Colton starts the show with “The Breakdown” presented by O’Neills by talking about what the podcast will look like over the next two weeks, assigns some “Required Reading” and gives you a preview of some upcoming content in “The Loop” (0:00-6:31). After that, Colton chats with American Raptor and Rugby United New York hooker Kaleb Geiger about how he was recruited to play rugby, how he’s enjoyed the sport so far, and some similarities between rugby and baseball (6:32-26:01). Following the conversation with Kaleb, Colton plays some of his favorite interviews from 2021. These interviews include The Voice of Major League Rugby Dan Power (26:06-58:08), USA Sevens Olympian Cody Melphy (58:10-1:30:14), and former Colorado XO scrum-half and current Los Angeles Chargers wide receiver Michael Bandy (1:30:14-1:50:24).
Kaleb Geiger carries the ball in a match against the Hartford Harpooners at Infinity Park. (Photo: Justin Purdy)
Kaleb Geiger played baseball and football at Concordia University, Nebraska before giving rugby a try. As an infielder for the Bulldogs baseball team, Geiger finished his career with 18 home runs before making the jump over to football as a defensive lineman. His lone season of football was a productive one, as he tallied 29 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss, one sack, and one forced fumble. After college, Geiger returned home to Sedalia, Colorado to help out his father with the family logging business. American Raptors general manager Peter Pasque bumped into him at a bar one evening, asked him if he was interested in playing rugby, and the rest is history. A blood clot issue limited Geiger’s playing time during the spring season, but that didn’t stop him from landing a contract with Rugby United New York. He returned to the Raptors for the fall season and the two-week tour of Uruguay and will head back to RUNY for the 2022 Major League Rugby season.
Please send in any questions you have about the American Raptors, rugby in Colorado, Major League Rugby, or American rugby as a whole to @DNVR_Rugby and @coltonstrickler on Twitter or leave a comment below.
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