Rugby isn’t such an obscure sport as some might think. The calendar in July is full of championship events.
Major League Rugby will hold its inaugural championship game July 7 at the University of San Diego’s Torero Stadium.
From July 20-22, the Men’s and Women’s U.S. Eagles teams from the Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center are to compete in the 40-team 2018 World Cup Sevens tournament in the Bay Area.
It should be an entertaining schedule.
Lucky Sevens
USA Rugby’s Sevens program has been in residence at the Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center (formerly Chula Vista-U.S. Olympic Training Center) since transitioning into a professional program in 2011.
The local program helped give birth to the U.S. men’s and women’s sevens teams that competed at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Summer Games. The 2016 event marked the Olympic debut for rugby sevens, though the more traditional rugby union 15s had been included in the first four Olympic Games tournaments from 1900 to 1924.
Fourteen nations competed at the 2016 Rugby Sevens tournament in Brazil, with 12 teams entered in each of the men’s and women’s brackets.
The U.S. men’s team finished third in its pool behind Fiji and Argentina, defeating host Brazil for its only victory in Rio.
The U.S. women’s team finished third in its pool behind Australia and Fiji, recording a tie against Fiji and a win over Colombia to qualify for the quarterfinals.
Eight of the 12 teams in each of the men’s and women’s brackets advanced to the quarterfinals.
The U.S. women lost, 5-0, to New Zealand to make a gritty statement. New Zealand went on to meet Australia in the gold medal match, with the lady Aussies winning 24-17.
Australia (gold medal) and New Zealand (silver medals) were the only two teams the U.S. women’s team lost matches against the 2016 Olympic tournament.
Canada defeated Great Britain, 33-10, to capture the silver medal in the women’s tournament.
Fiji defeated Great Britain, 43-7, to win the men’s tournament while South Africa defeated Japan, 54-14, in the bronze medal match.
Rugby Sevens will also be featured at the 2020 Summer Games.
The sevens version of the sport is also featured in the Youth Olympic Games, making its debut in 2014 in Nanjing, China. The Youth Olympic Games are limited to teenage athletes ages 14-18 and are held every four years, with a summer and winter version (offset by two years from the summer edition).
The 2018 Summer Youth Olympic Games are scheduled Oct. 6-18 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The site for the 2022 Summer Youth Olympic Games will be announced at the 133rd International Olympic Committee meeting in Buenos Aires prior to October’s Summer Youth Olympic Games.
The 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games are scheduled to take place Jan. 9-22 in Lausanne, Switzerland.
The Youth Olympic Games replace the discontinued World Youth Games.
Rugby sevens made its Pan American Games debut in 2011. The U.S. women’s team captured the silver medal in 2015 while the American’s men’s team captured bronze medals at both the 2011 and 2015 tournaments.
The 2019 Pan American Games are set July 26 to Aug. 11 in Lima, Peru.
The United States sevens national team competes every year in the World Rugby Sevens Series — 10 tournaments held around the world, with a U.S. stop in Las Vegas every spring.
The U.S. Eagles competed in the Summer Olympic Games, Rugby World Cup Sevens and the Pan American Games. The Americans won the 2018 USA Sevens tournament in March in Las Vegas to record one of the program’s top place-finishes.
Both the U.S. men’s and women’s national sevens teams will compete at the 2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens tournament July 20-22 at AT&T Park in San Francisco.
New Zealand is the defending champion in both the men’s and women’s competition.
The goal for USA Rugby is to have players develop their skills at the highest competitive level. While many players on the U.S. Eagles 15s play in Europe, many others are getting a taste of high-level competition at home with the introduction of Major League Rugby, a seven-team professional circuit endorsed by USA Rugby.
There’s little question that MLR has emerged as a driving force in developing players for the U.S. national team — both for the sevens and 15s.
In fact, 12 MLR players, including three from the San Diego Legion, were called up to participate in the U.S. Men’s Eagles history-making 30-29 win over sixth-ranked Scotland June 16 in Houston.
