Former Aggie rugby player, Conor Bertrand '10, will be playing for NOLA Gold in the inaugural year of Major League Rugby!!!

The season is projected to start in April 2018.

League has already started and the Austin Huns played this spring. Spectrum sports televised their home games. Good luck to our Ag in NOLA.

Sort of. That was 'Major Rugby Competition', a competition to fill in 2017 while they prepare to go all out in '18. MRC was still technically a friendly club competition (even though Austin and Glendale were semi-pro) that allowed teams to qualify for the D1 NCs; as you know, Austin won the National Championship in a thriller against NYAC.

The difference is MLR will be 'fully professional' with requirements around minimum stadium size, broadcast capabilities, and a salary cap. I saw the Major Rugby Championship as a 'proof of concept'of sorts; it allowed a bit of exposure while allowing all the other teams to get ready.

I'm not trying to preach at you, I'm just really really excited about this league and want it to do well.

Edit: spelling. Stupid smart phone.

Not preaching, educating. Thanks for the info.

You might be interested in the MLR subreddit. Really good discussion most days and we've gotten some good inside info.

Www.reddit.com/r/mlrugby

I've been out of the loop for a few years, but when did the Huns and Griffins become the top programs in TX? What happened to the Quins and Blacks?

Huns are going pro league and Blacks at this time are not.

I just started paying really close attention again this year/part of last year - mostly because of PRO. It seems like the rugby hub(s) has moved to Austin with Dallas holding pretty steady. I'm pretty sure that Houston doesn't have a D1 team at this time. Austin and Dallas each have 2 (again, I think).
But, there is a TON of grass roots rugby going on in each if these cities. The Woodlands won the HS state championship this year and 2 of the Austin schools were ranked in the Goff Top 10 most of the season. Katy, my old club, was Top 25 most of the season. There are at least 4 big Youth clubs (U11 and younger) in Houston, alone.

ThisIsTexasRugby shared a list of clubs in Texas and there are SO MANY! The game has really grown since I started playing in 06 and it's really exciting to see.

I'll try to find a link:
http://www.texasrugbyunion.com/2017/06/07/2017-rrrc-promotion-and-relegation/

Also, if you haven't been following Aggie Rugby on Facebook, Johnny has been recruiting his ass off. It's fun to see. They've been announcing each of the incoming freshman as they visit campus.

Hadn't seen the news about Conor. Thanks for sharing! Played with him at A&M, good player and good man!