The development of an international touring 15s team at the high school level has been a rousing success.

Eagle Impact Rugby Academy, which is a Goff Rugby Report supporter (full disclosure) has succeeded superbly in a way no one expected. Sure, running a pair of EIRA teams out to British Columbia to act as feeders to the HS All Americans in 2016 seemed like a pretty straightforward idea. It worked nicely, as the EIRA U16s and U17s won all of their games on that trip.

But this year, things got a lot more complicated. Under President Robin Reid, Director Salty Thompson, and Assistant Director Brendan Keane, EIRA took on a massive series of tasks, namely:

 

• Enter a series of regional teams into RCTs around the nation
• Send a U16 and U17 team to British Columbia 
• Send a U17/U18 team to Ireland
• Send a U16 and a U17/18 team to Ontario

 

Doing this required the program to identify something like 129 players who had the talent and also the desire and availability to play (you'll see the squad lists below; with 131 listed; two players, Peyton Wall and Cian Messner, played in two events). That, in itself, was a huge accomplishment.

The EIRA program got this done, found the players, and put together large coaching staffs to get these tours finished. The coaches were given plenty of autonomy to develop the teams, but within the Eagle Impact way of doing things, which relies heavily on mastering basic skills. 

All of that should be reason for praise. 

And then, they won games. That was even more noteworthy. On the three international tours, the EIRA teams played 13 games, and finished 10-3. Only one loss was by more than the margin of an unconverted try, and that was when the EIRA team in Ireland played Leinster Academy in a three-period game during which Leinster ran out three completely different 15s for each period. 

You can see full reports on these games here.

 

 

But let's make a note in these pages. These players all got a chance to play in another country. They all got a chance to play with other good athletes. They all got a chance to break out and be better. This kind of exposure is exactly what young elite players need. It was a success before anyone scored a try. The fact that they also all came together to win games and win series is just icing on the cake.

 

EIRA U16s 32 BC U16s 12

EIRA U17s 74 BC U17s 0

EIRA U16s 24 BC U16s 25

EIRA U17s 41 BC U17s 15

 

EIRA Ireland Touring Squad 12 Ulster Academy U17s 7

EIRA Ireland Touring Squad 9 Leinster Academy XVs 33

EIRA Ireland Touring Squad 29 Ulster Academy U17s 24

 

EIRA U16s 27 Ontario U16s 21

EIRA U17s/U18s 27 Ontario U18s 32

EIRA U16s 24 Ontario U16s 21

EIRA U17s/U18s 24 Ontario U18s 19

EIRA U16s 24 Ontario U16s 19

EIRA U17s/U18s 29 Ontario 15

 

