MLR Prospects set to collide in Collegiate Rugby Shield

A select list of 50 college rugby standouts have begun preparations for the Saturday’s inaugural Collegiate Rugby Shield. The invitational event will see two teams, dubbed the Canyons and Peaks, collide at Zions Bank Stadium to showcase their talent for Major League Rugby scouts.

Coaching the two sides are a pair of retired internationals – USA fullback Tui Osborne and Canada hooker Ray Barkwill. They will run the rule over their squads in a series of training sessions starting today, with the goal of giving players the best possible opportunity to catch the eye of pro scouts ahead of August’s MLR Collegiate Draft.

The majority of players named are US-born but there are inclusions from elsewhere including Mexico Sevens representative Enrique Carmona and a pair of Argentines in Tomás Casares and Matías Caramuti. Arizona’s James Rivers has played for Hong Kong at u20 level and Laurier’s Carter Smith is the only Canadian included, a national u18 selection.

Among the US talent on display, both Angus Kelly and Sione Mahe have represented their country at age-grade level in sevens. Iowa State prop Brandon Karnes and Lindenwood duo Bill Whiteside and Evan Conlon are part of the USA’s High Performance development program.

Saturday’s match will be broadcast nationwide on Fox Sports 1. Kickoff is set for 5pm local time, 4pm Pacific, 6pm Central, 7pm Eastern.

 

CANYONS

Head Coach: Tui Osborne

POS	NAME	HGT	WGT	AGE	SCHOOL
PR	Buckley, Samuel	6-1	260	23	Lindenwood
PR	Karnes, Brandon	5-11	270	21	Iowa State
PR	Montgomery, Hudson	6-1	285	22	Thomas More
PR	Smith, Liam	6-3	250	23	Lindenwood
HO	Carlson, Ty	5-7	210	22	Life
HO	Kryger, Joseph	5-8	220	26	Fresno State
LO/PR	Misleh, Luke	6-3	250	19	Ohio State
LO	Hoal, Garryth	6-5	265	24	Missouri
LO	Martin, Sean	6-6	245	21	Arizona State
LO	Rivers, James	6-6	245	21	Arizona
FL	Dupree, John	6-0	215	22	Central Washington
FL	Eklou, Angelo	5-9	200	20	Louisville
FL	Kipp, Josh	6-0	220	21	Michigan State
N8	Buckley, Nolan	6-3	205	22	UMass Lowell
SH	Conlon, Evan	5-9	185	23	Lindenwood
SH	Jackson, Brad	5-9	195	24	Utah
FH	Mahe, Sione	6-0	185	22	Snow College
FH	Owens, Chandler	6-1	195	22	Kansas
CE	McGuffin, Owen	5-11	215	23	Iowa State
CE	Schefermann, Sebastian	6-4	200	19	Mary Washington
CE/WI	Johnson, Joseph	5-11	180	23	Bowling Green
CE/FB	Grande, Conner	6-1	195	19	Central Washington
WI	Rivet, Devin	5-7	170	21	Arizona State
WI	Stewart, John	5-7	175	23	Lindenwood
FB	Williams, Sam	6-0	180	20	Adrian College

 

PEAKS

Head Coach: Ray Barkwill

POS	NAME	HGT	WGT	AGE	SCHOOL
PR	Kettering, Gabe	6-3	250	23	Lindenwood
PR	Knight, Blake	6-0	280	23	Lindenwood
PR	Sully, Aiden	6-3	270	25	Utah
PR	Travis, Damoreon	5-11	250	22	Life
HO	Boleyn, Kaleb	5-10	210	23	Northern Iowa
HO	Sikora, Kyle	5-10	235	23	Bowling Green
LO	Smith, Carter	6-6	250	22	Wilfrid Laurier (CA)
LO	Whiteside, Bill	6-5	235	22	Lindenwood
LO/FL	Taha Brown, Ali	6-2	215	21	Georgetown
FL	Caccese, Dominic	6-1	215	24	West Chester
FL	Dowdeswell, Josh	6-1	220	22	UCLA
FL/N8	Murphy, Mark	6-0	225	22	Iowa State
N8	Casares, Tomás	6-4	230	23	Thomas More
N8	Kelly, Angus	6-2	225	21	Florida State
SH	Kauwe, Kekoa	5-10	195	23	Kutztown
SH	Villani, Sebastiano	5-9	190	21	St. Bonaventure
FH	Caramuti, Matías	5-10	190	23	Thomas More
FH	Simons, Hunter	6-1	190	20	Ohio State
CE	Black, Lucas	6-0	230	25	Lindenwood
CE	Curtis, Nate	6-0	200	23	Central Michigan
CE	Hammer, Taysan	6-2	205	22	BYU
CE/WI	Wroten, Charles	5-10	210	22	Notre Dame College
WI	Quaicoe, Clement	5-9	185	23	Lindenwood
WI/FB	Carmona, Enrique	5-11	190	22	Davenport
FB	Olvera, Connor	6-0	200	24	BYU