West Coast Sevens NorCal
🗓️October 10
📍Steuber Rugby Stadium
🎥 Watch it here

Utah

Championship weekend is here, and there's been some movement at the top of the rankings.

NorthSide Red Wolves have jumped into the #1 spot. So who are these dudes? Turns out, it's Layton Christian Academy (LCA) sporting a brand new name. Mystery solved.

Cavemen, Herriman, Mountain Ridge, and NorthSide Black Wolves round out the top five.

Now let's see who takes home the hardware.

Ohio

St. Ignatius squeaked by St. Ed's in our Match of the Week last weekend. And it was every bit as close as predicted — a 7-0 win for the Wildcats.

A 7-0 sevens game… That's a defensive slugfest. We're told the whole thing came down to one missed tackle.

The Wildcats remain unbeaten, but St. Ed's is still breathing down their necks.

Meanwhile, St. Xavier keeps rolling. The Bombers are now 8-0-1 after three straight wins last weekend.

Shoutout to sophomore Ben Gutzwiller, who stepped in at scrumhalf when the starter went down with an injury and helped keep the Bombers cruising.

Pennsylvania

PA Fall Sevens heads to Lancaster this weekend, with Knightmare hosting the HS boys division.

After lousy weather stalled things in PA, we're itching to see Berks, Doylestown, La Salle, and the rest of the field get back to work.

Indiana

State championship Sunday in Elkhart. And everybody's chasing Mudsock.

They're undefeated this fall, including a 3-0 showing last weekend. But Zionsville and Westfield are both capable of crashing the party.

Colorado

10-0.

That's Monarch's record this fall. Anybody got an answer for these guys?

We’ll find out this weekend at the tournament in Vail, CO.

North Carolina

Mother Nature wins this weekend. Heavy rain has postponed the scheduled sevens action. We'll check back when the fields dry out.

They’re back at it.

West Coast Sevens lands in NorCal for their second stop of the series.

Last time, in Los Angeles, Cal Berkeley cruised through the competition in the college division and Carmichael Hawks took the high school trophy.

This time, more teams are joining the fray, with a couple new high school boys teams, a high school girls division, and a college women’s division on tap.

Of particular interest to us here at Rugby Riot is that Danville Oaks is fielding a team in the high school boys division. Danville is historically a powerhouse in 15s. No idea how their sevens squad looks—but we’re about to find out. St. Ignatius SF also jumps in. They’re another NorCal program with some oomph.

Can Carmichael repeat their Los Angeles performance, or will another crew announce themselves in California?

Hot damn, this will be fun to watch.

🎥 Watch all the games here.

USA Rugby announced some changes to its age-grade pathways this week. The big one: U18s are becoming U19s.

That's a pretty significant shift, with the U19 program now positioned more squarely around high school rugby. That means high school seniors who previously aged out of U18 eligibility may now have a shot at representing the USA.

I've got some thoughts, but rather than subject you to another one of my pathway rants, I'd like to hear yours.

Good move? Bad move? Something in between?

Hit this and let me know.

They also announced new dates and locations for ID camps. And I hear that more news is coming soon. Stay tuned.

Lindenwood just announced a high school showcase for March 6–7, 2027.

Love this.

More opportunities for high school players to face cross-state competition and show their stuff in front of college coaches = hell yeah.

The timing is interesting, too. Early March isn't exactly overflowing with events like this in the region.

Curious to see which programs make the trip.

Fresh profiles this week:

Click them 👆and check them out. Make your own profile.

Ben Herring recently interviewed Charlotte Cardinals head coach Jason Zehmke and placed the Cardinals at #8 on his list of top rugby programs around the world.

Pretty cool stuff.

Two notes on this.

First, the ranking is not based on a head-to-head comparison between international clubs, but rather on club performance and impact relative to the environment surrounding the club. The Cardinals made the cut on the merits of their rapid growth from new club to two-time national champs in the space of half a decade. The Cardinals have also contributed to a thriving youth rugby scene in Charlotte, NC, which also factored into the ranking.

In Ben Herring’s own words:

Read the full post here.

Second, massive congrats to the Cardinals for this recognition!

It's pretty flippin’ cool to see an American high school club mentioned alongside some of the most storied rugby programs in the world.

Oddball musings, thanks to the cold tub.

🏉 We are officially two degrees removed from Taylor Swift being involved with rugby. Travis Kelce’s brother Jason is reportedly trying out rugby. Once T Swift gets on board we’ll have every teenybopper in the world tuning in. Right?

🏉 Wemby is another star who’s giving rugby a shot. Captain toothpick himself trained with a French rugby team and lived to tell the tale. Come one, come all. Rugby is here for you 🫡