Updates from around the country.

🇺🇸 South Texas Cooking
High school 15s may be done in the Houston area, but rugby isn’t slowing down.

Summer 7s is kicking off with a full slate of tournaments across Texas:

• Austin 7s (May 31)

• Eagle 7s (June 7)

• Bloodfest (June 13)

• Sabercats 7s (June 21)

• Spartans 7s (June 28)

• Rugby Garden Invitational (July 12)

• Cherrybone 7s (July 19)

Local teams are sharpening up with one big goal in mind: qualifying for the North American Invitational 7s in Utah later this summer. First up: This weekend’s kickoff tournament in Hunt, TX.

Meanwhile, the Houston Sabercats Academy is also on the move, with its U16 and U18 squads heading to NOLA (June 7) and the Panther Rugby Tournament in Tennessee (June 13). The academy pulls talent from across the region—Woodlands, Barbarians, Spartans, Strake Jesuit, St. Thomas—and they’ll be tested against top competition. With a strong player pool and sharp coaches, expect a battle every time they step on the field.

For many seniors, this is their last stretch of high school rugby before college. So the message is simple: enjoy it and make it count.

Note: Big thank you to Julian Savino for helping with this report!

🏟️Ohio Finals this weekend
D1 — St. Ignatius vs St. Edward
This will be their third showdown this season. St. Ignatius won both earlier matches—and took the trophy at Nationals—but St. Edward showed real growth in Elkhart. This rivalry always brings out the best in both teams. Expect a banger.
D2 School — Medina vs Warrior
This is a rematch of last year’s final. Both teams are cruising right now. Could go either way.
D2 Club — Westshore vs Olentangy

🏟️Illinois State finals incoming
New Trier followed up a great weekend at nationals with a dominant state semifinal victory over the Chicago Lions. They’ll face Naperville in the final tomorrow. Naperville’s been hot lately, but nobody wants to play New Trier right now.

La Salette is coming off a very impressive third-place finish in the school bracket at Nationals. They’ll clash with Marist tomorrow in the final. We don’t have much intel on Marist—but breaking through La Salette’s stingy defense has eluded some of the best teams in the country this year. It’ll be a tough ask.

🚀Chaminade Flyers are flying high
For a young program, the Chaminade boys are turning heads this season. They’ve beaten some stiff competition, and now they’re headed to the NY State semifinal against Canisius. They’re a program we’ll be watching closely as they develop and grow. NY rugby is about to get even more competitive.

🐅 Charlotte Tigers: From no invite to Tier 1
Something that was lost in the narrative heading into nationals was this: The Charlotte Tigers weren’t even supposed to be there. Earlier this year, the Tigers were informed that they did not have an invitation to the national tournament—but if they played well, perhaps a spot would open up.

The Tigers went out and played very well, winning the NC state title and only losing to the Cardinals during the regular season in a tight contest.

To cap it off, the Tigers were awarded an invite to nationals…in Tier 1 no less! They went 2-1 in Elkhart—an impressive showing.

For a team that featured several freshmen and first time players, it truly was a remarkable season. They earned this shout 💪

📊Rankings seem…off?
We saw this coming a mile away, so let’s address it real quick.

Your questions: “Why is my team still ranked lower than a team we beat?” or “Shouldn’t the Mustangs be ranked higher than the Cardinals since they beat them at Nationals?”
Short answer: Yes.

The Rugby Riot rankings are fully results-based. There’s no manual tweaking to make things look how we think they should. A big scary math equation handles the heavy lifting—factoring in wins, opponent strength, defensive performance, and more.

Think of our system as a tool to track progress. It’s not the final word. Teams that play more games simply have more chances to earn points.

So yeah—the Mustangs are the #1 club team in the country. But in our system, the Cardinals still sit at the top. Why? They’ve played nine more games.

Anyhoo, we might start dropping some Power Rankings soon to share what we actually think the top 50 should look like.

🔦 Program Spotlight: Archbishop Spalding

Archbishop Spalding is quietly building a Maryland rugby behemoth.

They’ve now made four straight MIAA finals, winning back-to-back titles in 2024 and 2025 behind a 16-0 conference record. Their latest championship came last week with a 33-14 win over Calvert Hall, capping their second undefeated MIAA campaign in a row.

Led by standout Reid Gerber—a USA Rugby U18 High Performance Pathway invitee—Spalding has been dominant locally, and they’ve been punching up out-of-state too:

• 33-0 over DeMatha 

• 71-5 win vs Father Ryan (TN)

• 53-7 over Salesianum (DE)

• A tough 31-19 road loss at Georgetown Prep

On top of that, the squad took their talents abroad over spring break, heading to Ireland for a tour that included a match against St. Michael’s College, one of the top schoolboy programs in the world. They didn’t get the win, but they gained experience, perspective, and a deeper appreciation for the global game.

