The American Raptors have hired former USA Eagle Paul Emerick to be the club’s next head coach, the team announced on Tuesday. Emerick will join the team after serving primarily as the skills and defense coach of the Houston SaberCats for the past four seasons. He served as the team’s interim head coach for the team’s final five matches of…

The RugbyTown Crossover Academy was born on November 19, 2020, with a four-day camp that consisted of 30 players. Of those 30 players, around 25 had never touched a rugby ball before. On November 19, 2021, the American Raptors – the team that the RugbyTown Crossover Academy transformed into – fell 32-29 in their second of two matches against Uruguay…

The American Raptors’ first loss of their Uruguay occurred in their final match of the two-and-a-half-week trip. The tour started with a 31-5 win in a scrimmage over Los Cuervos to prepare for two matches against Uruguay A. The Raptors picked up a convincing 68-27 victory over the Uruguay Rugby Union developmental side at the Carrasco Polo Club on November…

A small crowd gathered across the street from the Carrasco Polo Club in Montevideo, Uruguay as the American Raptors warmed up on a small patch of grass ahead of their first match against Uruguay A. An age-grade final had just concluded, and the people making their way from the grounds to the parking lot stopped to watch the Raptors get…

The American Raptors set foot on Uruguayan soil late Sunday evening to kick off a two-week tour of the country that will consist of one scrimmage and two matches. 29 players will represent the Raptors as the team makes its first trip out of the country. Those players include: Casey McDermott-Vai Garrald McDowell Tommy Madaras Kaleb Geiger Line Latu Tani…

The Raptors are back. After the Colorado Raptors withdrew from Major League Rugby back in April 2020, the direction of Glendale rugby was unknown. Now the Raptors brand is back after the club announced the decision to transition from the Colorado XOs to the American Raptors. The Raptors brand was put to the side as Glendale marched forward with a…

High-flying offenses may sell tickets, but it’s well known that defense wins championships. All four Major League Rugby teams still playing over the weekend were living proof of that saying. After the conference finals, it’s clear that whoever is hoisting the shield over their head on Sunday evening will have won in on the back of their defensive efforts. When…

Rugby United New York announced late Friday evening that the club had signed Colorado XO hooker Kaleb Geiger to a contract for the remainder of the 2021 Major League Rugby season. While some health issues kept Geiger sidelined for the majority of the XOs’ inaugural season, they didn’t prevent him from becoming the sixth member of the Colorado XOs to…

Round 15 of Major League Rugy’s 2021 season is officially in the books, and with its completion, the playoff race is that much tighter. An action-packed weekend leaves us with a clearer picture of what the league’s third playoff tournament could look like, but several scenarios remain with three weeks left in the regular season. The first match of the…

The 2021 Major League Rugby season has been jam-packed with razor-thin results and that has led to what will surely be a photo finish for the two playoff spots in both the Eastern and Western Conferences. Round 12 brought with it much of that same action. While the Houston SaberCats continued to sputter in a 28-9 loss – their seventh…

The first half of Major League Rugby’s 2021 season is officially in the books as Round 9 came to a close on Sunday afternoon. There have been a few constants through the first nine weeks of the season. Every match has been unpredictable, the standings will be jumbled around after every single match, and the Los Angeles Giltinis will sit…

It’s all about the bounce of the ball. If you’ve spent any time around the game of rugby, you’ve likely heard that saying once or twice. For the Colorado XOs on Saturday, one of the handful of differences between an 11-point comeback win in the final 10 minutes of the match and a heartbreaking 36-35 loss was a conversion kick…

Bye weeks for four teams meant that Round 7 of Major League Rugby was a little lighter than normal, but it certainly didn’t lack action or suspense. The table in the Eastern Conference continues to be determined by razor-thin margins while the West continues to be a two-horse race for second place. The Los Angeles Giltinis kicked off the month…

Six weeks into the fourth season of Major League Rugby has gone by in a flash. With May right around the corner and the midway point of the season approaching quickly, the parity that exists within the league has been on full display. The table is reshuffled after every result because every team is within a few table points of…

The Los Angeles Giltinis have signed Colorado XO prop Ma’ake Muti, the team announced on Thursday afternoon. Muti becomes the first member of the XOs to sign with a Major League Rugby team. “I’m super excited,” Muti said of the move to the Giltinis in the team’s release. “I get to work with (scrum coach) Alex Corbisiero, who was an…

The first month of Major League Rugby’s 2021 is in the books after last weekend’s round of matches, and the one thing that remains certain is the unpredictability of how every match will shake out. The exception to this rule has been the Los Angeles Giltinis, who have put beatdowns on the New England Free Jacks, Seattle Seawolves, and most…

The 35 players that make up the Colorado XOs all have something in common. It’s not they are rugby players. In fact, only nine of them had ever played rugby before accepting a contract with the team. It’s not even that they’ve all played football before. A handful of players on the team didn’t play football growing up. The one…

Scoring was on full display for the second week in a row across Major League Rugby as Round 2 wrapped up on Sunday evening. While the points came in droves, the results were much different than opening weekend. Four of the six matches in Round 1 were decided by seven points or less. That was not the case in Round…

It wasn’t the prettiest rugby match of all time, but the Colorado XOs used four tries and a solid defensive effort to pick up a 26-10 over New Orleans RFC in their first-ever match on Saturday afternoon. The sloppiness was to be expected. Only five players on the XOs roster had ever played rugby before, and the team knew heading…