Rugby as a sport began in 1823 when a high school student called William Webb-Ellis picked up a soccer ball and ran down the field with it at the famous English private boarding school called Rugby. The school developed a game that enabled players to run with and kick the ball and the game was named after the school it began at. It has since grown into a global sport played by many tens of thousands of players in over 100 countries. As many people play rugby globally as play American football. The game features national teams that play each other regularly including the Rugby World Cup played every 4 years between the top 20 eligible countries. Rugby is the No 1 winter sport in New Zealand, South Africa, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and Wales and is a top 3 sport in Australia, England, Ireland, Scotland, France, Italy and Argentina (these 10 teams comprise what are called the Tier 1 Nations). Rugby is growing rapidly in dozens of other countries and especially in the US (which has been elevated to one of only 8 countries in Tier 2).
In Arizona the game began in earnest in 1975 with the formation of the Arizona Rugby Union. There are now 16 Men’s Clubs in the State that play each season for a state championship trophy and can progress to regional then a national club championship competition.
The Arizona Youth Rugby Association began in 2002 with the formation of the Scottsdale Lions Under-19 club. In the East Valley the Mesa Knights U-19 club was begun by Coach Varen Berryman in 2004. Coach Berryman, a native of New Zealand, wanted to teach his then teenaged sons the game of his homeland and formed a team around his boys and their high school friends. The team soon developed a reputation for strength and excellence at the local level and was a particular magnet for Polynesian players. Coach Berryman was joined in 2006 by Fijian Sam Deloi and fellow Kiwi Jeff McIntyre.
In 2010, OJ Hawea (a Maori from a great rugby playing family in New Zealand) assumed the Head Coach role and oversaw the migration of the Mesa Knights to being under the umbrella of the Red Mountain Men’s Rugby Club, a process adopted by all U-19 rugby teams across AZ to enable graduating youth players to more seamlessly feed to a parent Men’s Club. Thus the Mesa Knights U-19 became Red Mountain Knights Youth Rugby.
Since then new coaches have joined and the numbers of players has gradually grown. The club has stressed excellence, good training and fitness and this focus has been rewarded with an excellent track record. In 2011 we were AZ state finalists and were selected to travel to the Pacific Northwest playoffs in Murray, UT. In 2012 we won the AZ State championship final and were one of only 8 teams invited to attend the US High School Nationals in Salt Lake City in May 2012 – we came 5th. In 2013 we successfully defended our State Championship title. As at the end of the 2013 season, we were the 18th ranked High School team in the US. In 2014 we won State for the third straight year in a row and made it to the National High Schools final in SLC, UT losing by 5 points. We ended the 2014 season ranked 5th nationally. In 2015 we won State for the fourth year in a row, won the inaugural JV Cup and was invited to the prestigious Pacific Cup in San Diego comprising top teams from California, Hawaii and Arizona and we came 6th out of 8 teams. In 2016 we won State for the 5th year in a row, U16 won State 2nd year in a row and came 5th at the Pacific Cup in San Francisco and in 2017 we defended our State title for the 6th consecutive year in a row, U16 won their 3rd State title but only managed a 9th place ranking at the Pacific Cup in Laie, Hawaii. In 2018 we narrowly loss the State Division 1 final but U16 won their 4th straight title. In 2019 we won back our Division 1 state title. The 2020 season was ended by Covid-19 restrictions part way through the regular season so we were unable to defend our title.