Rising: The State of American Rugby

American rugby is here. With the first five weeks of matches of the inaugural season of PRO Rugby (Professional Rugby Organization) finished, the league showed signs of promise. In the opening week, Denver outlasted Ohio in an overtime thriller in the snow while Sacramento overcame a halftime deficit to beat San Francisco on a beautiful California day. While the weather may have been very different for these two matches, the level of competition proved to be higher than most expected and crowds of about 6,000 showed up between the two home cities.

In Sacramento, there were surely signs of excitement from the crowd and staff ready to see their new home team. A man walked through the isles with roster sheets yelling, “Everybody get a roster! We have to get to know these guys don’t we!” Chants for “DEFENSE!” and “SACRAMENTO!” rang out through the stands, mostly being started by young rugby fans that could hardly contain their excitement, especially after the match when the team came to sign autographs.

So much excitement for the first match of its kind surely could mean that this sport is ready to grow.

The state of rugby in the United States looks to be coming along great. With high school rugby talent looking to be at an all-time high, something that is likely due to many players starting while in their youth, the nations colleges are beginning to see more and more rugby programs due to an increased interest in the sport.

There are currently 40 Division 1 rugby programs competing in the NCAA, and that number will start growing as many universities are adding rugby as a varsity sport, giving it a bump up from a club sport. Many programs are also starting to give scholarships to players, which makes the game feel like a more legitimate college sport and could attract more athletes who are trying to play a sport at the next level.

The top teams in D1A are from schools who don’t usually compete at that high of a level, in Life University and Saint Mary’s College. Both have met in the championship in each of the last four seasons, splitting the wins with two apiece, with Life having the most recent edge. These two schools are adding to a drought for University of California, Berkeley, which has compiled 26 National Championships since 1980, 22 of them under legendary Coach Jack Clark who has a winning percentage of .877 with the Golden Bears. These schools have been competing for years but now there is an added bonus for prospective athletes, the chance at playing professionally.

With the creation of PRO Rugby it will give many talented rugby players here in the states a chance to make it professionally without having to try and make a team over seas. PRO Rugby has started teams in five locations with the intent of expanding in 2017 and then adding more each year, they also are also expected to add Canadian teams in the near future. The current teams are located in Sacramento, CA, San Francisco, CA, San Diego, CA, Denver, CO, and Columbus, OH, and are currently known only by their location as the naming of the teams is to be done by fan suggestions at some point soon. They will play a 12 game season with a team on BYE each week and a break at week 8 and 9 for international play.

PRO Rugby has signed players from all around the United States, as well as many local kids that grew up around the areas that the teams are located. PRO Rugby seems to have put its first five teams in the biggest hotspots for the sport, which looks like a good strategy for gaining fans. PRO Rugby has also gained interest from many international players who once played for some of the top international teams in the game. Mirco Bergamasco from Italy is an example, as he played in three Rugby World Cups for his home country, and currently plays for Sacramento. Another is Mils Muliaina who received 100 caps playing for New Zealand and was a member of the All-Blacks 2011 World Cup Champions team, and has joined the San Francisco team. There are many other players from countries like Tonga, South Africa, Canada, Fiji, Great Britain, and Samoa who are becoming key factors on these new squads.

Another event that has the potential to add a boost of popularity to the sport, the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, which has added Rugby to its list of sports for the first time since 1924. Although there will be one major difference in this go-around for the sport, as the game of Rugby Sevens will be played rather than traditional Rugby Union. The main difference in the two games is that Sevens features only seven players per side, while Rugby Union has 15. With fewer players in the game, Sevens is a much faster paced game that has a complete match after 15 minutes, compared to 80 in Rugby Union. It provides a ton of excitement and opportunity for points as one small mistake on the field can give the other side immediate points.

The United States has qualified for the games by winning a Sevens Championship series, which is a series of tournaments featuring the world’s top rugby teams. They will join top teams like Fiji, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Great Britain and compete for Olympic gold. The United States women’s team also will be competing in Rio and actually qualified at the same tournament that the men’s team did.

The United States Sevens squad has improved greatly under coach Mike Friday, and features a number of players sure to provide excitement. The most deadly weapons held by the US are in speedsters and former football players Carlin Isles and Perry Baker, who have been called the fastest players in rugby with Isles even being clocked at 4.22 in the 40-yard dash by the Detroit Lions. Baker has more experience in the game than Isles and is built better to be an all-around player rather than just be effective on offense. Zach Test is the squad’s most experienced player having played in 60 events and scoring a United States record 137 tries. The squad employs a young captain; at just 23 years of age Madison Hughes has been captain for two years and has led several tournaments in points scored. Perhaps the most interesting story for a player on this squad is from Nate Ebner, who is currently a member of the New England Patriots, but was allowed to take a leave from the team in order to chase an Olympic Dream. Ebner had played rugby growing up and had played at Ohio State before he had even started playing football, as Ebner walked on to the football team his junior year and ended up being drafted in to the NFL having never played the game before.

What this sport needs is for more football players who may have been good college players but couldn’t quite make it in the NFL to come and learn how to play rugby. But at the least, the fact that the sport has started a professional league in this country could give rugby a rise in popularity and could mean the attraction of top athletes like Isles, Baker, and Ebner. Once the athletes are able to learn the sport, the United States could see itself at the top of the world rankings, but with the current situation of other nations having been playing this sport for years we are at a disadvantage, however it may not last too much longer as we in the United States will see this sport grow.