Stars & Stripes Boys Wrap

The Stars & Stripes week ended for 44 highly-regarded high school boys rugby players Saturday with the Stars & Stripes game in Greeley, Colo.

The Stars fell behind early and then came back in a high-scoring game to win 42-38. But more than that, the game was the culmination of a week of work with their respective coaching staffs.

“We wanted to broaden the players’ horizons and expose them to different patterns and approaches,” said Stripes Head Coach Michael Engelbrecht. “I thought the players were really open to new ideas and new ways of playing.”

Engelbrecht and his staff of Justin Goonan and Alex Houser also wanted to make the players more tactically aware - tat took about 35 minutes of game time to establish.

“We were not so good in that area,” said Engelbrecht. “In the first half we were a bit too bold in getting out of our own 22. That resulted in two intercept tries. So they didn’t really take in that message until it hit them in the face.”

Defensively, overall, both teams struggled to maintain defensive shape and fell off a few tackles, but offensively they showed off some impressive team play with the ball in hand.

Ruben De Haas of the Little Rock Stormers in Arkansas was impressive for the Stars and flanker Makai Clearwater of Del Norte HS in Southern California. Clearwater was perhaps a less well-known player in the Stars & Stripes group, but he was very active on defense, worked effectively in the open field and in tight, and ran good lines on offense. He was named player of the game.

Also for the Stars, Zach Heistercamp was very strong at blindside flanker, while flyhalf Anton Grigoriou and wing Luke Beinstock continued their strong form.

For the Stripes, Leki Fotu was immense at second row and partnered nicely with his fellow Herriman lock Kenton McPeak. Westlake’s Bobby Butchofsky out of Texas captained the team ably at flanker.

The teams scrimmaged earlier in the week in a non-contact session that allowed each to figure out more what the other was doing. This allowed for some planning, and set things up for an exciting game.

For the Stars coaching staff, the win was pleasing, but the week was also about development.

“We had a pretty young team and we wanted to work with the players to put them in position to succeed later,” said assistant coach Sean Duffy. “It was a good event, a good camp all week.”