| |
|
Georgia
The Rugby Radar
A ball's eye view from the scrum.
Issue 4 / Vol. 2026 / May 19
|
| |
|
Get the Radar
Subscribe to The Rugby Radar
Free. Every Tuesday evening. Every club, every level, every age across Georgia.
SUBSCRIBE →
|
|
|
📣 Issue 4 — What's Inside
Big weekend for Georgia rugby. Two national trophies, a new GRU Director of Youth Rugby, and Hotlanta HS 7s open to every rising 9-U19 player in the state.
Also in this issue:
|
L1 Referee course Saturday May 23. Train Up below.
|
|
Athens Eagles open 7s season — wide invite to play or support. Adult Club Updates below.
|
|
Peach Pitch 7s May 30. Tournament Watch below.
|
|
|
|
🎖 Lead Story
STATE NEWS: A NEW GRU DIRECTOR + A PATH IN AT HOTLANTA HS 7S
|
Hotlanta HS 7s — June 13
EVERY RISING 9TH-THROUGH-U19 PLAYER IN GA HAS A PATH IN
The inaugural Hotlanta High School 7s lands Saturday June 13 in Atlanta. Eight teams, two pools of four, USA Rugby sanctioned, $300 per team. Practice rosters are open now, and two clubs have already committed to fielding teams:
|
Exiles U19 Academy — practicing now, Tuesdays and Thursdays, 7 PM, Innovation Academy in Alpharetta. Email join@exilesrugby.org to get on the roster.
|
|
Forsyth Falcons HS Boys and HS Girls (rising 9th through U19) — practicing now, Mondays and Wednesdays, 5:30 PM, Fowler Park in Cumming. Email ForsythYouthRugby@gmail.com to get on the roster.
|
Any rising 9th-through-U19 player who wants in: reach out to either club directly. Tournament Director Chris Byerly (also Red Top president) is running registration through atlantarugby.com. CIPP required, 13-player rosters, 8 AM check-in.
|
|
GRU Executive Council
STEVE MACE ELECTED DIRECTOR OF YOUTH RUGBY
Steve Mace, former GRU president and a familiar voice in Georgia rugby's institutional life, was elected to the Georgia Rugby Union Executive Council this week as Director of Youth Rugby. His stated mission, in his own words: "Back to getting juniors rugby outside the Metro Atlanta area again. Too many years with it stuck just here."
He'll work alongside Pete Redmond (GRU VP), whose own base sits outside metro Atlanta. Two officers with explicit out-of-metro intent at the youth-rugby table is structurally meaningful for clubs in Augusta, Macon, Savannah, Columbus, and the North Georgia mountains.
This is exactly the kind of statewide expansion this newsletter exists to notice. Columbus to Helen, and everywhere in between.
|
|
Other GA clubs interested in fielding teams or sending players?
Tell us →
|
|
|
|
🎓 College Corner
GA COLLEGES THIS WEEK
|
Lead
LIFE U WOMEN TAKE THE USA RUGBY WOMEN'S D1 NATIONAL TITLE — 69-12 OVER LADY VIPERS
Life University Women's Rugby added a third national trophy to its 2026 mantle this weekend. The USA Rugby Women's D1 senior club final, May 17: Life University 69, Lady Vipers 12. The senior side reaches the championship via the NCR Women's Premier Club D1 pathway, a separate competition from its collegiate XVs and collegiate 7s play.
For context on the program's three strands this year: Life University Women, college XVs took the CRAA D1 national championship April 11 (40-14 vs BYU). Life University Women, college 7s took the CRAA Premier 7s national championship April 26 (17-12 OT vs Lindenwood). Life University Women, senior club has now added the USA Rugby Women's D1 senior club national championship this weekend (69-12 vs Lady Vipers).
One Marietta-based program supporting three competitive strands and lifting national hardware in each of them in the same year is the kind of run that almost never happens in American rugby at any level. The Running Eagles compete outside the Georgia Rugby Union via CRAA and the NCR Premier Club D1 pathway (Texas RU), and that distinction is worth naming. But the trophy case is in Marietta.
|
|
Alumni spotlight
PEG LEG + SOS 7S: KSU'S TWENTY-YEAR ALUMNI ENGINE
KSU Owls Rugby has alumni infrastructure that runs deeper than most. Peg Leg Rugby (@peglegrugby_ksualumni) has been the KSU Owls alumni group since 2005, building and promoting the local rugby community for twenty-one years. Peg Leg also feeds Silver Owls Selects 7s (@silverowls_selects7s), the seasoned-old-boys touring 7s side.
Alumni programs are what turn college rugby into lifelong rugby. KSU's structure sits parallel to UGA's UGARFCAA and Georgia Tech's OGRES.
|
|
|
|
🏉 Adult Club Updates
ACROSS THE STATE
|
Lead
OLD WHITE LIFT THE USA CLUB RUGBY MEN'S D2 NATIONAL TROPHY — 32-10 OVER NORTH BAY
Atlanta Old White RFC traveled to Lemont, Illinois for USA Club Rugby Nationals weekend and came home with the trophy. The Men's D2 final, Sunday May 17 at Chicago Blaze Rugby Complex: Old White 32, North Bay 10. Back-to-back D2 national titles. Their bio now reads "2025 & 2026 D2 NATIONAL CHAMPIONS" and the second engraving is earned.
