Hey there, Rugger!
👊 Happy Friday.
The U18s kick off in Uruguay tomorrow, the U20s get another crack at the Junior World Championship, and the Grizzlies wrapped up a terrific tour of Argentina.
Packed with rugby. Let’s go 👇
USA U18s vs Uruguay U18s
🗓️Saturday, July 11
⌚️ TBD
USA U20s vs Japan U20s
Junior World Championship
Sunday, July 12 | 10AM ET
📺 Paramount+
USA Eagles Men vs Zimbabwe
Saturday, July 11 | 7:30 PM ET
📺 Paramount+
Grizzlies finish strong in Argentina
The CA Grizzlies are doing the USA proud on their Argentina tour. After opening with a solid win over Liceo Naval, they battled La Tablada to a 26-26 draw after trailing 19-14 at halftime.
Then they finished the tour with an exclamation point—demolishing Club Gimnasia Y Esgrima de Rosario 59-7.
It’s awesome to see players get an opportunity to represent American rugby abroad outside of the USA Pathways system. Shoutout to the Grizzlies for making it happen.
The more US players getting international experience, the better.
🎙️ Cavemen abroad
We chatted with a couple Cavemen (UT) lads who are attending Inside Running Academy in New Zealand. Luke Vernon and Liam Ewer hopped on a call with us, and they had some interesting thoughts on New Zealand rugby and culture. Plus, the American thing they’re missing most? Their answer made me laugh.
🎥 Check out our conversation here.
Nations Cup | USA Men over Portugal
Well that was an exciting finish! We're a bit late covering this one, but the USA Men snatched a win over Portugal courtesy of a last-minute Chris Hilsenbeck penalty kick.
Next up in the Nations Cup: The USA takes on Zimbabwe this Saturday at 7:30 PM.
Here's a great highlight of Chris Hilsenbeck’s winning kick:
☀️West Coast Sevens
Put this on your radar. West Coast Sevens was a top-notch series last fall, and if you're looking to level up your game this year, it's worth checking out.
Three stops. California sun. Loads of good rugby.
One thing that stood out to us was how many players from the WC7s competition went on to have excellent high school 15s seasons this spring, with many of them making appearances at Nationals.
Sevens is a terrific way to improve your individual skills, space recognition, and overall rugby IQ. And West Coast Sevens is one of the best competitions in the country.
This year’s stops:
Los Angeles — Sept. 26 | Dignity Health Sports Park
NorCal — Oct. 10 | Steuber Rugby Stadium
San Diego — Oct. 17 | SoCal Sports Complex
Kevin Higgins Scholarship recipients
Each year, the US Rugby Foundation awards the Kevin Higgins Scholarship to outstanding young rugby players, helping them continue their journeys on and off the pitch.
This year, eleven players earned the honor:
Marco Romeo | Danville Oaks | Cal Poly
Charlotte Brandt | Queens University
Shawn Ray | Carnegie Mellon
Landon Lockheart-Keener | Rebels Rugby | University of Kentucky
Lolua Tauan'u’u | Belmont Shore | Harvard
Mateo Bresendon | SD Mustangs | University of Utah
Finn Kenney | University College Dublin
Spencer Huntley | SD Mustangs | Hartpury UK
Gideon Mandel | Indiana University
RaeLeigh Sparzak | West Chester University
Jayden Williams | St. Edward | Ohio State
U18s get rolling in Uruguay
The U18 squad is one week into its South America tour, and tomorrow it's finally game day.
We caught up with Luke Zehmke (Charlotte Cardinals) and Reese Reiter (SD Mustangs) the other day. Here are a few things they shared:
Team chemistry is terrific. Most of these guys have played with—or against—each other this spring, and the coaching staff has made sure they've had plenty of time to build camaraderie off the pitch as well.
National pride is top of mind. Both Luke and Reese mentioned several times how excited they are to represent our country abroad. It’s an honor that’s not lost on any of the young studs on the U18 squad — they’re all prepared to rep the Stars and Stripes with the utmost class and intensity.
“We came here to win. We came here to represent our country well.
This is our year, this is our chance to show what we’ve got.”
