High school rugby: Best matchups coming up

In this series, we're jumping in our time machine and looking ahead at some of the most exciting high school matchups coming in the 2025 spring rugby season.

Here's the plan: We are going to pick one matchup every other week to talk about, right up until the season starts.

Without further ado, here is the first matchup we are excited about!

Gonzaga vs St. Ignatius

When: 4/26/2025 Where: Mylan Park, WV

A Nationals Final rematch? Aww hellll yeah!

These two HS rugby titans have made a habit recently of punishing their seasonal opponents and then meeting each other at Nationals to duke it out. This game is one you’ll want to have circled on your calendar, guys.

2024 Nationals Recap

At the 2024 Nationals tournament, Gonzaga and Ignatius met in the final as they have in 2 of the past 3 years. Here’s a brief rundown of how that went:

Ignatius was first to put points on the board, courtesy of a penalty kick in the opening minutes. But Gonzaga stomped on the throttle immediately after that and dropped 28 points on Ignatius by half time. How’d they do it? Well, Gonzaga’s kick coverage - led by Kieren Downs (#10) - did a masterful job collecting every kick that Ignatius sent their way and kept Ignatius in their own half. Then the Gonzaga forward pack rampaged nonstop inside the Ignatius 22, setting up multiple tries. It felt like Gonzaga was in cruise control with a halftime score of 28-3. Get the ice baths ready!

“Not so fast” said the St. Ignatius boys.