Union HS solidified their place at the top of Oregon’s single-school boys league with an emphatic 62-19 defeat of Lincoln Saturday.

With the victory Union is 4-0 with 14 standings points - teams in Oregon play periodic shortened round-robin games, which count for half points, and Union has won two regular-length games (8 points), two round-robin games (4 points) and two addition ref points.  

Union’s 2nd team - they have 39 players on the roster, all from Union HS - is also unbeaten. 

“We have three practices a week which are well attended,” said Union Coach David Curle. “My assistant coach is a local legend and Portland Pig old boy, Paul Campbell. Paul brings his scrum sled to practice, which has proven invaluable. We don’t have the largest forward pack but they have good technique and aggression. We like the mantra that defense is offense without the ball, and work hard on putting teams under pressure with our speed off the line.”

The team takes pride in their tackling, and they also have the feeling of some unfinished business, having lost to Prairie in last year’s state final.

“At the beginning of last year I suggested to the boys that finishing 4th would be quite an accomplishment but after a few early wins they started believing that they could win the Championship and started saying Why Not Us?” said Curle.

The run to the title game was a bit of a fairtytale, then, but with the 2014 Union team averaging under 16 years old, they were almost all back to try again. Led by Curle’s son Brendan, several made the state select side and then went on to win the Oregon fall 7s series, as well.

“We have a lot of character and leadership on the team,” said the elder Curle. . They love rugby and love each other. When I started the team I told the boys that I would never yell at them in a negative way or put them down. I told them that I would value and treat them equally and give them respect. They would not have to earn it, I would give it freely. However because they had a source, my asking was that they would share it with their teammates, parents and school. The culture of respect in rugby helped establish our program and energized our Titan family and community.”