While Blair United has the summer off from rugby — though we play touch rugby on Wednesdays at Tiger Stadium in Hollidaysburg — there is a ton of rugby activity going on around the world.

Down in Australia, the British Irish Lions are touring the country with multiple matches against professional men’s teams and the Aussie National team. Every four years, top rugby players from England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland form a combined team, the British Irish Lions, and tour the southern hemisphere for several weeks.The games are streamed on Rugby Pass.

Here in Blair County, we will be looking for our friend, Damien Hill, on the sidelines, who assists the Austrailan national team as the kicking coach. Hill has been here several times, working with local football and rugby players on punting and placekicking.

As you probably noticed, Aussie punters are taking over in football, and Hill is a part of that push. He travels to the United States every few years and works with both football and rugby teams across the country. Plus, he has a great Aussie accent, and between you and me, loves having a “pint” locally.

Summer Rugby is a mix of select side rugby and “7”s Tournaments.” In early July, a team of alumni of the Blair United boys traveled to Pittsburgh to play in the Steel City 7’s. The boys finished with a 2-3 mark, and thoroughly enjoyed a hot day of rugby. In case you are wondering, 7’s is the abbreviated version of the sport. Games are two seven-minute halves, with only seven players, on the same size pitch as regular rugby.

US National teams, from men’s and women’s U23 and U18 teams are playing matches both overseas and in the United State.. On July 19, the US Eagles Men will host England at Audi Field in Washington DC.

Blair United’s season is strictly in the spring. While some teams play rugby all year long, we have followed our original plan:

– Give kids another spring sport option

– Encourage our players to play multiple sports

– Avoid the camp/traveling squad momentum that is consuming some sports.

Study after study shows that repetitive motion is not good for young athletes, so we encourage our players to play multiple sports and reduce further injury.

We also see the results.

This past season, our senior high boys team, who played 490 minutes of rugby, both offense and defense, had just two injuries. One was a sprained ankle and the other was a repeating torn labrum that the player had injured it in another sport. Our junior high boys played over 300 minutes of rugby, had one injury, a torn ACL.

Don’t listen to the naysayers, rugby is not any more dangerous than any other sport. Talk to Superman Barrow at B4 Therapy. He assists us during our games and frankly, gets bored.

Check out some rugby on the internet, too. You will love our sport.

Follow us @blairunitedrugby. See you on the pitch!