🏔️Montana Invitational: 8 days (April 26th)

🏟️Great Midwest Classic: 8 days (April 26th)

🇺🇸Nationals Tournament: 34 days (May 22nd)

3 things you should know.

🏟️HS Nationals Selections = Complete
Goff announced yesterday that the play-ins, invites, questions, and general chaos around who’s attending—are over. The drama probably isn’t, but at least travel plans can begin.
Look out, Elkhart—the hordes are coming.

🌴 Pale thighs banished!
While most of the rugby world hits pause for Easter, the Tropical 7s tournament is underway in Tampa. With divisions from U12 to Senior and teams flying in from all corners of the country, it’s shaping up to be a great weekend of rugby.
You can watch the games here—though it does require a subscription. 

🏆 2025 Cavoli Cup Decided.
St. Ignatius (OH) defeated St. Edward (OH) 64-24 on Wednesday evening to secure the first annual Cavoli Cup. Not sure what that is? Here ya go.
St. Ignatius looks like the team to beat in the Single School scene. The Cavoli Cup is another feather in their cap for what’s shaping up to be a memorable season.

The bigger rugby picture.

🎟️Good sign for US rugby?
The men’s and women’s World Cups are coming to the U.S. in 2031 and 2033. The big question has been: Will Americans actually show up?
Well, in Kansas City, ticket pre-sales for an upcoming USA vs. Canada women’s match have shattered the previous U.S. attendance record for a women’s test match. Some see it as a sign that rugby is finally gaining real traction here. 🤞

📺 Star Wars, Bluey, and MLR — all in one place.
Did you know you can watch the MLR on Disney+ these days? You need the ESPN bundle, but hey—seems like a net positive. We’re probably late to the party on this (it’s halfway through the season). But less friction for watching American rugby = Awesomeness 👌 

🗺️ Globe Trotters
Several high school teams are testing their mettle overseas.
Doylestown (PA) is in the middle of an Ireland tour. Xavier (NY) just began a UK tour. Recently, the Red Mountain Knights (AZ) completed a trip to New Zealand.
We love seeing all this international rugby exposure! Not only is it good from a rugby skills perspective, it also builds the type of camaraderie that rugby programs thrive on. There’s nothing quite like traveling abroad with your mates.

ICYMI📣

These were from earlier this week:

👀Matchups on our WISHLIST.

We have no idea how the seeding is going to shake out, but these are games we’d love to watch at Nationals next month.

Cardinals vs Mustangs
This one feels inevitable. Ever since December—when most of their players were still in school-season mode—we’ve been hearing murmurs about this collision course.

Cavemen vs Woodlands
When they met at the Friendship Cup it was Cavemen who came out on top 28-20. We are dying to see a rematch—and we have a feeling Woodlands is going to be extra fired up.

St. Ignatius vs Gonzaga
Rematch of last year’s final? Sign us up. These two play soon in the regular season—but the stakes (and emotion) hit different at Nationals.

Xavier vs Sacramento Jesuit
Coast-to-coast thriller potential. Jesuit has had one of the toughest schedules in the West. Xavier’s been on a tear in the East. This one just feels right.

Herriman vs La Salette
Last year, Herriman had to grind it out to defeat St. Martin’s, the small-but-mighty school from Kansas. In our dream scenario, Herriman will again face a tiny all boys school—this time La Salette, who’s looking stronger than ever.

Charlotte Tigers vs Belmont Shore
The Charlotte Tigers are our upset creator candidate. They’re a very good team—but so far this year, they’ve been playing second fiddle to their neighbors, the Cardinals. Belmont Shore is in a similar spot, sitting just behind the Mustangs. Let’s hope these two meet.

🧢Teams we WISH were attending:

• BC High (MA)
  They looked great at the Gonzaga Classic. Sadly, Nationals didn’t fit their schedule this year.

• Okapi (FL)
  They were originally planning to attend—but travel plans fell through. Tough break—we were genuinely excited to see how they’d perform in Elkhart.

• Rye (NY)
  They didn’t throw their hat in the ring this year—choosing to focus on winning a state title. But dang…they look good.

• Barbarians (TX)
  This team is clearly on the rise. They may not have made the cut this year (or maybe they didn’t apply?), but if they perform well against Woodlands in the TX state semifinal then the Nationals Committee might regret not bringing them into the mix.

• Doylestown (PA) and Gregory the Great (PA)
  Doylestown beat GGA. GGA beat Gonzaga and Fort Hunt. They wouldn’t be in the same division—Doylestown is a club team and GGA is single school—but we’d love to see both squads in Elkhart.

• De La Salle (CA)
  There’s probably a valid reason they aren’t going, but the single school division feels incomplete without them.

Observation: There are only two teams representing the Northeast at Nationals. Seems weird for such a densely populated region loaded with private schools and clubs. Scheduling is likely the issue—but still…seems weird.

We’re curious, what do you think?

Building a rugby program from the ground up is challenging, and CAPS Rugby is doing it on hard mode—in the inner-city of Paterson New Jersey.

Coach Nic Denyer is leading the charge, and we featured their story here 👇

Think you know rugby? Prove it!

Oddball musings, induced by borderline hypothermia.

🏉 It’s wild how little anyone seems to understand the college rugby landscape in the U.S. One quick trip down the Reddit rabbit hole reveals the chaos: multiple divisions, overlapping governing bodies, ref beef, petty politics—the works, baby.

🏉 Nothing’s scarier than lining up across from a guy wearing one of those nose mask things. You just know he has a mean streak—and zero regard for his own snooter.

🏉 The Little League World Series pulls off a fully bracketed global tournament for middle schoolers every year. Surely we can figure out a proper national playoff for high school rugby... right? Just saying.