Rugby Pickem

"Hey Rugby PickEm fellas. This is Casey Rock long time listener first-time caller one-time guest very interested to hear the next next podcast after week one is now in the books. I know that I spent my day feverishly switching between games on a phone when I'm watching at my in-laws seeing Snippets of all the games watching. None of them very closely, lesson learned. I will pace myself better this weekend and watch them play. But having seen week one got a few questions for you guys. First of all, I need to know more about boots-on-the-ground. Which cities are you planning on visiting because it was awesome to see some friends of the show crushing it Taylor Howden & Zach Pangelinan, you know your boys out in Atlanta really getting the job done . I'd be interested to know what sort of behind-the-scenes content we can expect from the boots on the ground segments from those friends in high places. Likewise. Also love to get to know your team's storylines. I'd love to suggest something along the lines of how

After a full year away, MLR is finally back. In preparation for Saturday's games, we busted out the TV screens, bought ingredients for (something resembling) chili in the crock pot, and invited the lads over as we dialed up "The Rugby Network" for what seemed a lot like an NFL Redzone Sunday, but better. Love how the MLR had multiple games running at a time. The staggered kick off times allowed for the non stop action to roll for 4+ hours. And could we have a better day of attack, and scoring? In the 5 games on Saturday, each team averaged just above 28 points. Who doesn't love scoring? RUNY 36 - SD Legion 29 The Butcher and his pack were clinical, scoring twice off the rolling maul. Game was played at a pop up stadium in what appeared to be one of the side fields of old Sam Boyd Stadium that used to host the Vegas 7's stop for many years. Give credit to sideline reporter Jillian Lopez (don't worry, she's blue check verified), who was asked to give sideline reports in a wind storm ... she said she could fe

Best Finish: 2019 Semi-final loss to Seattle (11-5 regular season). Ended the regular season on a 7-0 run. 2021 Home Stadium: Lupo Family Field ... (for now) capacity 5,000 Best Name: Mike "Dusty" Sheppard Who Excites Rugby PickEm: Large concentration of Canadian talent, mixed with South American flair ... what's not to like? Socials: #ArrowsUp Instagram: Blue Check Verified PICKEM!

Rugby ATL Best Finish: N/A (cancelled inaugural season 2020) 2021 Home Stadium: Lupo Family Field (capacity 5,000) Best Name: Duncan van Schalkwyk Who Excites Rugby PickEm: This team has weapons, and they play fast paced rugby led by Scott Lawrence. Also, the Missile is unit. Socials: #PushThePace Instagram: No Blue Check

Old Glory DC Best Finish: 2020 (4-1 start) First in the east before cancelled season 2021 Home Stadium: Segra Field (capacity 5,000) Best Name: Mo Katz Who Excites Rugby PickEm: Keeping the "Spine" of their team. Except the halfbacks to gel right out of the gate. Coach Andrew Douglas will look to continue their winning ways. Socials: #OGDC Instagram: Blue Check Verified

NOLA Goes ALL-IN on their gameday experience Best Finish: 2019 (9-7 regular season) Just missed the playoffs 2021 Home Stadium: The Gold Mine (capacity 5,000) Best Name: Ross Depperschmidt Who Excites Rugby PickEm: Multi-year contracts leads to stable growth. Expect NOLA's core group to gel early. They'll be playing for their rowdy crowd. Socials: #StayGold Instagram: Blue Check Verified

New England Free Jacks Best Finish: 2020 (1-4) Beat RUNY in first ever match 2021 Home Stadium: Union Point Sports Complex (capacity 2,000) Best Name: Jack Ram Who Excites Rugby PickEm: Mags is a sparkplug. There are few front office personalities that shine as bright as Alex Magleby. He's built up the hype in New England for a successful professional rugby team. Socials: #TogetherWeRide #LightTheWay Instagram: No Blue Check PICKEM!

