With the US Rugby Foundation scholarship applications still open, it’s perhaps worth taking a look at how they can influence a player.

Oliver Kirk was one of the first two recipients of the Nelson College Scholarship, which was unveiled in 2023. Kirk, a standout player for the Chicago Lions high school team, spend about five months at Nelson College in New Zealand, living in the dormitories, studying, and learning rugby.

A Unique Training Ground

He did well enough to earn some 1st XV time at prop, which is an accomplishment in itself, and made such an impression that he was invited by the school to attend for his senior year in 2024. That he did, becoming the starting loosehead on a team that went on to win the South Island school championship.

All of that led to another opportunity, as Kirk matriculated to Cal, where he accomplished another rare feat—working his way onto the starting lineup as a freshmen prop. He was part of an impressive freshman class at Cal, one which scored three of Cal’s eight tries and 30 of Cal’s 55 points in their championship-game win over Life. Masi Koi scored two of those tries; Filip Edstrom scored 15 points with the boot. It's worth noting also that Life freshman James Rose also scored a brilliant try in that game. 

Meanwhile, Kirk was the freshman other try-scorer, taking a pick-and-go over the line when his side was down 19-10.

All of this causes one to look back a bit and see how Kirk got to that point.

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At Nelson he played about 25 high-level to very high-level games over the two years, and 160-200 training sessions with elite coaches. 

“The training was one of the things that was really cool about the opportunity,” Kirk told GRR recently. “There were the formal 1st XV training and a super-cool opportunity to learn from the coaches and my teammates. But also I would say the off-field moments were important, too. Just playing touch rugby with my friends. When we had free time there was always a rugby game to watch. We were playing the game all the time. The coaches  would say the boys grew up with a rugby ball in their hands and, really, there was always a rugby ball around.”

That immersion allowed Kirk to greatly accelerate his development. When he arrived at Cal, he wasn’t a finished player by any means, but he had played more challenging games on a rugby experienced team than most American kids every get to play.

“The Chicago Lions are like a lot of the teams that aren’t name-brand schools that have great coaches and can do a lot for you,” Kirk said. “But I also think the Nelson opportunity was an incredible way for me to push the boundaries of how many high-quality games I was playing. And then another thing Nelson helped me was they did a really good job preparing me for the professionalism of Cal. The coaches at Nelson and Cal are both very big about professional habits—reviewing games, using resources, and nutrition and preparation. So Nelson prepared me for that and because I had that experience Cal wasn’t as big of an adjustment as it might have been.”

Learn More about the Nelson College Scholarship program here>> 

During the fall at Cal Kirk, being a tight five player, wasn’t playing 7s, and was instead in more of a tight five prep session, working closely with coaches Jack Clark and Tom Billups. He showed enough to get the start in Cal’s opening match.

That game was a hastily-arranged non-conference game with Cal Poly after the wildfires in Southern California prompted the cancellation of the Storer Classic at UCLA.

But that first didn’t go perfectly for Kirk.

A Learning Moment

“I was really psyched for the first game for the season and I was starting, but to be honest I don’t think I played my best game,” he told GRR. “I struggled a bit. Cal Poly has some great players and guys like Brett Dowgiewicz and Coby Baker. They were a step-up in physicality for sure and as much as I had learned and developed at Nelson, the oldest player I played against was 18. So the physicality was a big step up. 

“I remember one moment in the middle of the game where I missed a tackle and it led directly to one of their tries. That was a ‘welcome to the league’ moment for me.”