		EIRA U17s to BC
First	Last	Home Club	State
Julian	Arteaga	Tri City	CA
Jonah	Auvaa	Rainier Highlanders	WA
Dante	Bandoni	Granite Bay	CA
Jacob	Birkofer	Brownsburg Rugby Club	IN
William	Chevalier	Neuqua Wildcats Rugby Club	IL
Alexander	Evans	Granite Bay	CA
Aizak	Fido	South Bay Youth Rugby	CA
Jonathan	Haley	Pasadena RFC	CA
Karl	Keane	Eastside Lions Youth Academy	WA
Isaia	Lotawa	Eastside Lions Youth Academy	WA
Andrew	Martinez	Granite Bay Rugby	CA
Matthew	McCarthy	Boulder Lions Rugby Club	CO
Miles	McCormick	Aztec Warriors	CA
Ronnie	McElligott	SFGG	CA
Cian	Messner	Penn HS	IN
Cyprian	Miller	Phoenix Firebirds	AZ
Elias	Ramirez	Jesuit Rugby club	CA
Kurt	Sakata	Back Bay	CA
Carson	Shoemaker	Arrowhead Berserkers RFC	AZ
Jonah	Tavai	Los Angeles	CA
Sam	Tipple	Back Bay	CA
Bryce	Van Order	Granite Bay Rugby	CA
		EIRA U16s to BC
First	Last	Home Club	State
George	Baron	Saint Thomas Aquanis - KS	KS
Jacob	Cortinas	Peninsula Green RFC	CA
Jack	Flanagan	Phoenix Firebirds	AZ
Alex	Geisert	Liberty North High School	MO
Luca	Gillespie-Brown	Peninsula Green RFC	CA
Brayden	Goodnight	Brownsburg	IN
Jonathan	Hammond	West Shore United	TX
Triston	Haverty	Granite Bay Rugby	CA
Viliami	Hopoi	CP Harlequins	CA
Braiden	Manusina	Arrowhead Berserkers	AZ
Jacob	McDonald	Aztec Warriors	CA
George Henry	Miller, V	Jesuit High School	CA
Jake	Negrete	San Joaquin Memorial HS	CA
John	Nelson	Temecula Rugby	CA
Lucas	Pattinson	Back Bay	CA
Marcus	Pinzon	North County Youth Rugby	CA
Dylan	Richardson	Corona Hawks	CA
Mavaeganailetai	Roberts	South Bay Spartans	CA
Edwin	Sanderson	Granite Bay Rugby	CA
Max	Schumacher	Jesuit High School	CA
Jake	Stone	San Diego Aztecs	CA
Colin	Turner	Back Bay	CA
Ethan	van Tonder	Rocky Mountain RFC	ID
Peyton	Wall	Leo Lions Rugby	IN
Gabriel	Wegge	OMBAC	CA
Ben	Wierenga	Valley Center High School	CA
		EIRA U17s/U18s For Ontario
First	Last	Home Club	State
Tomas	Alsenas	Christian Brothers High School	TN
Liam	Andersen	Morris Rugby	NJ
Maximillian	Clark		UK
Jared	Cordova	Ft. Hunt	VA
Samuel	Fisher	North Central	IN
Aidan	Gallagher	Chapel Hill Highlanders	NC
Matthew	Gelhaus	Walnut Hills	OH
Andrei	Golding	Ft. Hunt	VA
Lewis	Gray	Jupiter Sharks	FL
George	Heard	Vienna	VA
Tyler	Heer	Culver Academies	CA
Zachary	Hylton	Charlotte Catholic	NC
Eshaan	Kaul	Granite Bay Rugby	CA
Cian	Messner	Penn HS	IN
Hugo	Meyjonade	St.Thomas Aquinas	FL
Douglas	Mitchell	Granite Bay	CA
Francisco	Morano Peccoud	Okapi Wanders	FL
Charlie	Overton	Staples	CT
Max	Palmer	Katy Barbarians	TX
Travis	Preston	Fort Hunt Warriors	VA
Braden	Ramsey	Lake Travis	TX
Tarshawn	Reed	Union County Lions	NC
James	Reed III	Charlotte Tigers	NC
Matthew	Start	Myers Park HS	NC
Adam	Taylor	Ft. Hunt	VA
Iason	Terezis	Penn High School	IN
Chad	Tiernan	Cardinal Gibbons	FL
Adam	Zareb	Avon Black Swarm	IN
Ultan	Horrigan	Georgetown Prep	DC
		EIRA U16s For Ontario
First	Last	Home Club	State
David	Afaese	Penn HS	IN
Gramoz	Bici	Greenwich High School	CT
David	Boatwright	West Pines Wolfhounds	AZ
Casey	Burr	Prince William	VA
Marco	Caramanico	MRFC Academy Boys	NY
Gavin	Cunningham	Clayton Rugby	NC
Dakota	Duncan	Fishers High School	IN
Blake	Ecklund	Arapahoe	CO
Alexander	Kennach	Penn HS	IN
Donovan	Law	Charlotte Tigers	NC
Darius	Law	Charlotte Tigers	NC
Francisco	Liguori	Greenwich High School	CT
Jacob	Line	Orlando	FL
Charles	Martel	Bethesda Roosters	MD
Juan	Molinari	Gonzaga HS	DC
Damian	Morley	Play Rugby USA Academy	NY
Jake	Pretorius	Roswell	GA
Henri	Ross-Pelat	Play Rugby USA Academy	NY
Aidan	Smith	Xavier High School	NY
Dominic	Tianga	St. Thomas Aquinas	FL
Philip	Tracey	Dayton Northern Force	OK
Elijah	Valle	Jupiter Sharks	FL
Peyton	Wall	Leo High School Rugby	IN
Michael	Wilder	Charlotte Tigers	NC
Collin	Willsey	Twin City Tornados / Chicago Blaze	IL
Matthew	Zaudtke	Georgetown Prep	DC
		EIRA Squad to Ireland
First	Last	Home Club	State
Tyren	Aljiboori	Union High	OK
Austin	Arnett	Tribe Rugby	TN
Ayden	Augspurg	Parkhill United	MO
Alexander	Cleary	Chuckanut	WA
Nolan	Filteau	Amoskeag	NH
Matthew	Freeman	Gonzaga	MD
Mateo	Gadsden	Back Bay	CA
Jasper	Green	St Paul's, London	UK
Kaipono	Kayoshi	Granite Bay	CA
Isaia	Kruse	Bullard	CA
Russell	Lemaster	Royal Irish	IN
Niklas	Lundqvist	Coastal Dragons	CA
Michael	Maafu	Tempe	AZ
John	McCrossin	Fort Hunt	VA
Christiaan	Mosconi	Back Bay	CA
Zachary	Neff	C.K. McClatchy Lions	CA
Sean	Nolan	Back Bay	CA
Gavin	Prentice	Eastside Lions	WA
James	Reid	Loudoun	VA
Cole	Semu	Chuckanut	WA
Quinn	Sheppard	C.K. McClatchy Lions	CA
Sidney	Shoop	South Greenvill	NC
Adam	Tounkara	Maryland Exiles	MD
Alex	Vaca	Santa Monica	CA
Jordan	Wander	Harlequin Colts	TX
Inoke	Waqavesi	C.K. McClatchy Lions	CA
Michael	Weir	Doylestown Rugby Club	PA
Larry	Williams	Clayton Copperheads	NC