Haines

As soccer’s 2026 World Cup starts wrapping up, we can now look forward to another World Cup in the United States – the Men’s Rugby World Cup in 2031, then the Women’s Rugby World Cup in 2033.

For the first time ever, rugby comes to the USA with its biggest tournament. While locations are not finalized, the City of Pittsburgh has submitted a request to host.

The Rugby World Cup is relatively young, only starting in 1987. Only four countries have won, South Africa four times, New Zealand three times, Australia twice and England. France is the only other nation that has played in the finals, so you can see how these countries dominate the sport.

On the international level, USA Rugby is not much better than USA Soccer. We are typically ranked 16th in the world, but any game with a top five team would not be competitive. The goal of the World Cup is not to win, as that is fools’ gold, but to grow the game and introduce our fantastic sport to Americans. As someone who has introduced rugby to Blair County, with over 300 players and parents learning the game, I can attest to how it is greeted — Americans will love rugby once you watch it and have some basic laws explained.

Locally, we continue to see our current and former players succeed. Jack Steiner, a 2024 Hollidaysburg graduate, was recently named the Allegheny Rugby Union Player of the Year at Robert Morris University. Mackenzie Link, also a Hollidaysburg graduate, is in the US Women Eagles pathway program, participating in camps to identify future talent.

Two of our rising seniors, Joey Richardson of Hollidaysburg and James Cowan of Bald Eagle, both attended the U19 US Eagles pathway camp in Virginia. Vincent Consiglio of Hollidaysburg was selected to represent the Pittsburgh Harlequins U19 team at the Buckeye Classic. A recent graduate from Altoona, Julian Pringle, will play at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, a Division I program.

I recently heard another coach of another sport respond that rugby wasn’t an “American sport”. It made me think – what sport is American? Definitely not track and field as it originated in Greece. Baseball is from rounders, football started from rugby, which started from soccer. Basketball is probably the only true American sport, but it was invented by a Canadian who used some rugby concepts.

Soccer is not American, but it is fun to watch and I can see how people feel passionate about it and enjoy the game. Isn’t that the most important thing?

While it is great to see these young players make “Select side” (rugby term for all star), more importantly they are learning the skills that sports brings to young men and women, discipline, sportsmanship and respect. And every sport, soccer, football, basketball, track and field, can do the same thing for young men and women. Enjoy the rest of the World Cup.

Andy Haines is the coach of the Blair United boys rugby team. His column appears occasionally in the Mirror’s sports section.