Gonzaga Classic: 36 days (April 12th)

Montana Invitational: 50 days (April 26th)

Nationals Tournament: 76 days (May 22nd)

Big Movers 📈

Rock Rugby ⬆️ 38 spots — Ok, this one comes with a caveat. We added some earlier games that were missing from their record. That’s the biggest reason for the huge jump. But that doesn’t take away from how well they’re doing!

Tempe (AZ) ⬆️ 26 spots — These guys earned a big jump after a solid showing last weekend, beating Neuqua and Desert Legion in back-to-back games.

Strake Jesuit (TX) ⬆️ 14 spots after beating Dallas Jesuit 41-10.

St. Francis (CA) ⬆️ 6 spots after defeating De La Salle in the NorCal Final last week. Now they get a primetime showdown with Torrey Pines this weekend for the California crown.

Gonzaga (DC) ⬆️ 8 spots after beating St. Joe’s (PA) 50-12. They’re going to climb again once we get their latest game (a 59-21 victory over Vienna) entered on Monday.

HEB (TX) ⬆️ 10 spots after defeating Allen HS (TX) 47-0 last week.

Herriman (UT) ⬆️ 11 spots courtesy of their strong 40-17 win over East HS (UT).

St. Augustine (CA) ⬆️ 7 spots after beating Mira Costa 47-14 last week.

Okapi (FL) ⬆️ 9 spots— Another one where we added a game result from earlier in the season. Regardless, Okapi sits at #8 and is flying high.

💥Charlotte Cardinals (NC) — These guys were previously unranked/inactive, but one weekend of domination at Ruggerfest saw them launch all the way into the top ten—landing at #7.

💥Charlotte Tigers (NC) — These dudes also kicked some major butt at Ruggerfest. They soared from unranked all the way up to #18 in one weekend. We’ll be tracking them…👀

Top Five Movement 👀

The top two teams—Cathedral Catholic & Torrey Pines—are still holding their positions this week.

🔥San Clemente (CA) leaped 4 spots into the #3 position after winning the Multi-School SoCal division last week.

Oceanside (CA) dropped 1 spot, but remains in the top five, at number 4.

TIP: Take a look at the rankings page, check your team’s game results, and let us know if anything is incorrect.

🏆California School Final

Torrey Pines vs St. Francis

Saturday, March 8—4pm (PT)
📺Streaming on The Rugby Network

Hoo boy… get ready for a showdown! St. Francis travels down to SoCal for a big-time meeting with Torrey Pines. St. Francis surprised some people last week with their victory over De La Salle in the NorCal championship, while Torrey Pines defeated the upstart Loyola Cubs en route to this State Final.

Torrey Pines—as we’ve mentioned before—plays a very technical game. They make up for a lack of size with tactical prowess and mastery of the small details of the game. Their lineouts are silky smooth, their kicking game is crisp, and their entire roster tackles very well.

St. Francis fields a super athletic roster. These kids can make you whiff all over the field with their sometimes-shifty-sometimes-smashing running abilities. This was on full display in the NorCal final as they scored on multiple long runs against De La Salle. They like to keep the ball in-hand—which makes sense since that’s where they excel—but an opportunistic kicking game is also in their bag of tricks.

Key Questions:
- How will Torrey Pines defend against St. Francis’ talented ball-carriers?
- Is St. Francis ready to go toe-to-toe with Torrey Pines’ tactical game?
- Which team will NOT LET the other side play their game?

Family Matters: This game is going to feature a LOT of the same last names. Not only do we have the Curtis bros (James and Rees) for Torrey Pines, but St. Francis has no less than four Keannainas in their starting lineup, three brothers and one cousin. Highlighting the St. Francis bunch is Kingston Keannaina, their dynamic flyhalf. He’s joined by Kaimani Keannaina, Kevin Keannaina, and Motu Keannaina.

Coaches’ quotes:

🏆California SCIRF Final

Cathedral Catholic vs. La Costa Canyon

Friday, March 7—6pm (PT)

This will be the second meeting of these teams this season. The first was a dominant Cathedral Catholic victory (54-10), but that was back in January—a lot can change in 6 weeks. Plus, this is the final, baby! Expect an intense match from start to finish 💪

LCC holds a 3-3 record, and their best game was actually a loss—to Torrey Pines in a very close game (24-21). These guys clearly know how to play at a high level. Now they’ll need to find a way to contain Cathedral’s dynamic playmakers and put some points on the board in the process. Interestingly, LCC beat Los Alamitos a few weeks ago, and Cathedral Catholic just barely beat Los Alamitos in their last game.

Cathedral Catholic hasn’t lost a game yet, as they’ve put together quite an impressive season. They’ve been tested a few times, but they’re the top shelf in SCIRF until proven otherwise. LCC brings an element of physicality that nearly saw them upset Torrey Pines. It will be interesting to see how Cathedral handles that in the final game of the season with everything on the line.

Coach’s Quote:

Side note: It’s a damn shame that the winner of this game won’t play the California Single School winner. Congrats California, we’ll never actually know who the best team is. Crushing it…

Connecticut

Aspetuck vs Fairfield Prep

Ok let’s try this again… We had Aspetuck on the schedule last week, but that game was rescheduled, making THIS game Aspetuck’s first game of the season. Fairfield Prep is also making their debut in this match.

Connecticut has several top notch teams—these two are definitely on that list. How are they going to look in their season debut? Stay tuned. 👀

Texas

Woodlands vs. HEB

Part of the reason we have this match on our list is because we have barely seen any action from Woodlands. They’ve smoked a couple opponents this season, but they’ve have barely played any games. HEB just beat Allen HS 47-0 and holds a 2-1 record. So perhaps they’ll give Woodlands a run for their money. We shall see.

Two weeks ago, Woodlands dominated a talented Strake Jesuit squad 62-3. And that was actually the CLOSEST game they’ve played so far. Safe to say HEB has their work cut out for them.

New York

Xavier vs St. Edward

Xavier just earned themselves Goff’s top spot after defeating Gregory the Great last week. They looked very good, especially for their first game of the season. St. Edward tasted their first game action at Ruggerfest last weekend and went 1-2 in their games—but one of those games was against the Charlotte Cardinals, a tough game for anyone right now.

Think you know rugby? Prove it!

Oddball musings, induced by borderline hypothermia.

🏉 Do kids these days still use metal studs? I remember screwing in those bad boys like I was greasing up a scythed chariot before battle.

🏉 Bad Business Idea: Breath mints for the front row. The catch? They smell really bad so the opposing front row feels sick every scrum. Alright Willy Wonka, now how do we keep these things from killing the actual breath mint chewers?