The USA Rugby Boys High School All-Americans will play two matches against the Ontario (Canada) Blues U-19 side on June 30th & July 2nd outside of Toronto. 25 players of the 26 named to the high school All-American travel team participated in the Northeast, South and West Regional Cup Tournaments (RCT) that were held17-19 June. 17 of these players also attended the High School All-American Winter Camp that was held at Casa Grande, Arizona this past December. The 111 attendees were invited after strong performances in last year’s RCT’s.

While no Maryland Exiles were selected for the trip to Canada; nine of our players represented the Maryland Exiles on two different select sides in this year’s South Region RCT at Charlotte, North Carolina. We could have had more but Rugby Maryland had to withdraw their junior varsity team due to not enough players.
Rugby Maryland’s varsity squad included George Fournarakis, Max Cohen, Kyle Wilson, Charlie Siarkas, Corey Levy, Ryan Hunt & Nathaniel Turak. The Maryland Select varsity squad finished 10th out of 13 teams. A highlight was the 20-19 win over Virginia’s 1 squad with Nathaniel Turak converting a try from the corner to win it as the whistle blew. Charlie Siarkas was one of two Maryland players who were noted by the high school All-American scout during the second day of play.

Underclassmen Adam Tounkara and Charlie Martel were forwards on a very strong DC United junior varsity team that placed first out of 12 teams comprised of 9th & 10th graders. The DC United team was comprised of almost all Gonzaga players except for five that included Adam & Charlie. Both scored multiple tries versus strong select sides such as the Florida Juice, Indiana and the Academy of Rugby Excellence (A.R.E) and surely gained he notice of selectors.

The RCT’s are the main avenue for high school players who desire to be high school All-Americans as evidenced by this tear’s selections. Although, the Maryland exiles have not had anyone selected to represent the USA in a high school international match; we have had players invited to the camp as candidates the past two years. Charlie Siarkas attended the All-American camp two years ago after a strong performance at the Pittsburgh RCT in 2014 and Adam Tounkara attended this year after the 2015 RCT. Invitations should go out soon for this year’s camp.