🏟️ West Coast Sevens signups happening now
We’re talking three weekends of rugby in California. It’s going to be awesome. Learn about it here.

🚨New Club Alert
Oregon has a new club joining the rugby ranks: The Willamette Falls Rugby Club.
Founded by Eric Nelsen, the Ospreys are planning to hit the turf in 2026.

Interesting Facts:

🇺🇸USA teams busy this summer
Future Eagles are all over the map this summer, literally.

⚔️BloodFest 2025 in the books
Austin delivered the goods again. BloodFest 7s brought high-energy rugby across all age levels—and the HS Boys division didn’t disappoint.

Texas clubs Rock Rugby and the Barbarians duked it out in the semis (Rock took it), but it was Wasatch out of Utah who stole the crown, winning the final and taking the hardware back west.

🏟️National Sevens Youth Championship

Brief background: Like so many rugby events across the country, this tournament was born out of a desire to fill a gap in the rugby landscape. In short, when the spring season concluded for youth sevens teams, many people asked “well, what’s next—when is the national tournament?” and the answer left a lot desired: there isn’t one. That’s when several coaches in the Cleveland area—with deep ties to Cleveland Rugby Academy and Rookie Rugby—put their heads together and launched the National Sevens Youth Championship. Simple as that. The people wanted it, so they delivered.

The tournament has featured teams from all over the world, including teams from Ireland, Hawaii, and obviously, a huge number of American squads too.

The most recent iteration concluded this past weekend, with a phenomenal turnout in three divisions—U14 Boys, U16 Boys, U18 Boys, and U16 Girls.

This year’s winners in the boys divisions:

Congrats you guys!!

A couple thoughts: We were initially cautious covering this—the word “national” is a spicy topic in certain circles ya know? But here’s the deal: this is the closest thing we have to a national youth sevens tournament. Where else do you get a full-on, marquee 7s tournament for U14 and U16? There’s basically only a few options: Tropical Sevens, the NAI tournament in Utah, and a smorgasbord of smaller events. The need was real. Hats off to the crew in Cleveland for pulling this thing off every year!

And yeah, we’re not exactly breaking news here—the event has been around for several years—but we wanted to get the origin story.

Not to end on a bummer note…

But hey USA Rugby, can you get behind things like this? Or maybe create your own national youth 7s format?

What’s the holdup? What are the roadblocks? Genuinely curious over here.

The clock is ticking—American rugby deserves hands-on leadership. We have the athletes, we have the desire for excellence, we have a lot of coaches working tirelessly to build up the sport.

Stop leaving gaping holes in the calendar and then standing by—clutching your sanctioning power like a disgruntled babysitter.

Ok, rant over.

Happy to chat with anyone from USA Rugby about this. [email protected] is where you can find me.

Over and out.

🇦🇺🛩️SD Legion U18 Academy impresses in Australia/NZ tour

The San Diego Legion Academy U18 squad, featuring players from Southern California and the Bay Area, just wrapped up an 11-match tour through Australia and New Zealand. These players were selected based on consistent performances during their high school and club seasons, and they proved they could hold their own on the international stage.

Legion finished the tour 6-5, with several close losses and competitive showings throughout. Solid stuff from the American squad.

Here’s a brief recap 👇

The tour opened in Sydney, where the team trained at the NSW Waratahs facility before entering the 2025 NSW Junior State Championships. As the only non-Aussie team in the field—one packed with nearly 30 elite squads—Legion earned a spot in the Plate Final (Tier 2). That run included a rain-soaked battle with Sydney University and multiple back-to-back matchups in a demanding 30-minute format. A massive test of both skill and stamina.

After a grueling three days, the team took a well-earned break to visit UNSW and Sydney University, where they toured athletic facilities, sat in on training insights, and recovered with the help of cold plunges and compression gear. Shoutout to Sydney Uni for the hospitality!

Next stop: Auckland. The group toured the home base of the Chiefs (Super Rugby), then played a physical match against Hamilton Boys High School—another game played in classic New Zealand winter rain (side note: NZ winter sounds a lot like Northeast U.S. summer right now). They followed that with a session at the Blues’ training facility, complete with a leadership workshop led by the team’s GM.

The tour continued with a match against Avondale College—many Legion players’ first experience facing the famous haka. The Legion lads rose to the moment and won the match. That night, the squad joined 15,000 fans to watch the Chiefs knock off the Brumbies in a Super Rugby semifinal.

That capped off a terrific trip for the boys from California—one that they’ll surely remember for years.

Throughout the tour, the feedback from coaches, spectators, and organizers was consistent: this team exceeded expectations. And the impression they left extended beyond the rugby pitch.

Here’s how Patrick Hughes, Executive Director of the Aussie Raptors and the tour coordinator, summed it up:

Shout out to all the lads—well done!

📣Roll call! Here’s the roster that toured Down Under:

Oddball musings, induced by borderline hypothermia.

🏉 A gas station clerk saw my Rugby Riot shirt the other day and asked, “So… is rugby really a riot?”
“Hell yeah it is!” I said.
After a little back and forth, I realized he thought rugby was cricket.
Wished him g’day and told him to hop on the Google and look up rugby.
We’re not mainstream yet, lads.

🏉 Best low-key diss I’ve heard in a while: “You should work at the DMV.”
Savage. Subtle. (and not directed at me fyi)

🏉 Baseball fans wear baseball hats to games. Stay with me here… let’s normalize wearing rugby shorts and scrum-caps to every pro and national rugby game. Certified buzz generator.