RugbyExpo: The story behind the POV Rugby Guy.

“I’ve got it!“

Rumbling footsteps

“On your right, on your right!”

*SMASH*

“Put THAT on your f-ing TikTok, mate!”

Jacob Goeppner gets up, brushes himself off, and chuckles at the salty jibe just hurled his way. Despite how it sounded, he knows that it was actually a compliment from the South African player who tackled him into the dirt - and it was delivered with a smile of sorts (mouth-guard smiles are a bit unsettling).

Jacob glances at the sideline as he gets back into the game action. He sees the crowd that has come out to watch the “American kid” playing rugby. It all feels a bit surreal.

He’ll be hard at work this evening editing game footage and uploading it to his social media accounts, but right now he’s got a game to play AND footage to capture. He has roughly half a million followers counting on it!

So he tears off down the field to join the next ruck, capturing every run and tackle from his signature first-person perspective.

This is a day in the life of Jacob Goeppner, owner of RugbyExpo — the POV rugby guy.

It wasn’t always this way for Jacob. No sir. It’s been quite the journey that brought him to this point.

Let’s go back to the beginning, shall we?

Jacob grew up in Chicago and cut his teeth playing rugby in 8th grade for Lincoln-Way North community club.

Jacob's love for rugby, kindled in those early days at Lincoln-Way, didn't just fizzle out when the seasons changed. Nope, this kid was in it for the long haul. As he moved into high school, Jacob started thinking about how to turn his passion into something more.

"When I was a freshman in high school, I had this goal of eventually getting a rugby scholarship for college," Jacob explains. "So I made an Instagram account named ‘rugbydreamz’ - stupid name, I know." (chuckles)

His parents were super supportive and captured all of his games on camera. Then Jacob would edit his highlights in the evenings and post them to his rugbydreamz account. He figured that, at the very least, his highlights could live on the platform and he would be able to go back and watch them in the future.

But he also put his efforts into getting that scholarship. He attended EIRA camps (Eagle Impact Rugby Academy), and he emailed “every coach possible”, hoping to land a scholarship.

Eventually he DID get a scholarship at the University of Kentucky. So mission accomplished there.

As he wrapped up high school and prepared for college, Jacob had a conundrum: While he really appreciated his folks and friends filming, it seemed like so much good footage was being missed. It wasn’t that they did a poor job filming, just that the angle from the sidelines was limited. “Every time I do something cool, it gets missed!” Jacob lamented.

Then, just like that: lightbulb moment.

And that’s how his POV rugby concept was born. He cooked up some technological wizardry, renamed the channel RugbyExpo (much better) and found a way to bring fans into the action like never before—with a first-person view straight from the heart of the game.

But it wasn’t all easy sailing after that.

Jacob's college experience was a rollercoaster. After landing a scholarship at the University of Kentucky, his freshman year turned into a cornucopia of bad events: house robbed at gunpoint (check), dropping out (check), and losing his scholarship (check). Talk about getting kicked in the teeth.

But Jacob isn't one to stay down. With $200 to his name, two bags, and a skateboard, he headed to Austin, TX, landing a spot with the Austin Huns rugby club. Living on a friend's couch and scraping by on a $500 monthly stipend (hello, Ramen noodles), Jacob took a door-to-door sales job to make ends meet.

I forgot to ask what he was selling - probably vacuum cleaners or something of that ilk - but the money was still really tight. Putting it bluntly, Jacob said “I was going broke.”

It was during this time that Jacob's sales coach pulled him aside and asked him a pivotal question: “What do you want in life?”

Jacob's answer was clear: “I want RugbyExpo to EXPLODE!”

The sales coach: “Well then get to it. Show some action, buddy.”

This conversation lit a fuse under Jacob. He decided to lean into his rugby content and get more consistent, committing to posting a POV rugby video every day for 45 days. The results were promising - his follower count grew from 4,000 to 6,000, with one video hitting 28,000 views. Jacob knew he was onto something. He just had to break through somehow.

"My parents were like, 'Are you sure about this RugbyExpo thing?'" Jacob chuckles. "I told them, 'I feel like I'm closer than ever!' My dad wanted me to be a fireman."

Jacob, however, did not want to be a fireman.

Rollercoaster times…

Jacob's rugby career continued its ups and downs. He scored two decisive tries in a big game for the Austin Gilgronis Academy team (the game was against the American Raptors), only to be told he didn’t make the team afterwards. A gutting experience. And on top of that, he got dumped by his girlfriend at the same time. Oof.

But in an impressive pick-yourself-up-by-the-bootstraps moment, Jacob called the team that he had just scored two tries on - The Raptors. They were willing to give him a tryout and by golly our boy Jacob made the team!

…only to be cut from the team 7 months later. Heartbreak again. Cue the sad music, Netflix, and a bag of Doritos.