Rugby United New York The team is now operating under new ownership (Bolton Equities). Best Finish: 2019, Semi-Final Loss to SD Legion (11-5 regular season) 2021 Home Stadium: MCU Park (capacity 7,500) Best Name: Hanco Germishuys Who Excites Rugby PickEm: Core group of players (Foden, Wallace-Sims, Fawsitt, Bennett) returning. If you can overcome NYC's challenges, you've got grit. If you're gritty, you can win games on the road. Expect RUNY to sit near the top of the table in the east. Socials: #BuiltForNewYork Instagram: Blue-Check Verified PICKEM!

Houston Sabercats Best Finish: 2019, 6-10 2021 Home Stadium: Aveva Stadium (capacity 4,000) Best Name: Nika Khatiashvili Who Excites Rugby PickEm: Returning their core (Windsor, Pangelinan, Esdale, Howden), and can do some damage in the West if they pick up early W's. Socials: #GoCatsGo Instagram: Blue-Check Verified (Tommy NoPiks incorrectly reported on the podcast ... tsk tsk Tommy) PICKEM!

Austin Gilgronis (photo cred: @normasali12) Best Finish: 2020, 1-1-3 record (ended on a high note, winning the Texas Cup) 2021 Home Stadium: Bold Stadium (capacity 5,000) Best Name: Zinzan Elan-Puttick Who Excites Rugby PickEm: Strong, experienced coaching staff. Depth and competition at each position (fielded multiple sides during pre-season scrimmages) should allow them the ability to win games down the stretch of the season. Socials: #WeAreAG and #NoPadsRequired Instagram: No Blue-Check PICKEM!

Utah Warriors Best Finish: 2018, Semi-Final loss to Glendale (3-5 regular season record) 2021 Home Stadium: Zions Bank Stadium (capacity 5,000) Best Name: Jurie van Vuuren Who Excites Rugby PickEm: Utah's feeder teams have gotten games under their belt in 2020. Strong core group returning including Gus McClellan, Matt Jensen, Alex Tucci (famous Twitch streamer), Lance Williams, and also adding potent weapon Mike Te'o Socials: #ForTheNation Instagram: No Blue Check

L.A. Giltinis Best Finish: N/A (expansion team) 2021 Home Stadium: L.A. Coliseum (capacity 77,000) Best Name: Langilangi Haupeakui Who Excites Rugby PickEm: First and foremost .... Nic Boyer's Hair. But secondly it's that this is a diverse team that just trained full time for 6 weeks in Maui together. What better team bonding than a preseason vacation? Socials: #Giltinis (step your game up social media interns...) Instagram: No Blue Check PICKEM!

San Diego Legion Best Finish: 5-0 start in 2020 (before season was cancelled) 2021 Home Stadium: ??? (TBD In Las Vegas ... crossing our fingers for the new home of the Las Vegas Raiders, Allegiant Stadium) Best Name: Keni Nasoqeqe Who Excites Rugby PickEm: Joe Pieterson can kick. Good kicking = points. Also is Cole Zarcone an early favorite for Rookie of the Year? Socials: #WeAreLegion Instagram: Blue-Check Verified (confirmed by Tommy No Piks) PICKEM!

Seattle Seawolves Best Finish: 2X

We're getting back to our roots in 2021. We're putting boots on the ground this season and will try and visit at least four different team venues for live games. With the Colorado Raptors no longer a part of the MLR, the Rugby PickEm crew will look to cash in some frequent flier miles and head out of state to catch some live rugby and find the best fans in the MLR. PICKEM! After being cooped up for nearly a full year, 2021 has to be .....THE YEAR OF THE FAN! We want to find the Fireman Ed of RUNY, shake the hand of a founding member of the notorious "Cohort", and maybe interview the first ever MLR streaker (... it may or may not be Uncle Johnny). Also ... would love to meet the Commish this year (.... a man can only dream). As we journey through what will surely be a season full of exciting games (and some boring ones too, after all, the players will be rusty to start), we look forward to sharing our experiences with you, the listeners and readers. A few things we'll be tracking this season: Tackle the