Spalding is now 20-2 over the past two seasons, with their only losses coming to Georgetown Prep and St. Michael’s. 👀

Archbishop Spalding is a program to keep an eye on, folks. You heard it here first.

💥 Connecticut Semifinal Thriller: Greenwich 28, Fairfield 26

Greenwich was only a few days removed from Nationals and running on fumes—but they found just enough to survive a major battle with Fairfield Pegasi and punch their ticket to the state final.

Greenwich led 14-7 at half thanks to tries from Ben Schacher and Thomas Tishler, but ball-handling was tricky on the rain-slicked turf. After the break, left wing Santi Lattuada broke things open with a scorching 70-yard run down the edge. That made it 21-7…but Fairfield wasn’t done.

Over the next 24 minutes, Fairfield poured in 19 unanswered points, taking a 26-21 lead with eight minutes to go.

Greenwich battled back and eventually punched in a second try from Lattuada to tie things up. With both primary kickers off the field, sophomore center Gustav “Goose” Pietryka stepped up. His conversion looked short… until it hit the crossbar and bounced through. Goose, you legend, you.

Greenwich managed the clock from there and sealed it with a final kick to touch.

Final score: Greenwich 28 — 26 Fairfield Pegasi

🗓️ The Connecticut State Championship will be played Saturday, June 7 at Ridgefield HS. It’s a rematch of the 2023 final: Greenwich vs Fairfield Prep.

🏉 Best of the West debut delivers.

The first-ever Best of the West tournament wrapped up in Salt Lake City on May 17th, and by all accounts, it hit the mark.

Teams from California and Utah clashed in a weekend full of hard-fought, high-scoring, and genuinely entertaining rugby. From a thunderous comeback to double overtime drama, the tournament packed in plenty of storylines.

Highlights from the weekend:

• Thunder Rugby (CA) claimed Tier 1 bragging rights with a 44-21 win over East (UT) on Day 2, capping an unbeaten weekend that also included a 27-26 thriller over Cavemen Black (UT).

• East HS (UT) looked red hot in their first game, a 63-24 victory over Lamorinda.

• Olympus (UT) showed they’re more than a Tier 3 champion, beating Mountain Ridge on day one and edging Brighton 24-17 in double OT to close out the tournament in style.

• Lamorinda (CA) had a tough first game, but on Day 2 they nearly pulled off an incredible comeback against the Cavemen.

• Mountain Ridge (UT) bounced back on Day 2 with a dominant 30-5 win over Santa Monica, following a tight loss to Olympus on Day 1.

• Cavemen Black held off a late charge from Lamorinda (CA) to grab a 42-38 win in one of the weekend’s highest-scoring matchups.

• Brighton’s narrow loss in the finale came after a strong Day 1 showing, beating Santa Monica 41-36 in a back-and-forth battle.

• Santa Monica (CA), fresh off a Tier 2 SoCal title, dropped two competitive games against Brighton and Mountain Ridge but brought quality rugby throughout.

Beyond the scores, the tournament had a real sense of excitement and momentum. Coaches, parents, and players were buzzing—and with multiple college alums coaching teams on both sides, the Utah rugby community was well represented.

All 8 matches were streamed and recorded by Game On Live Sports, and replay access is available for $20 if you want to relive the action.

It’s early days, but the Best of the West is already proving to be a sweet addition to the spring calendar—and a showcase for programs hungry to test themselves outside their usual circuit.

Huge kudos to the team that put this event together—it’s a lot of work to launch a new tournament.

We’re so pumped to see another top shelf tournament spring up, and we hope this becomes a theme across the country. Keep em coming!

Oddball musings, induced by borderline hypothermia.

🏉 We’re working on something: The Unsung XV
An award that goes to teams’ unsung heroes: the ruck warriors, the kings of clean-outs, the dudes who make weird noises and produce absurd amounts of sweat. These guys keep the engine running, but they don’t get much recognition. You know who they are—let’s give them some shine. More on this soon.

🏉 Pet peeve (soccer edition)
I hate those electronic whistles some soccer refs are using these days. They’re too quiet, too soft, and they ruin the drama. Half the point is watching the ref raise it to his mouth like he’s about to end the world. If this starts creeping into rugby, I’m gonna go bonkers.

🏉 I really want to know who has made the most tackles in the country this season. Can we put all that ai technology to work and find out?