah is bringing in more players, including a few transfers, while Cal has officially named its 14-player incoming freshman class. Some of those we listed before but we're listing them again.
See the full profiles on the Cal class here: Cal Welcomes 14-Player Freshman Class
MICR Fights Hunger, Preaches Rugby During Lockdown In Memphis
Amid all the talk about not being able to play rugby, it’s easy to lose perspective, but sometimes rugby is more than just rugby, and playing it, or not, has greater importance than just having a good time.
Memphis Inner City Rugby (MICR) has been hugely successful in reaching out to kids in under-served communities, often low-income kids who just need something positive to do outside of school. The program has placed kids in major colleges thanks to rugby, and produced impressive graduation and school-attendance rates.
So the whole point is to use the enjoyment and team ethos of rugby to keep kids away from bad influences and engaged in their education and their future. What happens when you can’t play?
MICR is still working.
College Commits, Latest And Full List
Herriman grads are moving on to BYU and we've got four, including Ammon Sagala transferring from Utah State to the Cougars. Players out of Utah often go on to LDS Mission Carson Connors is listed and he's going on Mission first. Taysan Hammer (pictured) is listed and he is coming back from Mission to suit up for BYU.
We've got more recruits for Lindenwood, Texas Tech, and Kentucky.
Welcome to the program D’Antoine McMillan! D is a local product (Eureka) and a thumper on defense. Welcome to Lion Land! pic.twitter.com/xAh3Iky9jP
— Lindenwood Rugby (@LURugby) July 20, 2020
Latest Commits; SVU, Iowa CCC Get Top Forwards
The latest list of college commits includes five for IUPUI in Indianapolis, while a recent Player Spotlight also finds a place.
Player Spotlight: Alex Kennach
Of note also is Jakob Barker, the outstanding lock for Herriman who was the team captain and is back from injury. He joins his brother Zackary at Southern Virginia. Barker's rise is a classic one, with the Utah Cannibals, the Eagle Impact teams, and HS All Americans all giving him opportunities as he came up through the Herriman ranks.
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The full list is below.
College And HS Products Still Signing In MLR Despite the COVID-19 problems and the very real concern that things won't be cleared up anytime soon, Major League Rugby teams are still making deals. College players are still getting signed, although we're seeing more re-signings and signings from overseas. This, of course, spells out the truth that with 13 teams in the league there are only about 500-600 spots. If all of those are filled the previous season, you've got to hope for 10-20% to retire or be released. A 10% attrition rate would be high, and would open up about 50 spots, at least half of which would be taken up by overseas players. So of the hundreds of graduating seniors in college rugby, only a few dozen will get signed. And it's still a process where other players produced in the USA can sign.
College Commits By College
Here's our latest list of college commits sorted alphabetically by university.
Big recruiting summer for Grand Canyon, St. Bonaventure, Queens University Charlotte, Life, Kentucky, Iona, Davenport, Central Washington, and Mount St. Mary's.
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f you haven't found a place yet, you can be seen by coaches by using our free HS player data base: Use The GRR Recruiting Database To Be Seen
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HS Games March 3-7
March is here, and with that an explosion of rugby action. The Great Lakes area is still easing into it, as it's still snowy out there, but we do have Oregon waking up, and Washington active soon.
Utah gets on the field with its league season. The Carolina Ruggerfest now kicks off the North Carolina club season, and also the South Carolina teams, plus games for teams from 11 other states. We will add in those figures as we format the massive schedule there.
The Lindenwood Tournament is also an intriguing meeting of well-ranked teams.
Meanwhile, we have another few early-season top-of-the-rankings matchups such as St. Augustine vs Jesuit, Xavier vs Fort Hunt, Royal Irish vs St. Edward, and Raleigh Redhawks vs Gonzaga.
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The Key HS Rugby Stories Of The Decade
High school rugby has seen a few changes over the past year and the past decade, most of it good as more teams and more players are playing a decent-to-good level of rugby.
Most of the news is good news, but all of the new is a story, and we wanted to look at the biggest and most important stories in the high school game.
Solid Effort From Saint Augustine
Saint Augustine started their SCIRF season with a comprehensive team effort in defeating a tough La Costa Canyon side 31-10.
Saints senior Michael Colucci was named man of the match after scoring three tries. Captain Aidan Konja, shifted to flyhalf, which isn't his regular position, scored two tries.
Injuries forced Konja to change positions and they also forced some other changes. Freshman Sam Johns came in at scrumhalf and he handled the offensive tempo nicely.
“We’ll need 40 players with the ability to master the execution of our game plan to get the SCIRF final again," said Head Coach Ethan Willis. "Getting young players like Sam quality minutes in a tough match will help us as the season progresses. We were really proud of his effort.”
SoCal Latest: San Clemente Wins Again
Here's a rundown of what's going on in Southern California Boys HS rugby:
San Clemente hammered Fallbrook 94-0 in league play. Fallbrook is having trouble with numbers on the varsity level, and the game was 12-on-12. The game was tight for the first ten minutes or so, but then San Clemente started to run their pattern and scrumhalf Blake Allen ran the tempo nicely on attack.
Notably, the Fallbrook JV team looks much stronger, and while San Clemente won that encounter 33-7, it was a more competitive game. Allen started at center in this game (he's a freshman) and was very effective, including with his kicking. Fallbrook was physical and resilient and this JV outfit could be quite effective in the coming years.
Marina HS Faces Challenge In SoCal Week 2
Week Two of the Southern California Youth Rugby boys HS season is here already.
(What's happening in the SCIRF league is here: Experienced Saints Head Into 1st SCIRF League Game and here: Bosco Revels In Rugby, Football Double Success )
Here's a look at this weekend's games.
California HS vs Warren HS (Los Angeles Division league game)
Wilson HS vs Marina HS
Experienced Saints Head Into 1st SCIRF League Game
Returning SCIRF league finalist Saint Augustine will take the pitch for their first regular season game this Saturday when they face La Costa Canyon at 2pm.
The Saints, which ended the season ranked #17 by Goff Rugby Report / FloRugby, return 15 seniors from a team that finished undefeated in regular season before getting upended by St. John Bosco in the final.
"We have high expectations and standards for our group," said Saints Head Coach Ethan Willis. “The boys have worked hard in the offseason and preseason. We’ve got a group that understands each other and understands the philosophy of how we want to play. Now it is about ticking off the daily items that will get us there.”
