A Mixture Of Experience, Background In Rhinos 10s Team
A Mixture Of Experience, Background In Rhinos 10s Team
The Rhinos team out of Southern California is getting set to play in the World 10s Series this weekend in Bermuda, and the lineup is a mix of experienced and developing players, with a decided overseas/US split, too.
Ryno Combrinck heads the coaching staff that includes Justin Benn and Eddie van Rooyen.
This is a bit of a departure for Rhinos Rugby. Now confirmed as a National Development Program for USA Rugby, Rhinos Rugby has long been involved in youth rugby and in a high school-age academy for both 15s and 7s. But they’ve expanded into U23s, running a High-Performance Academy at that level, and their Arete7Academy (personal development for coaches and players).
Now they’re working on 10-a-side rugby, a code that isn’t as widely played as 15s or 7s, but certainly has a place.
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"Rhinos have gone through a major growth phase in the last few years, from a club to Academy, to adding a school for athletes, building high-performance centers, and expanding into the international professional arena with the World Tens Series rugby team,” said Rhinos Rugby President Derek Nellmapius. “Through our USA and South Africa rugby academies, we look to have a mix of players from both countries in our academics and rugby systems, thus facilitating know-how exchange and create opportunities for these players in our Academy teams and Rhinos professional team to develop into competitive international players and be seen by college, club and national teams coaches and recruiters.”
South Africa? Well, yes. The organization has impressive facilities in Southern California and Northern California, and now a new high-performance center, stadium, and hotel being built in the Western Cape, South Africa. In addition, Rhinos has launched the Rhinos Sports Academy in South Africa, together with Willem Strauss, the president of the Blue Bulls, to promote exchange student-athletes programs between USA and South Africa, and has an exclusive youth rugby development partnership with Stellenbosch Academy of Sport.
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“At Rhinos, we emphasized a well-rounded development of young athletes (boys and girls, men and women) to achieve individual significance in life through sport, academics and mentorship for personal development and life skills,” added CEO Andreea Trufasu.
On the field in Bermuda, the program has a group of 11 very experienced athletes, with former Southern Kings players Luyolo Daputal and Counrey Winnaar among a strong South African contingent that includes Jurie van Vurren (Utah Warriors and before that the Stormers in Super Rugby) and Carl Meyer (NOLA Gold). Irishmen Conor Kindregan (New England Free Jacks), William Leonard (RUNY) are joined by Englishman Jack Campey, Julian Dominguez Widmer of Argentina and NOLA Gold, and capped Canadian Oliver Nott.
The most well-known American on the squad is Mike Te’o, capped at both 7s and 15s. Another American coming onto the radar is Christian Holmes, who played for the Heusenstamm Foxes in Germany and played gridiron before that.
The more development side of the squad is heavy on American collegiate talent, led by Scholz Award finalist Aaron Matthews (Saint Mary’s), who was drafted by the Seattle Seawolves, and Patrick Regan, who has captained UCLA. Two more UCLA Bruins are on the team: Zach Bonte (more recently Life West) and former HS All American Eric Naposki, is also on the squad and he should enjoy the tweener status of 10s, as he’s somewhat small in 15s but a blazing 7s player,
Nick Taylor from Lindenwood is, like Matthews, a Seawolves draftee, while Jake Hildalgo is a very talented product out of the University of Indiana. Jack Casey is out of the Houston Sabercats Academy, and Jacques Rabe is from the Rhino-Stellenbosch partnership.
Cyrille Cama and Tyler Fijimoto round out the squad; both working within the Rhinos U23 HP Academy.
So it’s a mix, and one where some up-and-coming Americans will have an interesting opportunity to show what they can do.
