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Thursday night will see the second edition of the Collegiate Rugby Shield hosted at Zions Bank Stadium, the home of the Utah Warriors. Taking part will be 50 Major League Rugby hopefuls, who have been split into two teams. The match kicks off at 6pm local time, 5pm Pacific, 8pm Eastern and will be broadcast live on FS1 in the USA and The Rugby Network for those located elsewhere.
Returning as Head Coaches this year will be former USA fullback Tui Osborne and Canada hooker Ray Barkwill. Osborne will have Chicago Hounds prop Charlie Abel helping the Canyons side, while Barkwill will look to Rugby ATL flyhalf Kurt Coleman to get his Peaks up the speed.
A handful of international players will take part including former Hong Kong u20 lock James Rivers, who qualifies for the USA on residency next year. St. Bonaventure flyhalf Keelin Coyle is a product of the Ulster age-grade system, Central Washington flanker Albert O’Shannessey represented the Canterbury Māori u21s in New Zealand, and outside back Enrique Carmona has played for Mexico on the World Sevens Series. Trinity Western hooker Scott Bowers was recently part of Rugby Canada’s centralized development team, the Pacific Pride.
Last year’s match resulted in 11 participants selected in the MLR Collegiate Draft, with 3 making their pro debuts during the 2023 campaign. Outside back Lorenzo Villani is the brother of NOLA Gold scrumhalf Sebastiano Villani, who was selected 2nd overall in 2022. There are two other family connections to current MLR athletes in Lindenwood’s Tyren Al-Jiboori, brother of Houston loose forward Malon Al-Jiboori, and Fresno State utility back Isaia Kruse, brother of Utah star Mika Kruse.
Results of the athletic combine have been released ahead of Thursday’s match. French scrumhalf Mattéo Peignon, formerly of Bordeaux academy, won the dreaded Bronco test, followed by Coyle and Iowa State halfback Aiden Lewis. O’Shannessey was the top forward. Villani, Carmona, and Kruse were the fastest over 40 meters in that order, with Rivers the quickest forward. Brown midfielder Junior Gafa was tops in the agility ‘T-test’ by a distance.
The 2023 MLR Collegiate Draft will be held on August 17.
CANYONS
Coaches: Tui Osborne & Charlie Abel
| POS | NAME | HGT | WGT | AGE | SCHOOL |
| LH | Ferrigno, Chris | 6-1 | 245 | 23 | Rhode Island |
| LH | Montgomery, Hudson | 6-1 | 250 | 23 | Thomas More |
| HO | Conroy, Matthew | 5-10 | 220 | 21 | St. Bonaventure |
| HO | Hawthorne, Joe | 5-9 | 245 | 24 | St. Bonaventure |
| HO | Robb, Campbell | 6-0 | 215 | 20 | Central Washington |
| TH | Pen, Juan | 6-3 | 270 | 22 | St. Bonaventure |
| TH | Vole, Setu | 6-0 | 270 | 22 | Lindenwood |
| LO | Geisert, Alex | 6-5 | 270 | 21 | Iowa State |
| LO | Jensvold, Chris | 6-4 | 235 | 20 | Louisville |
| LO | Rose, Rick | 6-7 | 250 | 21 | St. Bonaventure |
| BR | Carrion, Matthew | 6-2 | 225 | 22 | Life |
| BR | Fuala’au, Marques | 6-2 | 225 | 23 | Central Washington |
| BR | O’Shannessey, Albert | 6-2 | 215 | 23 | Central Washington |
| BR | Turpen, Abe | 6-0 | 225 | 21 | Arizona |
| SH | Lewis, Aiden | 5-7 | 170 | 21 | Iowa State |
| SH/FH | Stevenson, Aaron | 5-10 | 180 | 21 | Louisville |
| FH | Cwiekowski, Evan | 6-0 | 185 | 23 | Wisconsin Stout |
| CE | Means, Clayton | 6-1 | 205 | 22 | Lindenwood |
| CE | Schefermann, Sebastian | 6-4 | 215 | 20 | Mary Washington |
| CE | Smith, Rhys | 6-2 | 215 | 22 | Lindenwood |
| WI | Al-Jiboori, Tyron | 6-0 | 210 | 23 | Lindenwood |
| WI | Bliss, Keegan | 6-2 | 220 | 23 | Vermont |
| WI | Shetler, Josh | 6-2 | 210 | 22 | Tennessee-Knoxville |
| WI/FB | Olvera, Connor | 6-0 | 200 | 25 | BYU |
| WI/FB | Villani, Lorenzo | 5-6 | 160 | 21 | St. Bonaventure |
PEAKS
Coaches: Ray Barkwill & Kurt Coleman
| POS | NAME | HGT | WGT | AGE | SCHOOL |
| LH | Ridore, Rakeem | 6-1 | 250 | 23 | AIC |
| LH | Williams, Thomas | 6-3 | 300 | 23 | Utah Valley |
| HO | Bowers, Scott | 5-10 | 245 | 24 | Trinity Western (CA) |
| HO | Uipi, Jason | 5-9 | 260 | 23 | Cal Poly Humboldt |
| TH | Bacuku, Gjergji | 6-1 | 275 | 22 | Hofstra |
| TH | Hanson, Daniel | 6-0 | 260 | 24 | Louisville |
| TH | Hohman, Connor | 6-3 | 235 | 21 | Saint Joseph’s |
| LO | Martin, Sean | 6-6 | 255 | 22 | Arizona State |
| LO | Rivers, James | 6-6 | 245 | 22 | Arizona |
| LO/N8 | Santiago, Raymond | 6-4 | 240 | 19 | Rensselaer Polytechnic |
| BR | Anderson, Parker | 6-0 | 220 | 24 | Louisville |
| BR | Andiarena, Nick | 6-3 | 230 | 22 | Adrian College |
| BR | Biagi, Mike | 6-2 | 240 | 24 | BYU |
| BR | Skinner, Angus | 6-2 | 220 | 21 | Colorado |
| SH | Peignon, Mattéo | 5-10 | 180 | 21 | Lindenwood |
| SH | Tagidugu, Ilia | unattached | |||
| SH | White, Cale | 5-11 | 180 | 19 | Mary Washington |
| FH | Coyle, Keelin | 6-3 | 220 | 22 | St. Bonaventure |
| FH | Farrell, Aiden | 6-0 | 200 | 21 | Iowa Central |
| CE | Gafa, Junior | 5-10 | 215 | 21 | Brown |
| CE | Johnston, Hugh | 5-9 | 185 | 21 | Notre Dame College |
| CE | Voelz, Ben | 5-11 | 205 | 22 | Santa Clara |
| WI | Sagala, Tielu | 6-1 | 215 | 22 | BYU |
| WI/FB | Carmona, Enrique | 5-11 | 185 | 23 | Davenport |
| WI/FB | Kruse, Isaia | 5-9 | 195 | 23 | Fresno State |