The win over the Scots marked the first U.S. first victory against a Tier 1 rugby nation in 94 years. The last time the U.S. recorded such an impressive a victory was at the 1924 Olympics against France.
Impressively, the U.S. rallied from a 21-6 deficit on the scoreboard.
Legion assistant coach Zack Test has helped chart the rise in national fortunes after a long-term residency assignment at the Chula Vista training facility and service with the U.S. Sevens national team.
Test became of the team’s rising stars, leading the U.S. team in scoring in 2010-11, 2011-12 and 2013-14.
Born in Redwood City, he started playing rugby as a freshman at Woodside High School and later at the University of Oregon before transferring on a rugby scholarship to Loughborough University in England.
Test represented the United States at the U20 rugby union level and made his senior sevens debut with Team USA at the 2008-09 IRB (International Rugby Board) Sevens World Series. Test represented the United States at every tournament in both the 2009-10 and 2010-11 IRB Sevens World Series competitions and was a member of the bronze-medal winning U.S. Pan American Games team.
Test made his debut for the U.S. Eagles 15s team at the 2015 Pacific Nations Cup in a match against Samoa. He sustained a serious head injury at the 2017 Americas Rugby Championship, which the U.S. Eagles won in history-making fashion.
Test elected to retire as a player earlier this year, becoming a backs coach and academy director for the Legion as well as serving as a high school coach with the So Cal Griffins and Sevens coach at San Diego State University.
His 143 tries in the World Rugby Sevens Series had stood as the American record before being eclipsed earlier this year by Perry Baker.
“The OTC (Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center) is an amazing place to grow as professionals and develop,” explained Test, who has played in a Sevens World Cup, 15s World Cup and was a part of the history-making U.S. contingent at the 2016 Rio Olympics. “We came in as amateurs and came out as professionals.”
Development is ongoing. The Legion’s Anthony Salaber received a recent invitation to a U.S. sevens camp at the Chula Vista training center.
“This (MLR) is going to be amazing for both the sevens and 15s,” Test noted.
The Legion, among four teams vying for inclusion in MLR’s inaugural championship, hosted Women’s Appreciation Night at its final regular season home match on June 23. On hand to meet fans were five members of the U.S. Sevens women’s residency program in Chula Vista.
“Rugby is going to continue to grow, getting more girls to play at events like this,” Natalie Koso said. “Rugby is a sport for both men and women.”
Ilona Maher was on the U.S. Women’s Eagles roster for the recent Paris Sevens tournament in which the Americans finished fifth.
“It’s great to represent your country and all the people who have come before you — it’s empowering,” said Maher, who recorded her first career try in a 33-5 win over Spain in France.
There’s no shortage of players wishing to represent Team USA at the residency training facility.
“That’s the whole goal of everyone out there — to be chosen for the World Cup roster.”
The upcoming World Cup Sevens in San Francisco will feature a 24-team men’s field and a 16-team women’s field.
The men’s playing field is comprised of the eight quarterfinals from the Rugby World Cup Sevens tournament in 2013, plus host USA, the four highest-ranked teams outside of those nations in the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2016-17. The remaining 11 teams advanced through regional qualification.
The top 14 seeds are ranked according to points accrued in the 2016-17 series and first seven rounds of 2018 in Dubai, Cape Town, Sydney, Hamilton, Las Vegas, Vancouver and Hong Kong.
The tournament format will see an initial knockout round featuring the nations ranked ninth to 24th, while the top eight seeds progress automatically to the round of 16.
Buoyed by its recent victory in the Las Vegas Sevens, the United States is seeded fifth in the 2018 World Cup Rugby Sevens field behind South Africa, Fiji, New Zealand and England. Australia, Scotland, Kenya and Canada round out the top 10 seeds.
The four semifinals from the 2013 WCR Sevens tournament automatically qualified for the 2018 tournament and are joined by the four highest ranked teams outside of those countries in the HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series 2016-17. The remaining eight teams advanced through regional qualifying.
