EIRA Clinics in Indiana
Eagle Impact Rugby Academy will be holding player development clinics in Indiana the weekend of January 23.
On January 23, the Indiana North clinic will be held at Penn HS from 2:30 to 5pm. On January 24 the Indiana South clinic will be held at Fishers HS from 11:30am to 3pm.
You must be invited to attend, so email EIRA Director Salty Thompson at eagleimpactrugby@gmail.com with your rugby resume and coaching references to secure an invitation.
Once you are invited, the cost is $50, which you pay in advance at www.eirarugby.org.
Thompson will head up an accomplished coaching staff whose goals are:
1) to provide a quality, challenging rugby skills session
EIRA Player of the Week - David Ainuu
Coming out of the HS All American Camp, the big news is that the USA’s front row future is in good hands.
Following on the heels of Titi Lamositele being capped by the Eagles at prop at the age of 19, minds have been opened to the idea that young props can be fast-tracked in the right circumstances. Lamositele, now a pro at Saracens, is just the beginning, and maybe the next one is David Ainuu.
“He’s an exciting talent, and he’s very smart,” said HSAA Head Coach Salty Thompson. “He can go a long way.”
Saints v LCC Big SoCal Clash
St. Augustine faces off with Las Costa Canyon Saturday in a clash that could go a long way toward telling us who leads the heap in Southern California’s Varsity Red Division.
This league, which is made up of 100% single-school teams in the San Diego region, saw Fallbrook win the title last year. But Fallbrook has graduated some strong players, including Player of the Year Steve Brennan, and that has left an opportunity for others to move in.
La Costa Canyon is one of those moving in, having thumped Torrey Pines and Fallbrook - no pushover, either of them. And now they take on St. Augustine, which began the season with a defeat of Fallbrook, but slipped a little last week with a tie against Del Norte.
Tougher Florida Boys DI Starts This Weekend
The Florida Youth Rugby Boys HS season starts this weekend with the new-look Division 1 putting eight of its ten teams on the field.
Tampa Krewe faces Key Biscayne in an early matchup of some intrigue. Key Biscayne moved to high school competition last year with a group of young players coached since they were very young by a group of dads - many of whom played serious rugby in Argentina and Uruguay.
They are skilled and play well together.
Meanwhile, the Krewe, which struggled to win a single game last year, is expected to win a lot more this year. The Krewe played in the toughest pool in 2015, and Tampa was very competitive regardless.
De Haas Doubles Up in Camps
It was a very busy winter break for Ruben de Haas.
The Arkansas-based scrumhalf attended the USA U20 (aka Men’s Junior All-American) camp before Christmas, and then the High School All-American camp after Christmas.
Since both camps were in Arizona, he and his family, naturally, spent December 25 in Las Vegas, as you do.
The 17-year-old scrumhalf received very positive reviews from both assemblies, and is one of a group of young athletes who are showing the slightly older MJAA hopefuls how to get it done.
“I felt like I did pretty well,” said De Haas, who plays for the one high school team in Arkansas, and likely will be spending most of his spring in a jersey with an Eagle on it.
Six Top HS Teams in Storer Classic
Boys High School teams from Northern and Southern California, as well as Utah, will meet up in the Storer Classic this weekend.
It's a stacked list of teams, with three teams from Northern California's new top-tier Premier Varsity competition - reigning Northern California champs Danville, Archbishop Riordan, and Lamorinda. Southern California teams Torrey Pines and Santa Monica are in, along with 2015 Utah single-school champion Snow Canyon.
Danville, which won NorCal and also the Pacific Cup on the way to being one of the top-ranked HS clubs in the nation, is a slim favorite to win all its games.
SoCal UpDate
Below are the updated Southern California Boys HS standings (as close as we can get them at the moment).
La Costa Canyon has started well (see details), and will clash with 1-0-1 St. Augustine on Friday. St. Augustine surprised themselves a little with a 12-12 tie with Del Norte in a performance that Coach Eric Dent said was "not sharp."
Waiting in the wings is Cathedral, ready to bounce back to the upper echlone in Varsity Red.
Mira Costa (see details) won again and look solid while they seem to be on a collision course with St. John Bosco in Varsity White. University City hammered Mira Mesa to stay undefeated in the LA conference in Varsity White.
NC Ruggerfest Open for Registration
The North Carolina Youth Rugby Union (NC SRO) has announced that the 2016 CarolinaRuggerfest registration is open.
In its 13-year history, the Ruggerfest has attracted competition from across the United States, the Caribbean and Canada, and has grown to be one of the largest High School Rugby tournaments in the nation.
Ruggerfest will take place on March 5th and 6th, 2016 at the Mecklenburg County Sportsplex in Matthews, NC. The Sportsplex offers five lighted all-weather fields, large rest room facilities, a playground, covered pavilion and is only minutes away from our partner hotels and restaurants.
