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Lost in the shuffle and excitement over the start of the 2015 Rugby World Cup was the fact that the American Rugby Premiership (ARP) kicked off their second season of play last weekend. The competition is the East Coast answer to the Pacific Rugby Premiership that is about to enter it’s third season of play.
After the collapse of the Rugby Super League and concurrent failure of the short-lived Elite Cup, top clubs from the USA were left without competitions. With the West Coast sides banding together to form the PRP, the clubs from the East Coast were left empty handed until the formation of the ARP last year.
The ARP is made up of five East Coast based rugby clubs that include Life, New York Athletic Club, Old Blue, Boston, and the Boston Irish Wolfhounds. All of which formerly participated in the Rugby Super League.
The ARP plays a split Fall/Spring season due to the weather constraints that the Northeast based clubs face. Each club plays a total of nine ARP matches. The ARP has a number of current Eagles and Eagle pool players on rosters throughout the competition. ARP players that are starting for the Eagles in their RWC opener against Samoa include Mike Petri (NYAC), Al McFarland (NYAC), and AJ MacGinty (Life).
Life is the returning ARP Champion having swept the competition with an 8-0 record last season.
Last weekend NYAC opened up the ARP season with a convincing 43-3 win over Boston in the Remembrance Cup in honor of 9/11. NYAC got tries from five different players and Luke Cousins added 10 points on two conversions and two penalties.
Stay tuned to Americas Rugby News for our weekly wrap from the ARP.
This Week’s ARP Schedule
Old Blue (0-0) vs Boston Irish Wolfhounds (0-0) – Old Blue hosts the Wolfhounds in their 2015/2016 ARP opener. Old Blue is looking to finish higher than 3rd place this season which means they have to take care of business against teams they should beat. They’ll be bolstered by the return of former Eagle Luke Hume. Old Blue has some new faces in the lineup that are going to be needed if they’re going to make a run. The Wolfhounds are still looking for their first ARP victory after going 0-7-1 last season. They face a tough task on the road against an Old Blue side that scored 93 points in two games against them last season.
2015/2016 ARP Standings
| American Rugby Premiership | GP | Record | W | L | T | PF | PA | PD | BT | BL | FF | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 New York Athletic |
1 | 1-0-0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 43 | 3 | 40 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
 Boston Irish Wolfhounds |
0 | 0-0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
 Life Running Eagles |
0 | 0-0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
 Old Blue of New York |
0 | 0-0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
 Boston Rugby |
1 | 0-1-0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 43 | -40 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
