🇺🇸 USA vs Ireland
U20s Junior World Championship
🗓️July 7 | 5 AM EST
📺 Paramount+

🇺🇸USA U20s vs 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿England U20s

This one was fun.

Our U20s put up a hell of a fight. Despite a nasty stomach bug taking out several starters, the guys mounted a huge second-half surge after falling behind 35-7 early. Even the commentary crew began musing about a potential comeback.

Sadly, the upset wasn't in the cards. But it was one heck of a performance—and now we're even more fired up to see the boys take on Ireland this Tuesday.

Keep up with the U20s here. 👉

🛫 U18s take flight

Today, our USA U18 squad hits the skies and heads to Buenos Aires to begin their summer tour.
As of this writing, we still don't know who all is on the squad—no official roster has been announced. But we do know they will be taking on Uruguay’s U18s again.

Last summer, the U18s blasted through a couple academy teams down there before falling to Uruguay’s U18s in their final match.

This year, they'll get another crack at Uruguay—and we'd love to see them come home with a big win under their belts. 🇺🇸
More coverage to follow once the team gets rolling down there.

🐻 Grizzlies on tour

The CA Grizzlies are touring South America right now, and their first match was an impressive victory over Liceo Naval—a respected Argentine club that has produced several Argentina national team players.

Here’s a game recap, featuring several familiar names: Rocco Pool (SD Mustangs & St. Mary’s), Seti Perona and Rupeni Rukuvau (Carmichael Hawks), Brandon Leyvash (Danville Oaks), and more.

💥Junior Jacks defeat CT Whalers

The Whalers came into this match having just harpooned the MetNY and New Jersey teams the previous week. But the Junior Jacks rolled up their sleeves and took care of business, winning 33-12 over two 30 minute periods.
A third period featuring mostly reserves was also played. The final score across all three periods was 50-36, Junior Jacks on top.

Two players who stood out were Mike Conley and Orlando Isturis. The BC High duo each scored twice, with Conley ripping off a terrific 70-meter solo try.

Quick follow-up from last week: Alex Goff offered some clarification on the U19/CRAA situation.

The short version: this summer’s squad is technically a CRAA representative team, not an official USA U19 National Team—despite their use of the term USA Pathway in the press release.

The broader messaging remains a bit murky from the outside—we'd still love to hear some clarity from USA Rugby—but I'll leave it there for now.

Bottom line for Rugby Riot: we just want to make sure every American player has the opportunity to earn a spot on our national teams, regardless of college affiliation.
I’ll beat that drum till my hands fall off.

In case you haven’t been following our Quick Hits, here’s a roundup of our recent U20s stuff:

Take a trip over to RugbyRiot.com and you'll notice a new feature on the homepage.

Every week, we'll spotlight a different Team Page. This week's feature is CenCal (CA), whose page now includes several Notable Alumni. You'll see players who went on to Cal Berkeley, Saint Mary's, and even the professional ranks.

We love showing the journey of American rugby players—and the clubs and schools that helped get them there. Our goal is to connect the dots between high school, college, and the national teams so you can see where today's players came from.

If you're a coach, go add some Notable Alumni to your Team Page and get it featured 🤙

🔦Jameson Beatty
High School: South Meck (NC)
Club: Charlotte Tigers (NC)
College: Life University | Rising Sophomore

Making his first start at 12 for the USA U20s against England on Thursday, Beatty was a force. He created attacking opportunities almost every time he touched the ball and forced a key turnover with England threatening inside the USA 22.

You can see the kind of energy he brings to the game—full pace, smashing through contact, and putting the USA on the board like a boss.

Hell of a game, Jamo!

Tuesday | July 7th | 5 AM EST

So you’re saying there’s a chance…

Ok, let me take my Star Spangled glasses off for a sec — Ireland is very good, and we are not expected to win this one.

But the boys showed out well against England, especially in the second half, and I believe this match against Ireland could be closer than most think.

Ireland is dangerous on the edge. Winger Daniel Ryan can snatch the ball out of the air and make defenders look silly, and the Irish are very adept at getting the ball into their playmakers’ hands. Our back three will need to have an incredible game and lock down the outside channels.

That said, I don’t think Ireland’s pack is quite as imposing as England’s and their counterattack isn’t the same caliber as Argentina’s.

England beat Ireland in the first round, and then Argentina thumped Ireland 62-40 in the second round. USA struggled against Argentina’s speed and chuck-it-around style… but so did Ireland.

If the USA can keep the penalty count down—and limit Ireland’s lineout opportunities in our territory—I think we have a chance of making this a tight contest.

We've struggled mightily at the set piece, though the lineouts looked much better against England. The maul defense is still an area for concern.

But if the lads can get in their faces defensively and force some Irish handling errors, we might be in business.

Dane Mitchell has been a revelation at outside center. Let's get the ball into his hands early and often. Gavin Holder is slippery in open space—we've gotta find ways to get him the ball, too.
8-man Papaseea Matalau is another player to keep an eye on. His violent carries can set the platform we need against Ireland’s big boys.

Overall, you have to feel good about our boys heading into this one. They matched England 26-26 over the final 40 minutes and proved they belong at this competition.

Now it’s time to ramp it up a notch.

🎥Watch the game on Paramount+
⌚️Tuesday July 7 | 5 AM EST

Oddball musings, thanks to the cold tub.

🏉 In soccer and rugby, national games expose the truth: Who actually knows the words to the national anthem?

🏉 It’s Jason Pierre-Paul weekend. Mind yo fingers, kids 🧨✌️

🏉 New favorite way to waste time: clicking "See Translation" on other countries' U20 social media posts about the USA squad.
Also, Georgia's native language is wild looking:
გაიხარე!

That's "cheers!" in Georgian.