The Summer of Eagle Impact Rugby Academy

The development of an international touring 15s team at the high school level has been a rousing success.

Eagle Impact Rugby Academy, which is a Goff Rugby Report supporter (full disclosure) has succeeded superbly in a way no one expected. Sure, running a pair of EIRA teams out to British Columbia to act as feeders to the HS All Americans in 2016 seemed like a pretty straightforward idea. It worked nicely, as the EIRA U16s and U17s won all of their games on that trip.

But this year, things got a lot more complicated. Under President Robin Reid, Director Salty Thompson, and Assistant Director Brendan Keane, EIRA took on a massive series of tasks, namely:

• Enter a series of regional teams into RCTs around the nation
• Send a U16 and U17 team to British Columbia 
• Send a U17/U18 team to Ireland
• Send a U16 and a U17/18 team to Ontario

Doing this required the program to identify something like 129 players who had the talent and also the desire and availability to play (you'll see the squad lists below; with 131 listed; two players, Peyton Wall and Cian Messner, played in two events). That, in itself, was a huge accomplishment.

The EIRA program got this done, found the players, and put together large coaching staffs to get these tours finished. The coaches were given plenty of autonomy to develop the teams, but within the Eagle Impact way of doing things, which relies heavily on mastering basic skills. 

All of that should be reason for praise. 

And then, they won games. That was even more noteworthy. On the three international tours, the EIRA teams played 13 games, and finished 10-3. Only one loss was by more than the margin of an unconverted try, and that was when the EIRA team in Ireland played Leinster Academy in a three-period game during which Leinster ran out three completely different 15s for each period. 

You can see full reports on these games here.

But let's make a note in these pages. These players all got a chance to play in another country. They all got a chance to play with other good athletes. They all got a chance to break out and be better. This kind of exposure is exactly what young elite players need. It was a success before anyone scored a try. The fact that they also all came together to win games and win series is just icing on the cake.

EIRA U16s 32 BC U16s 12

EIRA U17s 74 BC U17s 0

EIRA U16s 24 BC U16s 25

EIRA U17s 41 BC U17s 15

EIRA Ireland Touring Squad 12 Ulster Academy U17s 7

EIRA Ireland Touring Squad 9 Leinster Academy XVs 33

EIRA Ireland Touring Squad 29 Ulster Academy U17s 24

EIRA U16s 27 Ontario U16s 21

EIRA U17s/U18s 27 Ontario U18s 32

EIRA U16s 24 Ontario U16s 21

EIRA U17s/U18s 24 Ontario U18s 19

EIRA U16s 24 Ontario U16s 19

EIRA U17s/U18s 29 Ontario 15