Nationals Tournament: 20 DAYS AWAY (May 22nd)

📣Texas Finals incoming
More on this below, but here’s the TL;DR: Woodlands left no doubt about who rules the roost in Texas with their 46–5 victory over the Barbarians. They’ll face the Boks this Saturday. The Boks have had a solid season (6–1) and their 34–7 semifinal win over the Spartans shows they’re locked and loaded for a showdown with Woodlands.

In the Varsity Cup final, Strake Jesuit will clash with Dallas Jesuit—also this Saturday.

📺Utah playoffs begin tomorrow—and you can watch it all live!
East High plays Layton Christian Academy. Cavemen face off against Kearns.
And guess what? Thanks to Game on Live Studio (GOLS) you’ll be able to watch the action—with high quality live-streaming and play-by-play commentary.
🔗Streaming link: Watch the games here.
💵 Cost: FREE
⌚ East High vs. LCA: 1:30pm MT
⌚ Cavemen vs. Kearns: 3:00pm MT

🙌SoCal Playoffs kick off this week.
The SD Mustangs will play Thunder Rugby — SOC Raptors and Belmont Shore face off on the other side of the bracket.
Next weekend will be the final.

Things You Need to Know☝️

💪 St. Ignatius makes another statement—and earns the top spot (twice!).
St. Ignatius loaded up the scoreboard against Gonzaga last weekend. We already knew these guys could put up points, but this 64-5 performance puts them in rare air. They are now the top ranked Single School team in the nation—in the Rugby Riot rankings AND the Goff rankings. They already beat Xavier a couple weeks ago. Taking down Gonzaga pretty much confirms what we already thought—St. Ignatius is a juggernaut.

🚀Cardinals keep rolling.
The Charlotte Cardinals hosted the Wolverines (CA) last weekend, and by all accounts it was an incredibly physical game. We know that several players from St. Francis—California state title winners—are on the Wolverines, so physicality is no surprise to anyone who followed St. Francis during the School season.
But the Cardinals are the baddest hombres on the block right now, and they pulled away to win 46-22.
Note: The Cardinals have gone unbeaten in a whopping 15 games straight this season—their only close call was a 21-21 tie with the Cavemen at the Friendship Cup.

👆Those two play each other soon.
On May 10th, the Charlotte Cardinals and St. Ignatius play each other at a neutral site in West Virginia. Having the top Club team and the top Single school team clash is always a treat. We’ll keep you posted as the game gets closer.

🏟️First Montana Invitational in the books
And it was a smashing success. According to coaches who attended the inaugural tournament, the Montana Invitational was a classy, smoothly-run event. Some things that stood out: beautiful facility, friendly and inviting atmosphere, small details—like sideline canopies and high quality game balls at the ready—were noticed and appreciated. Montana is undergoing a bit of a rugby renaissance and this first edition of the Montana Invitational left a very positive impression on the teams that attended. 🙌

🏆 Herriman cleans house in Montana.
The top three teams at the Montana Invitational were Herriman (UT), Kahuku (HI), and Liberty (WA). But Herriman stood head and shoulders above the rest—they were the top dogs of the weekend. Undefeated, barely gave up any points.
Our take: After a brutal end to the Utah season, Herriman probably needed a palate cleanser. The Montana tourney was just what the doctor ordered for a squad with deep nationals ambitions. They’re getting players back from injury soon and may be at full strength heading into Elkhart. Look out. 👀

🏟️Home team dominant at the Midwest Tourney
St. Xavier (OH) had a very solid weekend—three wins, zero losses. They beat Moeller, the Chargers, and Walnut Hills. A dominant stretch from the hosts, and likely a big confidence boost heading into the final stretch of the season.

🗡️Cavemen and LCA locked horns in Utah
These two faced off in a bruising battle that produced a grand total of... wait for it... 10 points. Yep, 5–5 was the final score. The field was short and narrow, which explains the low scoring. It was like a demolition derby on a basketball court—no space, all smash.
The Utah playoffs begin this weekend—keep an eye on both teams.

🏆Louisiana State Champs crowned.
Brother Martin capped off an impressive season with an exclamation point—bringing home the hardware after a 22-10 victory over Jesuit New Orleans Wednesday evening. Brother Martin only lost one regular season game. Who beat them? Jesuit New Orleans, with a score of 31-19 back in February. Well they flipped the script this time took the crown.

🦅 BC High collects a couple Ws
The lads from Massachusetts rumbled down to Georgetown Prep last week and won 48-30 in a hard fought game. Some standout performances were delivered by Mikey Smith and Charlie Thomison. Smith notched a hat trick, and Thomison was a beast kicking from the tee (5 conversions + a penalty) and also dotted a try of his own.

