It's a busy weekend around the country in Boys HS rugby, as some leagues are getting started, and others heading into playoff-decision time; here's a look:

 

Pacific Northwest

Rugby Washington opens their season with a rematch of the 2015 state final. Budd Bay hosts Liberty. Budd Bay was the only team to beat Liberty in 2015, something the Barbarians did twice, once in the final. It was a weird year in Washington last year, where most of the teams, other than Liberty, hovered around .500. 

Budd Bay has graduated some impressive talent - not least of which is AIC freshman sensation Lui Sitama. Liberty has an impressive pack, led by HS All American David Ainuu.

Rainier joins the DI this year and starts at Chuckanut, while Seattle opens at Eastside.

Seattle will already have played a game, as Friday the Vikings will host the San Diego Mustangs.

(Fun note: Rugby Washington's DI league currently has only seven teams, and generally the boys league has bounced between five and ten teams. Basically, not many, and yet the intensity of competition is such that eight players from Rugby Washington high school programs have been capped at 15s in the last ten years - that's more than any other state apart from California.)

 

Rugby Oregon begins its season with a full slate for the clubs. The Boys Club Championship starts with defending champions the Beaverton Barbarians facing Polk County. Beaverton is running out two teams this year, an A and a B side. The Bs play East Oregon.

In the single-school bracket, they won’t play for another week. Union is heavily favored to win.

 

Idaho also kicks off this weekend, with perhaps the highlight game being Rocky Mountain v Mountain View. Capital also faces Eagle. 

 

California

In Northern California, we've got three divisions to look at.

In the Premier, Riordan is at Solo Falcons, Granite Bay is at Lamorinda, and Danville is at Jesuit. The Danville v Jesuit clash is by far the most compelling, as the Oaks have designs on upending the Marauders. This is the kind of game the coaches have been looking for (watch out for the JV clash between the two, as well).

Jesuit beat Christian Brothers last week in a non-conference game with tries from Kyle Estipular, Bailey Abercrombie, Noah Novotny, and Dalvin Milton-Jamal in a game where Jesuit was filling on some hoes for absent players.

In DI, the game of the week is likely to be Peninsula Green v SFGG. Sierra Foothills and CK McClatchy are unbeaten in the Sacramento division, but could be tripped up by teams they should beat on paper (but you never know).

In DII, five teams have emerged as the major contenders - De La Salle in the Bat Division, Bullard and Roosevelt in the Central, Berkeley in the Redwood, and Kennedy in Sacramento.

In Southern California, the club season is moving along.

Santa Monica won the Santa Clarita kickoff tournament, beating Back Bay and Belmont Shore in the process, and then beat Santa Clarita. The Dolphins play LA this weekend. The South Gold starts with Irvine Rhinos v San Diego Young Aztecs - who should be solid this year - and Fallbrook at the Coastal Dragons. The San Diego Mustangs, as we told you, are touring the Pacific Northwest.

They’ve got a busy schedule, with Seattle on Friday night, then the Eastside Lions on Sunday, and two days later, back in San Diego, it’s Prince of Wales HS from British Columbia. That’s an intense little warmup.

Southwest

We have already told you how bunched up the Arizona league is. 

Misfits Jump to top in Arizona. But this week the Blackbirds (4-1) will clash with Red Mountain (4-0) in one big matchup, and West Valley (5-1) deals with a 2-2-1 North Valley that could surprise. Tempe, like Red Mountain, undefeated, plays Phoenix.

New Mexico Youth Rugby is building nicely. La Cueva, Albuquerque Eagles, and Albuquerque Dukes all were winners last weekend, and this week the Dukes and the Eagles face off. La Cueva plays the Junior 'Varks.  New Mexico also runs a 10-a-side league for smaller teams.

In Texas, St. Thomas is still winning, and thumped East Memorial last week, with Griffin Maat scoring four tries, and Joshua Pane scoring three. Still coach James Wolfinger called his team a “work in progress.”

We’ll see how much progress they’ve made with Friday’s game against Kingwood.

Tonight’s Rock Rugby v Westlake game should be an interesting one, as Rock has been playing very well of late and Westlake is the defending state champion. 

 

South

The Deep South is all about who can chase down those Bayou Hurricanes. Shreveport at Jesuit New Orleans (who tied Jesuit Dallas in tournament play last week), and and 3-1 Barbarians v 4-1 St. Paul’s is a big one. St. Paul’s was closer to Bayou than the Barbarians, but that shouldn’t bias you one way or the other.

In Georgia it’s all about Phoenix v Trojans. This is a really good rivalry, and it will be interesting to see if playing in the Carolina Ruggerfest without some of their top players helped Phoenix - probably.

Things are really only getting started in Tennessee. Defending champion South Doyle had a humbling experience in the Carolina Ruggerfest, so we’ll see how they rebound against Bradley as the SMAC starts.

In West Tennessee, rain  Christian Brothers is traveling once again, playing Brother Martin out of Louisiana and White State on the same weekend.

 

Carolinas

The Raleigh Rattlesnakes and Charlotte Catholic made us all take notice in the Carolina Ruggerfest. This is a good weekend for the Charlotte Tigers to get back on track, with a game against Union County. The Rattlesnakes play North Meck.

In South Carolina, Wando got some tough games at Ruggerfest, and Providence was challenged also. South Carolina teams take the week off.

 

Florida

Well RBMA put a bit of a monkey wrench into Tampa’s plans, but only a bit of one. The Krewe can get back on the winning tack against a pretty strong Okapi team. RBMA clashes with Jupiter in a game that could decide who finishes 2nd in the league … or who can chase Tampa for 1st. 

 

DC Area

Gonzaga has a league game against Good Counsel and then goes to Spain. Must be nice. 

Georgetown Prep is coming off a big win over DeMatha in a game where Prep was missing some key players (James Lyons was with the Maryland Exiles team that finished 3rd in Las Vegas, and he led the team in tries). 

Saturday Prep heads to Delaware to square off with Salesianum in a rematch of last year's semifinal. The Sallies had a scrimmage with St. Joe's Prep (Philly) this past week. DeMatha will try to right the ship in a non-league match with Loyola-Blakefield before facing Saint John's College High School (DC) on Saturday.

In Virginia there's much to do yet but West End has to be feeling good after their big win over West Shore United, and they look ahead to Loyola Blakefield.

 

Pennsylvania

One more week until the clubs start playing, but the single-school teams are in action. They have Red, White, and Blue divisions; watch out for St. Joe’s Prep at Roman as a good opener, but the biggest game has to be Unionville at Cumberland Valley.

 

Midwest

St. Ignatius beat Kenmore West out of the Buffalo area 67-0, takes on Archbishop Moeller, which enjoyed a successful Nash Bash. It’s a good look at two good teams from Ohio.

 

Colorado

Aurora defeated PAC, East beat Arapahoe, and Chaparral beat Littleton in midweek games. East has started very well and quickly - 3-0 in the first two weeks - and takes on Fort Collins this weekend. Colorado Springs v Aurora looks like an exciting early matchup.