Hey rugger, welcome to Rugby Riot.
What’s Rugby Riot? It’s a weekly newsletter about boys high school rugby in the U.S. — scores, rankings, standout players, and stories that deserve a little more shine.
I started this thing with a simple goal: tell better rugby stories and help grow the sport. And to do that, I wanted to team up with people who actually get the game.
That’s what led to this partnership with World Rugby Shop.
The first time I talked to their CEO, Brad Kilpatrick, we got chatting about why we both love rugby.
I asked him what he loved about actually playing, and he dropped this banger:
“In rugby, you’ve gotta pay the man every single time you play.
You have to ask yourself—am I going to be a coward today, or am I going to step up and be courageous?
Rugby transcends the game itself—a ball and 30 players—and forces you to confront fear and find the heroism inside yourself.”
If that doesn’t make you want to throw in a mouthguard and tackle someone outta their cleats… are you even alive?
That’s all I needed to hear. A partnership was inevitable.
So yeah, this isn’t just some marketing thing. It’s two sides of the rugby world—gear and stories—teaming up to help the game grow and thrive.
We’ll be dropping a dose of Rugby Riot in here each month. If you want more, go ahead and subscribe. For all your gear needs, World Rugby Shop has you covered.
Cheers,
Zach Bateman
Chief Rioter, Rugby Riot
Here’s what you can expect from Rugby Riot 👇
SoCal and North Carolina are CRUSHING IT. But why?
🌤️Credit the sunshine?
Take a look at the recent rise of top high school club teams in the country, and one trend is hard to miss: SoCal and North Carolina are rolling right now.
2025 national final: San Diego Mustangs vs. Charlotte Cardinals.
This year’s champs: the Mustangs.
Last year’s champs: the Cardinals.
Additionally: the Charlotte Tigers made a strong showing in Tier 1, and SoCal was well represented too—Belmont Shore was very competitive, and the SOC Raptors captured the Tier 2 crown.
So what’s going on with SoCal and NC?
We’ve been hearing this a lot: “Well, they have better weather and longer seasons. Of course NC and CA have the advantage!”
Valid. But let’s peel back the onion a bit, shall we?
Climate helps. No doubt.
It’s no secret that both California and North Carolina enjoy peachy weather and essentially two rugby seasons each year. School rugby starts in December. Club rugby kicks off in March. That gives players more reps, more development time, and more chances to build chemistry with their teammates.
Case in point👆
Jealousy level: 11/10 👀
But giving all the credit to the sunshine would be lazy. Weather gives you a boost—but it’s not the whole story.
It starts with the pipeline.
The real advantage is what that weather allows you to build: more playing time, better cohesion, and—most importantly—a strong youth pipeline.
SoCal and North Carolina teams have leaned into that. Their clubs run deep across multiple age levels, with strong participation numbers and tight links between school and club. That’s the engine powering programs like the Cardinals and the Mustangs. The weather helps, but it’s not as important as the youth system.
That’s true in other places, too.
Take the Woodlands in Texas. Sure, the weather isn’t terrible there—but they’re not surrounded by elite competition the way SoCal is. Still, they’ve built a perennial powerhouse. They won the Texas state title again this year (their 8th state title since 2012), and finished second at Nationals in 2024. Year in and year out, they’re in the top conversation.
How? They’ve built a legit feeder program, with over 300 kids from grade school through high school. That’s how you get sustained success.
Okapi Rugby Club in Florida runs a similar blueprint: 200+ players from U8 to U19. They just bagged their third straight U19 state title.
Same deal in Ohio single school rugby. St. Ignatius is tied into Rookie Rugby Cleveland and Cleveland Rugby Academy, youth programs with great numbers and coaching involvement from Ignatius staff. It’s not technically a feeder, but it kinda functions like one. St. Ignatius just won their eighth straight state title and the national title for Single Schools.
Even in Ohio D2, Medina’s youth program has nearly 200 participants—and they capped it off with a D2 state championship of their own this year.
Where there’s a strong youth base, competitive rugby follows. Whether you’re in a warm-weather region or not, building from the bottom up works.
Bottleneck: facilities
Now here’s where the sunshine argument carries some weight. It’s not just about whether you can play games in February. It’s about whether you have anywhere to train.
In colder regions, field access in winter is virtually nonexistent. That’s where indoor facilities could change everything.
Look at soccer. Cities like New York, Philly, and Kansas City aren’t exactly tropical climates—but they’ve produced top talent and routinely go toe-to-toe with clubs from California and Texas. A huge reason: Indoor turf fields. Year-round training. Winter doesn’t shut them down. There are literally thousands of youth soccer teams playing nonstop, coast to coast.
Rugby hasn’t reached that level of infrastructure. At least, not yet.
And good luck renting time at the existing indoor spots. Remember all those youth soccer teams I mentioned? Yeah…they’re running the show from dawn to dusk.
We’re gonna need more indoor joints, folks.
Of course, building those facilities isn’t cheap. You need land, money, coaches, and—most importantly—enough kids to make it viable.
That’s why youth development has to come first. Once you’ve got hundreds of players in the system, the economics start to make more sense. The demand is there. The momentum builds. And suddenly, facility investment feels a lot less risky.
(If you have a millionaire uncle with a penchant for lighting cash on fire, you can disregard everything I just said.)
So the clubs investing in youth now are putting themselves in position to be next in line when infrastructure catches up. Regardless of weather.
Those that aren’t may find themselves falling behind.
Our take:
Right now, warmer climate clubs might have an edge. They’ve got more playing time and the sun on their side. More importantly, they’ve made great use of that time by building terrific youth programs.
And THAT’S the real advantage.
But the gap can close.
It just takes investment in the right order:
Start with the kids. Build the numbers. Justify the space.
It’s happened in other sports. Soccer built its ecosystem from the ground up.
Rugby can do the same. Maybe even faster.
And let’s be honest… rugby is just better.
This is the way.
I realize this may be an oversimplification. There’s a lot that goes into building a strong rugby program: culture, coaching, supportive parents, buy-in from schools and local communities etc.
Indoor facilities might just be the spark for rugby’s next big leap. Time will tell. Until then, one thing stands tall above the rest: build the youth programs, and good things will happen.
🥶Ice Bath Thoughts
Oddball musings, induced by borderline hypothermia.
🏉 What is the ultimate rugger’s vehicle? I feel like Jeep Wrangler is in the top 5. Maybe a Toyota Land Cruiser? Or maybe it breaks down by position…
Scrumhalf: Mini Cooper (pretty quick, pretty small)
8-man: Ford F250 (powerful, often dented on the worksite)
Flyhalf: BMW 3-series (fancy, hates scratches)
Winger: Subaru WRX (fast, not as fast as it thinks)
Hooker: Jeep (indestructible, covered in dirt)
Center: Dodge Charger (great straight-line speed, poor turning ability)
Flanker: Harley-Davidson 883 (badass, dangerous)
Lock: Chevy Suburban (long, poor braking ability)
Fullback: Corvette (fast, noisy)
Prop: Still open for debate…but it might be a food truck.
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