Council Bluffs United Rugby

Rugby in the United States has a serious problem: we keep trying to reinvent the wheel instead of studying and following the countries that consistently produce world-class rugby players.

The first mistake starts at the youth level.

In the USA, rugby is often built around high school instead of a proper age-grade rugby system.

That is one of the biggest reasons we continue to fall behind.

We have already failed by believing that players will simply develop through high school and college rugby.

That model has not worked. If it had, the USA would already be producing more elite players and competing at a much higher level internationally.

Countries with far less money, fewer resources, and smaller athletic populations than the United States have developed better rugby players because they have better rugby structures.

They do not wait until high school or college to teach the game properly.
They start young, they build players step by step, and they follow a clear age-grade pathway.

Players develop at different speeds physically, technically, and mentally.

Every age group should have its own team, its own coaching focus, and its own competition structure.
That is how you properly develop players.

You do not skip steps. You do not throw younger players into older age groups and hope they catch up.

We should have a youth rugby age union.

You build a club-based, age-grade system where players can grow year by year.

130 of the 134 Nations that play rugby use age grade rugby, even World Rugby does not have "High School Rugby Laws", It has only "Under 19 rugby laws".

The best rugby countries understand this.

They do not hope athletes magically appear at 19 years old.
They build players from a young age through structured age-grade rugby, proper coaching, strong clubs, and consistent competition.

In the USA Rugby & USA Youth and High School Rugby, we talk about professional rugby, college rugby, national teams, and high-performance pathways, but we keep ignoring the foundation.
You cannot build elite rugby from the top down if the youth structure is broken.

The USA does not lack athletes. It does not lack money. It does not lack facilities. It lacks rugby structure.

Until we stop skipping steps and stop pretending the high school and college model will save American rugby, we will continue asking the same question: why are we not improving?

The answer is simple.

We are trying to build rugby players without following systems that already work.

Our two cents

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Tide is always rising!!! Congrats gentlemen.

Congratulations to our Iowa Selects 15s team for defeating Arizona 22-5 in the finals to become the HS D2 National Champions at the Great Northwest Challenge in Bozeman, Montana today!! Way to represent the !

Congrats gentlemen!

Congrats to our CB athletes representing Nebraska All State! It’s hard to tell, but this is what first place looks like!

Good luck to the boys on the road and Nebraska All State. Special shout out to those from Iowa giving their all for NYRA.

Congrats to Cedar Valley! We would have loved to give them a run for their money from this side of the State given the opportunity, but the important thing is the sport is growing. Day by day…

Better late than never! This was the first year since the early 2000s I believe that Rugby Iowa has had a 15s rugby season. There were 6 teams across the state that competed. Every team played for 3 weeks and the Champ was determined by points similar to the 6 Nations competition. Your Cedar Valley team comprised of players from Cedar Falls, Waverly-Shell Rock, and Waterloo Columbus went 6-0 and won the league! It was extremely fun and the boys had a great time getting to know everyone! Cheers! See you next year!

Last, but certainly not least: Here is the Iowa Men’s roster for the Thunderbird Cup in Lemont, Illinois! This team is ready to battle Saturday at 12:00 PM and represent Iowa Rugby with intensity and pride.

Best of luck to the men as they compete this weekend! 🏉

The pathway works! And, rugby builds the best athletes. Nate Ebner went on to win 3 Super Bowls after his U-19 and U-20 rugby career.

20 years ago, 2006 and the USA u19s in Georgetown, Guyana competing in the North American and West Indies Qualifier for the 2007 World Juniors in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
This team contained 7 future Eagles and a legendary staff Eagle.
Can anyone recognize who they are?

I spy…