Hey there, Rugby Rioter!
👊 Happy Friday
Sevens is exploding coast to coast, college rugby is heating up, and we may have just discovered the next great sports commentator—he’s like, 12 years old.
Packed with rugby. Let’s go 👇
In This Issue
💥Sevens Everywhere
From sea to shining sea, the 14-minute format is rocking and rolling.
Ohio sevens is a couple weeks into their season, with St. Ignatius running the table right now on a 5-0 win streak. In PA sevens, LA Salle holds a commanding lead in the top boys division after three weeks of play. North Carolina had their opening weekend last week. Colorado is a few weeks in, with Valor HS looking strong. California just wrapped the first weekend of West Coast Sevens (more on that below).
And I’m sure there are many more leagues live right now too—let us know who we’re missing. You can drop us a line here.
🏟️ West Coast Sevens—Round One
We gave this it’s own spot, which you can find below, but here’s the TLDR:
Championship Bracket
🥇Cal Team 1
🥈UCLA
Challenger Bracket
🥇ASU
🥈Claremont
High School Bracket
🥇Cathedral Catholic 1
🥈OMBAC
🏉College — the close scores
College rugby featured some blowouts and a handful of tight contests last week.
These were some of the closest scores we tracked last week:
Lindenwood 38—31 Marian
Utah Valley 19—26 Wyoming
Utah State 29—38 Utah University
Illinois 47—54 Wisconsin
Ohio State 22—25 Michigan
⏱️20-second recap
One of the tightest college contests last week was a slugfest between Ohio State and Michigan.
Ohio took an early lead off a well-executed lineout, but Michigan quickly took advantage of a speculative Ohio pass that hit the ground—and turned it into 5 points.
Michigan built momentum throughout the middle 30 minutes of the game and took the lead—before Ohio clawed back into contention late. Michigan’s decision to take a shot at the posts in the second half proved pivotal.
Both teams need to clean up their offloads on the attack, but on the other side of the ball each team displayed tenacious defense.
Ultimately, Ohio made too many mistakes with the ball in-hand—and Michigan capitalized on those moments, winning 25-22.
That’s your 20-second recap.
💪St. Bonaventure is still rocking the #1 spot in the Top 20 Coaches Poll thanks to a dominant 46-13 result over Kutztown last weekend.
Next up is some #1 vs #3 action: The Bonnies visit Walsh this evening for an Atlantic Rugby Conference clash.
⌚️5pm ET
📍@ Walsh
📺 Watch it live.
☀️West Coast Sevens—Round one in the books
Gorgeous California weather. Goose-steps galore. Delightful live commentary.
Need I say more?
The first round of West Coast Sevens was a joy to watch. Here are our thoughts and brief breakdown. READ MORE 👉
Nate Leff, University of San Diego, sails through the air for a try at West Coast Sevens.
📸Alex Ho
🎙️Ok, I think I’ve got a new hero.
Joshua Woolever.
Never heard of him? Not surprised.
He’s a kid (probably 12-13 years old) from Brooklyn with a passion for sports and a natural knack for sports commentary.
Josh recently did remote commentary for West Coast Sevens (Field 2) and his energy and voice caught my ear.
Think Sandlot meets rugby.
He also hosts his own podcast covering New York sports and writes for an online sports publication.
Here’s a clip from West Coast Sevens that you’ve gotta watch/listen to.
You heard it here first: this kid is going places.
Check out this montage by the.ruckhouse, featuring action from West Coast Sevens.
More of this please…
“These kids are not messing about…
They’ve been watching rugby at the highest levels, and they’re emulating it right here.”
Think you know rugby? Prove it!
Oddball musings, induced by borderline hypothermia.
Just one today:
🏉The big difference between Football live-commentary and Rugby live-commentary is the cadence. In football, it’s very stop/start—much like the game itself. Kinda like bullet-points of the action.
Rugby commentary has an almost poetic rhythm, or musical quality—which reflects the continuous nature of the game. A good rugby commentator knows how to hit the crescendos precisely, and fill out the melody with sharp observation and wit.
That’s a wrap, gang!
Next week we’ll have more dope rugby stuff to share with you; scores, highlights, stories… all the goods.
If you like this, share it with your friends!
Be well, ruck with gusto, and may your compression shorts always stay in place.
-The Rugby Riot Team