The top 10 seeds are ranked according to points accrued on the 2016-17 series and first two rounds of 2018 in Dubai and Sydney.
The United States is seeded fifth in the women’s field behind New Zealand, Australia, Canada and Russia. France, Fiji, England, Ireland and Spain round out the top 10-seeded teams.
The U.S. Men’s Eagles lost, 28-7 to Fiji to place sixth at the Paris Sevens tournament June 9-10, the last stop on the 2018 HSBC Worlds Sevens Series.
Previously, the U.S. Men’s Eagles finished sixth at the London Sevens June 2-3.
Mike Friday, who has coached the U.S. men’s sevens team since 2014, was aware that injuries played a part in his team’s lower than hoped-for finish at the Paris Sevens. He is looking to start with a clean slate on the upcoming grand stage in the Bay Area.
“While we didn’t achieve what we wanted in a top 4 finish, we have so many positives to take from a season with so many injuries,” Friday said. “This adversity has given opportunity for our players to grow in experience and responsibility and we have seen a number of new faces make an impact. We have also seen players increase their positional flexibility making us a more unpredictable team to play.”
The U.S. Women’s Eagles closed out the 2017-18 season with a 28-7 win over Fiji to place fifth at the Paris Sevens.
“The World Series is over but now we look forward to a very exciting tournament on home soil in the World Cup,” U.S. women’s coach Richie Walker explained. “We’ll prepare well with the time we have and be ready to go once it does come around. The message to the players is stay focused, regroup and revitalize ourselves for San Fransisco.”
Major League Rugby
It’s been a debut season filled with much expectation and reward for Major League Rugby, especially for the Legion, which recorded its highlight moment of the season after handing the previously undefeated Glendale Raptors a stinging 23-5 defeat in front of a boisterous crowd at Torero Stadium on June 23.
Attendance continues to be strong for MLR games at Torero Stadium and fans seem knowledgeable. They certainly had much to cheer for in last week’s win over the formidable Raptors, who featured six national team call-ups in the match against Scotland.
The hosts took advantage of opportunities provided them and a stout defense took care of the rest.
Flyhalf Tadhg Leader split the uprights on two penalty kick goals in the early moments of the first half and the hosts took a narrow 6-0 lead into halftime in a physical matchup in which one Legion player was carted off the field on a stretcher.
The Legion lead steadily ballooned to 23-0 n the second half after Ryan Matyas sprinted in from 30 yards for the first of back-to-back tries in the game, followed by teammate Tony Lamborn’s grinding score and a third penalty goal by Leader.
Leader also added a pair of conversions to finish the match with 13 points.
Glendale scored its only points in the final two minutes of the game.
The Legion (5-3) will put its three-game winning streak to the test in Saturday’s MLR semifinal playoffs in Glendale, Colo.
The third-seeded Legion will meet the second-seeded Seattle Seawolves (6-2) in the first of the semifinal doubleheader at 4 p.m. Pacific Time, followed by a match-up between the top-seeded Raptors (7-1) and the fourth-seeded Utah Warriors (3-5).
Both contests can be seen on the CBS Sports Network.
The winners advance to the championship game a week later at Torero Stadium (6 p.m. start).
The Legion would like nothing better than to return to Torero Stadium where the team is undefeated at home this season.
If so, it would be an impressive finish to a first season.
The Legion has made up plenty of ground since dropping its season opener at Seattle on April 22. The San Diego team showed its steady improvement in a 31-27 loss at Glendale on May 13 before finally making a statement with the victory against the previously unbeaten Raptors.
“We still have some more work to do,” conceded Legion back row Drew Gaffney, one of the team’s local homegrown players. “We need to keep improving our performance — performance improvement is so important.”