Rob Kelly (aliases include Jim Bob Kelly) and I played college rugby together at Wake Forest University. Rob played flyhalf, but his best asset wasn't his on field performances. Instead, it was his ability to make all teammates feel welcomed and included in the team fabric. He led from the front on the field and at the post-game socials. Genial, comedic and affable to almost any situation he was thrown into, his presence was felt throughout our team. He wasn't half bad at rugby either, bagging meat twice (brace-face

Welcome back to Rugby PickEm! After a month off (to let things breath), we check back into a year of rugby that's sure to be constantly changing as the MLR games proceed in a month's time. Uncle Johnny, Tommy No Piks, Bt & Reiko in the house (casa de Collins) for a "State of the Rugby Union" ... - MLR Teams report. Overseas players may struggle with pandemic travel restrictions, but that may create an early season opportunity for local domestic players (ideally young and uncapped at professional level). - Dallas dispersal draft is under way. Some players have landed, others have yet to be announced. It's really good to see the league work hard to find the players who had been promised contracts in Dallas an opportunity somewhere else (ideally local to their upbringing, family, etc...). *Update* Since recording, #9th overall pick, AIC stud, Club 7s 2019 National Champ with WAC) Tommy Hunkin-Clark has signed with the Seattle Seawolves (2X usmlr Champs and home of the SeaWall). I've seen him dominate gr

You guessed it .... we made a 2020 Rugby PickEm mash up. Bt runs back the best moments in a year that was undoubtedly one of the more challenging, and gloomy years that we can remember. We started with a season preview where Kim Jordan graced the studio and the crew ran through each MLR teams' hashtags, mascots and other ridiculous pre-season banter items. Kim's presence that night was sublime, and the crew thoroughly enjoyed what would be one of the few recording sessions before the pandemic took hold here in the US and lockdowns began. Next we included the last couple of live voicemail shows with Bt and Tommy NoPiks. Listening back to the final week 5 MLR PickEm almost drew some nostalgic tears, knowing the season would be called off later that week. There are times when we record an interview and hang on to it for awhile. This was the case with Ben Pinkelman, Ke'Von Williams and Logan Collins debating "what are the best cross-over sports for rugby"? Ke'Von is never short on confidence, and he's convin

Once the 2020 season was cancelled, Tommy No Piks and Bt began the meticulous endeavor of creating a highlight reel for Rugby PickEm star Logan Collins. Spending hours pouring through old footage including: - PRO Rugby and the Denver Stampede - Grainy (and shaky) CSU Ram highlights (which Logan himself produced, so technically he'll begrudgingly get a Co-Producer credit on his highlight reel) - Denver Barbarians 15s and 7s games - Logan's days with the Serevi Selects (including the game winning tackle of Garrett Bender on the try line to win the 2017 Las Vegas Open) Although the entire exercise was tedious and painstaking, it was clear that Logan Collins can do it all, and the end result was magnificent. Logan is a meat and potatoes type of player, meaning he does the fundamentals so well, that it was often challenging finding plays that could be deemed "highlights". However, his 12 year career provided enough little gems for us to put together a 4 minute video. As a player, he exemplifies the attributes

As the night ran long on the historical Rugby PickEm Awards (better known colloquially as the RPA's), the lads sat around the mic (some didn't even realize it was on), and began reminiscing and dream about a time when the entire USA rugby landscape wasn't shut down due to a Pandemic. Little known fact, but Uncle Johnny used to LIVE at his old club the Cincinnati Wolfhounds Rugby Clubhouse (for 5 years). If you know Uncle Johnny, this makes sense as he is one of the most enthusiastic club rugby lovers there is out there. We touched on what it feels like to wake up on gameday, and all the "little moments in between" that truly help grow the bond between teammates. Tommy No Piks gives us some insight into his recent dreams (it has a lot to do with fast food characters), and we look to the future as the year 2020 closes out. This one went a bit off the rails towards the end, but didn't just about everything this year? Enjoy! PICKEM!