For context: Old White competes in the Carolinas Rugby Union rather than the Georgia Rugby Union. The trophy sits in Atlanta either way. The Radar covers Georgia rugby by geography, and that is where this trophy lives today.
And looking ahead: Old White's 7s slate opens with Harley Davidson at the helm of the Men's 7s side and Minchul Cho returning as Women's 7s head coach.
|
ATHENS EAGLES OPEN 7S SEASON — AND THE INVITATION IS WIDE
Athens Eagles RFC (D3, GRU member since 2008) is in full 7s mode with three weekly sessions, all open to anyone interested in playing or supporting rugby. Practice times, locations, and any week-to-week shifts live on @athens_eagles_rugby and athensrugby.org.
Worth a follow either way: the Eagles keep publishing a Monday Meet-the-Player feature every week. Steady, named players, no fanfare. The kind of content that compounds. If your club wants to build a recruiting funnel without spending a dime, the Athens pattern is worth copying.
|
|
|
|
🏆 Tournament Watch
WHAT'S COMING
|
May 30 • 5845 Hillvale Rd, Lithonia GA • Registration open
PEACH PITCH 7S — LARGEST WOMEN'S-PLUS 7S IN THE SOUTH
Hosted by High Country Women's RFC at the Southeast Athletic Complex. Premier Sponsor: Allison Smith Co. Multiple GA clubs prepping. Ticketing via zeffy.com. Watch @peachpitchrugby7s for divisions and brackets.
|
|
June 13 • 1035 Fairburn Rd SW, Atlanta • INAUGURAL HS BRACKET
HOTLANTA HS 7S
First edition. Eight teams in two pools of four. USA Rugby sanctioned. $300 per team. CIPP required, 13-player rosters, 8 AM check-in, athletic trainer on-site. Tournament director: Chris Byerly. Exiles and Falcons are both fielding teams. Any rising 9th-through-U19 GA player can join one through their practice schedule. See Lead Story above for contact details and practice schedules.
Hotlanta HS 7s →
|
|
July 25 • Atlanta
HOTLANTA 7S
Atlanta's biggest 7s tournament. Standing divisions: HS, College, Men's Social, Women's Social. USA Rugby sanctioned. Athletic trainer on-site. CIPP required for all players. Night social at The Battery Atlanta. Registration is open.
Hotlanta 7s →
|
|
May 21-23 • Elkhart, IN
BOYS HS NATIONALS
24 teams across Club and Single-School brackets. If a Georgia HS side is in, we want to know. Tip line is open.
|
|
|
|
🏕 Summer Camps
GA RUGBY CAMP CALENDAR
|
July 6-10 • Roswell Area Park • Ages 5-14 • Registration open
REBELS SUMMER SKILLS & DRILLS
Five days of fundamentals, fitness, and fun. All skill levels welcome. Run by Rebels Rugby GA at Roswell Area Park, 9 AM to 1 PM daily. Register →
|
|
July 23-29 • Life University, Marietta • Girls 13-17 • Residential
LIFE U WOMEN'S RUGBY DEVELOPMENT CAMP
Overnight residential camp for girls 13-17, all skill levels welcome. 10:1 camper-to-coach ratio. Director Ryszard Chadwick (World Rugby Coach Educator). Counselors are current Life U players. Housing in The Commons, unlimited Lyceum dining, full match-day kit included. Camp details →
|
|
Running a GA youth or HS rugby camp this summer?
Tell us →
|
|
|
|
💬 Whispers from the Touchline
Lady Trydown
The anonymous dispatch on Georgia rugby. All rumor, all hearsay, all in good fun.
Dearest Reader,
The news pages, this week, are quite stuffed with hardware, governance, and consequential dispatches. This Author shall therefore take her leave of those weighty matters and attend, instead, to the smaller dignities and indignities that make up a Georgia rugby summer. Proceed.
A report, first, of a certain father, who delivered his child to a Tuesday evening touch session with the stated intention of merely "staying to watch a few minutes." This Author is reliably informed that, three Tuesdays on, the gentleman has acquired a personalized water bottle, a quietly assembled fitness regimen, and an unmistakable preference for second-row. The child, we are told, finds the development mildly embarrassing and entirely unsurprising. This Author finds it charming and notes, for the record, that the touchline is a porous border.
The annual lament arrives on schedule, as it always does: we need more referees, we need more coaches. This Author has observed, with the affection one reserves for predictable rituals, that the lament intensifies in the precise months when courses are most readily available and the fees most generously reimbursed. One cannot help but wonder, dear Reader, whether the bottleneck lies in the supply of courses, or in something rather more philosophical. The Train Up section below stands as a respectful rebuttal, should anyone wish to make use of it.