But if you’ve been reading this far then you know that Jacob didn’t sit around feeling sorry for himself very long. He continued playing rugby while he planned his next move.

And this is when he had his next breakthrough with RugbyExpo.

See, up until this point, he had only shared footage from training sessions. His audience had been steadily growing (his instagram had reached an impressive 50k followers) but he knew it was time to do something he had been considering for a while:

Capture real game footage.

He did just that, and his followers jumped to 120,000. It was an instant hit.

It was around this point that Jacob began making some real money from RugbyExpo. “I got my first check from Instagram and it was $2600. That was more than my paycheck at the time” he recalled, a hint of pride in his voice.

Overseas adventures

Through another marathon of emails and highlight clips, Jacob found an opportunity to play for 6 months in England, which helped to grow his audience even more. In addition to Instagram, he began growing a TikTok audience as well.

Jacob’s new girlfriend, Morgan, helped him set up a contract to play in New Zealand for another 6 months, and this became a rinse and repeat process for many months. In what amounted to a whirlwind of travel, Jacob ended up playing for various teams in Ireland, Denmark, Wales, Sweden, and England.

Let’s pause for a moment - I know it sounds like Jacob was just having a blast traveling the globe playing rugby, which he was. But make no mistake, this guy was burning the candle at both ends, he was grinding like never before; he would stay up into the wee hours editing videos and creating his content calendar. Then he would get up and train with the team. Exhausting stuff.

But while in New Zealand, he noticed something that kept the fire in his belly burning hot:

After his season in New Zealand, Jacob and Morgan hit the road in the USA. They toured across the country, stopping at every rugby tournament they could to sell RugbyExpo merchandise and get the name out there. “I think we did 9 tournaments that summer” said Jacob.

Eventually, he found himself back in Chicago. Playing rugby by day. Growing a content empire by night.

Then one evening, he learned that one of his teammates had a connection in South Africa who owned a new hotel with a sports theme. “How would you like to stay at the hotel for free and play rugby?” asked his friend. Whaaaaa? Of course Jacob jumped at the opportunity. In exchange for his free stay at the hotel, he agreed to help the hotel build a name on social media. It was a perfect match.

And that’s how Jacob ended up running around on a rugby pitch in South Africa, capturing video the whole time.

The scenery is different. The accents are different. But it’s still rugby and it’s all part of growing the RugbyExpo audience. One game at a time, one video at a time, and one “put THAT on your f-ing TikTok“ at a time.

The money aspect. And the future.

Oh, how is that audience doing?

Yeah, it’s going well, guys.

And all those followers translate to cash money, my friend. Jacob is finally hitting his groove with this thing.

There have been ups and downs for sure. He’s had months where he only made around 700 bucks (in the early days), but some videos have given him huge boosts too. One video on TikTok reached 15.6 million views and netted him a fresh $6,400 check.

Lately, Jacob has been focused on growing his YouTube presence. The reason for this is best explained with a brief visual:

Need I say more??

“YouTube is tougher to grow but it’s part of my long-term strategy.” -Jacob

Notes about the videos

RugbyExpo videos are a unique viewing experience. When I first stumbled upon Jacob’s YouTube channel, I was initially skeptical, thinking “umm ok, who wants to watch rugby just from one person’s perspective.” But I was hooked almost immediately. It pulls you into the action. I actually found myself getting goosebumps while watching.

And there’s one more thing about his videos that I found very interesting: He leaves all of his mistakes in his videos. It would be easy peasy for Jacob to edit away any missed tackles and poor passes, but in the spirit of authenticity he leaves these gaffes in his published videos.

Good on you, Jacob. Love that.

Jacob’s story is undoubtedly one of resilience. The constant ups and downs would be enough to make most people give up the dream and take a “normal” job. But Jacob is driven by a passion for the sport of rugby, and the belief that what he is doing will contribute to its growth.

And I have to agree with him. He is bringing rugby to a younger audience through a unique and fun perspective, and if all those views translate to kids coming out to try rugby, then it will be a win for all of us rugby fanatics.

His goal for the next 3 years: Hit 1 million followers on TikTok and 100k followers on YouTube.

When I asked him for some final thoughts on his journey, he shared:

Perseverance, my friend. I believe that is the lesson here. The game of rugby is full of brutal, exhausting moments, but also exhilarating moments of triumph. Jacob’s story should remind us that life follows a similar course. Often, we're closest to the thrill of triumph when we feel defeat tackling us into the dirt. Perseverance serves us well, both on and off the pitch.

Go get em, Jacob. We’ll be following along!

In addition to his RugbyExpo channel, Jacob has an online merch store and recently launched the Elite Academy, a training platform for young players. When a player completes the Elite Academy program, they join a list of young players that Jacob promotes to clubs and training camps overseas. That’s the short version. Jacob has some big dreams for this program - but that’s for another article.

-Ipse, Chief Rioter

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