What This Player's Transfer Tells Us
What This Player's Transfer Tells Us
University of Mary Washington men's rugby has announced that star flanker Aaron Juma has transferred to UMW.
At GRR we don't cover a lot of transfers as news in and off itself because it simply takes too much time to track them, but this transfer carries with it a bit of weight. Juma, who has helped lead Wheeling University to a NCR CRC 7s title and a NCR D1 semifinal spot, is one of the top players in the NCR D1 sphere. A hugely popular player who has emerged as just a flat-out nice guy, Juma was selected 5th in the 2nd round of the 2024 MLR Draft, with Old Glory DC making the selection.
The two-time NCR D1 All American, Juma also toured with the NCR All American team in France last summer and he was, once again, a game-changer.
So why is this special news? Well it brings up in part a desire by some players to find more 15s games and more challenging 15s games. As pointed out in Dave Miller's op-ed on GRR here—Op-Ed: The 15-a-Side Difference in College Rugby—D1A teams play more 15s games than NCR D1 teams. Wheeling played nine games in the fall of 2024, and now turn to 7s. Mary Washington also played nine games this past fall, and have at least four more games to play, possibly more if they win.
Other players have been known to make this shift. Notably, St. Xavier HS standout Phil Bottomley played the fall at Cincinnati and now has transferred to Life University. This is, as we understand it, almost entirely a rugby decision.
For Juma, it's a rugby decision, and more. He has been drafted by DC but he also has some work to do to finish his studies—UMW's announcement says he will enroll in the school's business program. But his time with the MLR Rising assembly this past summer, which was at UMW, might have also made him think the college was a pretty nice place to be.
So now Juma can finish his degree near the team that drafted him and he can train with them during the approved training windows.
And there's one other factor, outlined here>>. World Rugby's measurement of time in-country to gain residency status (as a rugby player) is now based on how long you are registered with your new country's governing body. College players registered only with NCR are not registered with USA Rugby, and World Rugby's National Governing Body for the sport in the USA is ... USA Rugby.
Now that's not going to foment a massive move of overseas players to D1A teams. But it might matter for some players.