The boy’s teams will be organized into Varsity XV and Junior Varsity XV. The Varsity will be split into Elite, Advanced and Competitive levels.
La Costa Canyon Downs Fallbrook
The Southern California Red division got back on the field Saturday when as reigning champions Fallbrook took on the La Costa Canyon Mavericks.
Fallbrook lost a lot of key players to graduation over the summer and is looking rebuild this year, while LCC has been building toward a strong season.
And it was Las Costa Canyon that got off to a flying start when Victor Epstein turned over the ball on the Fallbrook 22 and fed Sean Lumkong. Just back from the HS All American winter camp, Lumkong passed to Den St Martin, who hit the hole to score under the posts. Nico Gilli made the conversion for a 7-0 lead.
Boys HS Nationals Application Form Active
The Boys High School Rugby National Championships will be held on May 19-21, 2016 at the Rugby Athletic Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Boys High School Rugby National Championships expect to attract the top high school teams and clubs in the nation to the premier high school-aged tournament in America.
Established in 2014, the Rugby Athletic Center is a privately owned sports, entertainment, and events venue located three miles from the city center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The 13-acre facility includes two high-grade competition fields and up to 4,000 spectator capacity. The Rugby Athletic Center recently hosted the 2014 & 2015 American Collegiate Rugby Competition’s Bowl Series. http://rugbyathleticcenter.com/
Ruggapalooza in Houston Jan 16
Houston, Texas will play hoist to Ruggapalooza, a preseason high school rugby tournament for teams in Texas.
The tournament, invoking ten teams, including one new to play this season, will be belt at the Houston Sports Park, the practice facility of the Houston Dynamo soccer team.
The event is sponsored by the Houston Youth Rugby Association. The games will be controlled scrimmages.
The teams slated to participate are below, including Alamo Heights, a new team out of San Antonio.
1. Alamo Heights(new team from San Antonio)
2. Cy Fair(Houston)
3. HEB (Dallas/Fort Worth)
4. Kingwood (Kingwood)
5. Lake Travis(Austin)
6. Lamar (Houston)
7. Memorial (Houston)
8. St. Thomas (Houston)
9. St. Pius X (Houston)
Mira Costa to 3-0 in SoCal
The Mira Costa Mustang Rugby team took the pitch at home in a battle for first place against a very physical View Park Prep side in the Southern California Varsity White division.
The Mustangs played with three starters in the backline (Justus Tavai was playing in the National Polynesian All Star Football game, and wing Kevin Russell and fullback Sean Walker were also not able to play). Playing against a dangerous albeit somewhat inexperienced View Park team, Mira Costa needed to be careful with the ball, but didn’t do that. Playing a little fast and loose with their passing stung the Mustangs early with three turnovers in the first five minutes, the third one resulting in a long run in for a try for View Park.
Winning Ways for Honey Badgers
The University City HS rugby team’s first victory of the year was off the field, as the Honey Badgers were able to reach the 70% threshold to qualify for SoCal’s Varsity White playoffs.
(Varsity White requires at least 70% of a team to be from one school.)
And while UC moved to 2-0 this past weekend, perhaps the biggest victory there wasn’t the fact that they defeated rivals Alta Vista, but that they did so on a school field. It’s taken four years of campaigning to get UCHS to allow the team to play on school grounds. This past weekend, they got that honor.
“It was a huge moral victory for us,” said Honey Badgers Coach Jason Lee. “It probably wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t for advocates like Pamela Madden, who work tirelessly for the team.”
View Park v Mira Costa Headlines SoCal Weekend
Mira Costa takes on View Park Prep in an important game for both teams in the Southern California Varsity White league.
Costa is 2-0 after beating beating Servite HS and with the Tavai Brothers powering through defenders, they are all kinds of solid this season. But they will have a strong opponent in View Park Prep, which is a little unlucky to be just 1-1.
View Park beat St. Monica, but lost early to St. John Bosco in a game where both teams scored four tries, but View Park was unable to convert any of those tries and lost 24-20.
(Those games between View Park and Bosco are always tight - four points is in fact the largest margin of victory between the two teams in the four times they have played.)
Against league debutants St. Monica, View Park started slow, said Coach David Hughes, but opened it up late.
SoCal HS Latest
Sixteen teams are expected to be in action this weekend in Southern California’s Varsity White division.
In the Inland Conference, the Dead Rabbits club leads with a 3-0 record, having beaten all the other teams in the conference the first go-round.
Led by the snappy play of scrumhalf Dakota Reames, the Rabbits now take on Desert Sands for the second time, and look in very good shape to go 6-0.
In the San Diego Conference, it’s still early days with University City at 2-0 after beating Alta Vista. That result dropped Alta Vista to 1-1 - AV will take on Coronado in Coronado’s opening league game of the season. University City, led by the outstanding midfield pairing of Patrick Madden and Lolenisi Veimau, will take on 1-0 Mira Mesa.
