r/USArugby

Welcome to WRR 259 for August 10-16. Brazil's Yaras edged out the USA Falcons in a thriller in São Paulo, while the Springbok Women clinched the Ubuntu–Bula Trophy in Fiji. Meanwhile, major off-field turbulence made waves as Rugby Australia appointed Sione Fukofuka as Wallaroos head coach for 2027 amidst growing questions surrounding his sudden release from Scotland, and the Welsh Rugby Union board continues to find itself locked in a fierce public civil war over proposed structural cuts. On the domestic front, Mwamba retained their Kabeberi 7s crown in Kenya, Ukraine held its national 7s cup under secretive conditions in Kyiv, and global test match attendance records continue to hit unprecedented highs.

🌍 Want more? Our global weekly women's rugby news recap can be found at https://scrumhalfconnection.com/2026/08/16/springboks-sweep-fiji-yaras-rebound-wallaroos-head-coach-appointed-wru-still-under-fire-wrr-259/

Discuss-

Not sure if this was the best place to ask but whatever. Recently I’ve be considering playing rugby for my college’s club and I’m looking for some honest advice.

I rowed throughout highschool so I figured my build might transfer well, I’m 6’3 and about 210lbs. I’ve never played before, however, I am in pretty good shape and I would really love the team aspect of the sport.

My only hesitation though would be the contact side of it. Rowing has pretty much little to no chance of getting injured while I feel like rugby is pretty much the opposite. I understand that some injuries are to be expected but I’m wondering how big of a concern injuries actually are at the college club level.

Also, for anyone who started rugby in college, was it worth it? Could someone like me fit in?

I vote yes. USA sent a CRAA squad that gave up 10 points the whole tournament while scoring over 200. What does playing Jamaica, Mexico, Cayman Islands do for development? Go on a tour or train with the USA XV.

U20 and U18 had worthwhile summers so maybe 19s are an afterthought.

Couldn’t really find a good rugby subreddit for beginner questions like this, so figured I’d ask here.
I just finished my first year playing club rugby in Florida. I’m a little old to be starting at 32, and unfortunately I broke my arm, so I missed most of the 15s season and only got to play a handful of 7s matches.
My team has hyped me up a little and said that with my athleticism, once I learn the game better I could develop into a solid back. I’m definitely still out of rugby shape, but ball in hand feels pretty natural to me and I’ve had some success beating defenders one-on-one.
What I’m really curious about are the “rugby steps” I see a lot of players doing. I come from an American football background, so I’m used to hard plants, quick cuts, jukes, and changing direction without much of a hop. I don’t really understand what the little jump/hop step I see rugby players use is accomplishing or why it would be better than just planting and making a sharp cut.
Is this something I should actually be practicing and adding to my game? I’m completely open to the idea but I just don’t understand the technique yet, but watching it, I feel like a hard open-field cut would be more difficult to defend than the hop-step style movement. As a defender, I also feel like a quick plant and cut would give me more trouble.
What am I missing about the rugby step, and what advantage does it give you over a traditional football-style juke or cut?

This started out as some quick intuition checking and became a multi-week project of trawling through match lineups and trying to find literally information about the Kenyan national team. Basically, how much can we learn about a team just from the level of professional environment they play their club rugby in? Turns out, quite a lot.

Unfortunately trying to be realistic here the Eagles probably make it to the third place game. I cannot find how to buy tickets either for the final or third place game. Do you just walk up to the stadium on game day? No way to buy online?