“The start, the goal we put in front of us as a coaching staff and playing group was to end up in the Major League Rugby Playoffs and be in a good place entering postseason,” Legion General Manager and President Matt Hawkins explained. “We knew we would grow in confidence and competitiveness through the season and this has been a part of the planning process. Something we’ve been saying to ourselves: ‘It’s not about how we start, but where we finish.’ With that in mind, we still hope to officially end the season here in San Diego on July 7.”
Home cookin’
Besides finding success on the field, the Legion has also found success in other areas, especially in the development of homegrown talent.
It’s also been a season of expectation and reward for the Legion’s complement of local players, Helix High School alumnus Nick Lupian among them.
Lupian played football his freshman and varsity seasons while attending Helix. He also wrestled and competed on the school’s track and field team.
But he followed the path of rugby, just getting a genesis at the high school level, to a five-year career at San Diego State University where he rose up the ranks to become one of the Aztecs’ top players.
In fact, his college career ended on the Torero Stadium turf when he broke his collarbone in an April 7 match against Cal Poly San Luis Obispbo. The game, the final regular season match for SDSU, served as a pregame contest for the Legion’s exhibition game against the Houston SaberCats.
It took seven-and-a-half weeks for Lupian (5-11, 195) to heal from the injury. But it was enough time to join the Legion for the second half of its season as a reserve center-wing.
He’s been patient in adjusting to the game, especially its physicality, at the professional level.
He remains eager to learn — and contribute.
“To grow up in San Diego and to play rugby here at the professional level is amazing,” he said. “Right now I’m out to improve and refine my ability.”
Lupian isn’t the only San Diego County product helping the Legion find success in its inaugural season.
Gaffney (6-0, 220) and hooker Gil Covey (5-11, 230) are both Cathedral Catholic high School alums while flanker/loose forward Chris Turori (6-4, 225) hails from Valley Center.
They would like nothing better than to end their season in the MLR championship game.
Gaffney, who made the Legion’s opening day roster and scored his first try as a pro in a 39-23 loss at Seattle, drew significant playing time in the win over Glendale.
“It’s an unreal experience,” explained Gaffney, a 2013 Dons graduate, who played football and rugby at Cathedral Catholic before going on to play four years of college rugby at Cal-Berkeley, one of the nation’s top rugby schools.
“Playing professional sports for my hometown team is something I never thought I would have. I’m so grateful for this opportunity.”
Gaffney, whose older brother Tyler Gaffney earned the lion’s share of publicity with the Dons, played offensive lineman and tight end on the Cathedral Catholic football team. He scored three touchdowns in 10 games his senior year.
The younger Gaffney started playing rugby his sophomore year in high school. It was love at first sight.
“They said that I could to run with the ball (in rugby) whereas in football that was not too common,” he said.
Covey, an all-conference honoree with the Aztecs, participated in the Legion’s inaugural preseason game March 25 in Austin, Tex.
Turori, who matriculated from CSU San Marcos, represented the Old Mission Beach Athletic Club at the 2013 USA Rugby Club Sevens national championship tournament. He remains in the U.S. Eagles Sevens national team player pool.
Hot wheels
Rugby is not limited to able-bodied athletes.
Wheelchair rugby has been a part of the program in the quadrennial Summer Parlympic Games since its introduction as a demonstration sport in 1996 at the Atlanta Games. The United States won gold medals in 1996, 2000 and 2008.
The U.S. team finished second at the 2016 Rio Games after placing third four years earlier in London.
The 2019 Parpan Am Games, the sixth in the series since its debut in 1999 in Mexico City, are scheduled in Peru following the conclusion of the 2019 Pan American Games.
Major League Rugby Championship Series
Semifinal Elimination Games
Saturday, June 30
(Infinity Stadium, Glendale, Colo.)
Game 1: (2)Seattle Seawolves 38, (3) San Diego Legion 24
Game 2: (1) Glendale Raptors 34, (4) Utah Warriors 21
Championship Game
Saturday, July 7
(Torero Stadium, San Diego)
(1) Glendale Raptors (8-1) vs. (2) Seattle Seawolves (7-2), 6 p.m.
