Southern California Youth Rugby has announced its Boys & Girls all-star coaches.

Richie Walker, who has coached the USA U20 Women's 7s team will coach the girls Griffins, and Matt Hawkins, former USA 7s team captain and former USA 7s team coach, will coach the boys Griffins.

The coaches will scout, train, and select their respective teams to the USA Rugby Regional Cup tournament in Portland, Ore.

In an announcement released by SCYR, Hawkins said, “I believe the future of youth and high school rugby in Southern California is bright and I look forward to the opportunity to contribute to the continued success of the Boys Griffins program.”

“We have incredible young athletes here in SoCal,” said Walker, “some still undiscovered, and I am honored to be offered the chance to help girls rugby grow and thrive across the region.”  

“The Boys and Girls Griffins are our flagship elite teams and through our Regional All-Star Team pathway, offer the opportunity for all SCYR high-school aged athletes to compete for a spot on a team that will play in front of coaches and selectors for the High School All-American programs,” added SCYR Executive Director Alexandra Williams.  "We are excited to bring coaches of this caliber on board and look forward to the high quality elite rugby experience and opportunities they will bring to our athletes."

Through a series of open tryouts and training sessions, each Regional All-Star team will select & send a Varsity and a JV squad to compete in the 3rd Annual mini-Regional All-Star Tournament (mini-RAST) on May 28, in a central SoCal location. Both coach Hawkins and coach Walker will observe the training sessions and use that to select the team.

There is an open tryout on Sunday, April 10, with registration for the tryout opening March 14.

The teams train on April 24, May 8, and May 22.

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