“There’s definitely moments where you look around and see all the boys… [and realize] you’re in a completely different country. And you’re here to represent your country. It’s just an amazing feeling. I feel it, and I know all the other kids feel it too.”
The USA U20s vs Japan
This Sunday, the U20s take on Japan at the Junior World Championship in Tbilisi.
Japan is no walkover, but if the USA can get something closer to a normal preparation, there’s reason for optimism.
Coach Neets told Rugby Riot this morning that the illness sweeping through the squad still isn’t completely gone. The team has had to constantly shuffle lineups, and before the Ireland match, their only full rugby session was... the pregame warmup.
Despite all that, there were encouraging signs. The boys battled England for 80 minutes, scored three second-half tries against Ireland, shut down Ireland’s maul attack, and showed plenty of resilience despite everything going on behind the scenes.
Now the focus is on Japan.
“They’re fast and direct,” Neets said. “They work extremely hard off the ball and try to suffocate teams at the breakdown.”
Looking back at the first three matches, Neets believes the pieces are there.
"There are bits and pieces from these games that we are very proud of. Now we need to put all these pieces together and start well. We are focused on starting well against Japan.
If we execute our plan, we’re confident in our ability to get a result we’ll be proud of."
Watch it: Paramount+
When: Sunday | 10AM ET
U20s Quick Hits roundup
📝The U20s were still battling illness leading into their match against Ireland. Quick hit here.
📝Ireland took a 45-3 lead into halftime. Halftime report here.
📝The Junior Eagles found the try zone three times after the break. Recap here.
Seti Perona | CA Grizzlies Argentina Tour
Perona (Carmichael Hawks) hits the gas for the Grizzlies during their 34-26 victory over Liceo Naval last weekend.
📸CA Grizzlies
CA Grizzlies maul against Liceo Naval in Argentina
📸 CA Grizzlies
🧠 Short memory excellence
A moment from the CA Grizzlies vs Club Gimnasia Y Esgrima. Featuring Rocco Pool | SD Mustangs | St. Mary’s College👇
On the left: Rocco Pool takes a massive hit.
On the right: Literally two phases later, Pool breaks three tackles and sets up a terrific score.
Talk about getting right back into it 💪
USA U18s vs Uruguay U18s
Time for some revenge.
Uruguay has had our number the last two meetings. In 2024, the USA fell 34-7. Last year, the boys were tied 12-12 at halftime before Uruguay pulled away for a 31-12 win.
This year, our U18s have a loaded roster and a renewed purpose. Unlike last year, when Uruguay came at the end of the tour, this matchup opens the trip.
Some things to keep an eye on tomorrow:
Absent in last year’s Uruguay match was a dominant kicking game. Will we pressure Uruguay with an aerial attack this year? We certainly have the right guys on the traveling roster to do it; Luke Zehmke and Max Colson are two of the best boot-bombers in the country.
Add in speedster Reese Reiter on the edge and we could give Uruguay’s back three nightmares — and play in their half.The big boys are monsters. If you watched the High School boys national final this spring, you should be excited about the forward pack we have in South America this trip. Carson Bischoff, Max Marshall, and Duck Choy hail from the SD Mustangs, while Miles Caple joins the pack from the Charlotte Cardinals. The forwards battle at nationals was epic, and it’s a treat to see them share the same colors.
New coach, new result? This year, coach Luke Lewis helms the ship as the new head coach of our U18 squad. He traveled with the team last year as an assistant, and we saw him scouting at nationals in Elkhart. This first game is a big opportunity to see the identity he's building with this group.
Will it be live-streamed? Dunno. But you can bet we’ll publish the link as soon as we find out.
And we’ll post the starting XV here when it’s announced.
Kick some ass, boys.
Oddball musings, thanks to the cold tub.
🏉 Americans need more options for crowd songs at matches. Ireland has a rich musical catalogue to pull from. Same with England and many other countries. Americans have… John Denver? Maybe it’s time to bust out Yankee Doodle or Davy Crockett 😂
🏉 USA Rugby seems stretched thin with four national squads competing this summer, and updates have been surprisingly sparse. We’d love to see more roster news, camp updates, and behind-the-scenes content.
And while we’re making wishes... can we get a live stream for the U18s? 🤞
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