More recently, BC High defeated Xaverian Bros (MA) in a classic rivalry showdown. BC High was up 27-5 shortly after halftime, but Xaverian clawed back with physical, gritty determination and took a 35-33 lead with eight minutes left on the clock. BC High’s Charlie Thomison slotted a crucial penalty in the final minutes to give BC High a game winning 36-35 lead. Exciting stuff in MA!

💥Okapi cruising into semis (with 2 squads).
Okapi is in an interesting situation. They field two varsity teams (White and Pink), and both teams competed in the state quarterfinals last weekend. Well, both teams won. And now Okapi has two teams in the semis. What a testament to their depth! Could they end up playing each other in the final? Yep. Florida is the Okapi show right now, until someone slows them down.

👋Hey Greenwich…we see you.
Greenwich is hitting their stride. After dropping a couple matches to Xavier and Rye, the Greenwich boys have won two straight against strong competition. A recent (and pretty dominant) win over Fairfield Prep was notable. They backed that up with a 31-10 victory over Aspetuck this week.
Our take: A looming match with Trumbull just became must-watch rugby.

💥Medina has Ohio D2 by the throat.
We’ve been tracking these Medina cats—and we like what we’ve been seeing. They dropped a preseason game to Moon Area (PA), but since then they’ve gone on a tear, racking up 5 wins in a row with dominant scorelines in each match. Their latest match was a 57-5 win over St. Charles. Time for some friendlies against the D1 squads? Sounds like a good idea to us.

Texas State Final

Woodlands vs Boks
Saturday, May 3rd
📺 Watch it here

Woodlands is a known quantity—the baddest hombres in Texas for years. No team in the state has been more consistent or more feared over the past decade.

The Boks, meanwhile, escaped our radar for much of the season (our bad), but they’ve built an undeniable résumé. Their 34–7 semifinal win over the Spartans was impressive, and they’ve been on a roll since their lone loss back in February to Lake Travis.

This is a well-drilled team with several playmakers who’ve been running together since middle school.

When we spoke to Boks head coach Josh Bottjer, he pointed to his squad’s “bend, don’t break” mindset and their willingness to do the hard things—the dirty work that decides matches.

They’ll need plenty of that against Woodlands.

As usual, Woodlands tore through their league schedule, piling up outlandish scorelines week after week. Their only stumble came at the Friendship Cup in Knoxville (yes, yes—we know you’re tired of hearing about it), but they’ve been sharp ever since—mowing down opponents on the regular.

They’re battle-tested, high-rugby-IQ, and dangerous in every phase. They can beat you with structure, punish your mistakes, and keep their foot on the gas for 70 minutes.

This is the Texas State Final. Buckle up.

⭐️Fun Fact: These programs’ top sides have never played each other.

🔦Boks Players to Watch:

Braddock Smith – Senior | Inside Center
Leads the team in tries (11) and ranks top 10 nationally in powerlifting.

Owen Truss – Junior | Outside Center | Captain
Two-time EIRA tour selection and a state champ in football.

Kyle Bierman – Junior | 8-man
Top 5 academically in his class, former captain, and a force in contact.

Jake Stover – Junior | Flanker
High-motor openside who racks up hits and is never far from the action.

Weston Tebow – Senior | Loosehead Prop
Squats 500+, benches 300+, 👀 and brings speed and power in tight spaces.

Landon Bottjer – Junior | Fly-Half
Kicker, organizer, and the voice that keeps the team ticking.

🔦Woodlands Players to Watch:

Ilen Menon – Senior | Fly-Half
Back from injury—the attack flows through him.

Erben Birkhoff – Senior | Lock | Captain
Sets the tone physically and emotionally from the second row.

Orin Hart – Junior | 8-man
Total workhorse who handles the gritty, unglamorous stuff that wins matches.

Boks head coach Josh Bottjer provided us with our Quote of the Week. Check it out below👇

Think you know rugby? Prove it!

Oddball musings, induced by borderline hypothermia.

🏉 We need a new rugby league to feed the MLR and National squad. Too many excellent high school players are disappearing in the college scene—the pipeline is leaking badly.

🏉 I remember when hookers used to actually, you know, hook the ball. Turnovers at the scrum were a regular occurrence—a bygone era when your #2 would brag about swiping the ball from the opposing 8-man. Nowadays—it may be safer—but it feels like teams are more focused on drawing a scrum penalty than actually winning the ball.

🏉 It’s funny how a bug flying in your mouth is usually a total bummer, but during a rugby game you could swallow enough gnats to feed a frog for a year and not even notice.