There is, at every match in this state, a particular and noble figure: the parent who has read one book about rugby and now patiently explains the breakdown to the rest of the touchline. This Author has the deepest sympathy for these earnest souls, whose audience invariably consists of three persons whose full attention is absorbed in their respective devices. Persist, dear evangelist. Your cause is righteous. Your audience will return to you, eventually, when they wish to know why their child is suddenly bleeding.
And finally, an observation on the kit bag, that humble vessel of Georgia rugby's collective laundry crisis. Reports reach this Author of jerseys arriving at the field bearing the wrong number, the wrong name, or the right number-and-name but the wrong club entirely. We salute the patient parents who have, over the years, developed both the laundry-sorting skills of a chambermaid and the diplomatic poise of an ambassador. The match, somehow, goes on.
Until next week. Mind the lineout, mind the touchline, and mind whose jersey is in your laundry basket.
xo, Lady Trydown
Need to get something off your chest? Whisper it to Lady Trydown: Email Lady Trydown • @LadyTrydown on Instagram. All sources remain anonymous. Obviously.
|
|
🎓 Train Up
GET CERTIFIED
Every club needs more refs. Every club needs more coaches. GA Youth Rugby reimburses certification costs for active referees and coaches. Register through your USA Rugby Learning Center via Rugby Xplorer.
| Sat May 23 • L1 Referee • Life University • $85 |
| Jun 25 • L1 Coach • Atlanta • $125 |
| Jul 23 • L1 Coach • Atlanta • $125 |
| Jul 23-24 • L2 Coach (2-day) • Atlanta |
|
|
|
🏉 New to Rugby?
FIND A YOUTH CLUB
Boys, girls, all ages. Every club below welcomes beginners. No experience needed.
Featured Club Listing
|
Rebels Rugby Youth GA
Every kid belongs on the pitch.
U6–U18 coed • Greater Roswell, GA
|
Touch Tuesdays — Running now through July 4. Free drop-in, 7–8pm at Roswell Area Park. All ages, all abilities. No registration needed, just show up. Details at rebelsrugbyga.com.
Summer Skills & Drills Camp — July 6–10. Ages 5–14, all skill levels, registration open. Register here.
Coaches and team parents wanted — 2026-27 season. USA Rugby certification reimbursed. Email info@rebelsrugbyga.com.
|
|
Want your club featured here? Get in touch for special charter season rates while available.
|
|
|
🎓 Heading to College?
FIND A COLLEGE TEAM
Georgia colleges with active rugby. Men's, women's, both. Most are club-level and welcome beginners. If your kid is heading to one of these schools, the rugby team is a way in.
| Life University • Marietta • Men D1, Women D1, Club • 2026 CRAA D1 XVs and Premier 7s national champions (women) liferunningeagles.com |
| University of Georgia • Athens • Men's club (SCRC), Women's club ugarugby.com |
| Georgia Tech • Atlanta • Men D2 (SCRC), Women's |
| Kennesaw State • Kennesaw • Men's, Women's |
| University of North Georgia • Dahlonega • Men's Nighthawks, Women's |
| Georgia College & State University • Milledgeville • Men's Bobcats, Women's |
| Valdosta State • Valdosta • Men's club |
| Georgia Southern University • Statesboro • Women's club active |
| Morehouse College • Atlanta • HBCU men's club |
| A college we missed? Tip the Radar → |
|
|
|
🏉 Still Playing After 18?
FIND AN ADULT CLUB
Men's and women's clubs across the state. Whether you played in college, played as a kid, or never touched a ball, there's a squad for you.
| Atlanta Old White RFC • Atlanta • Men D2/D3, Women, 7s • Mon & Wed 7-9pm at Hurt Road Park, Austell atlantarugby.com |
| Atlanta Harlequins Women's RFC • Atlanta • Women's D1 • Only D1 women's team in the Southeast |
| Atlanta Renegades RFC • Atlanta • Men's |
| Gwinnett Lions RFC • Lilburn • Men, Women |
| Exiles RFC • Alpharetta • Senior men's and women's |
| Atlanta Bucks RFC • Atlanta • Men's inclusive club |
| High Country RFC • North Georgia • Men's D3, Women |
| Savannah Shamrocks RFC • Savannah • Men's, Women's • Back-to-back GRU D3 champs |
| Macon Love RFC • Macon • GRU member |
| Southern Touch Rugby (Atlanta Touch) • Fair Oaks Park, Marietta • Sundays + Wednesdays, F.I.T. rules, all welcome @atltouchrugby |
| Full GRU member club list: georgiarugby.org/clubs |
|
First TRY Discount
PUT YOUR CLUB ON THE RADAR
A standout card all your own. Logo, website, schedule link, socials. In front of every rugby family in Georgia, every Tuesday.
$100 total. Every issue through Dec 31, 2026.
That's ~33 issues. About $3 a week to put your club in front of every rugby family in Georgia. First come, first served.
Claim Your Spot →
|
|
|
|
📅 Mark Your Calendars
DATES THAT MATTER
| Tue May 19 • Rebels Touch Tuesdays • Roswell Area Park, 7-8 PM, free, all ages, runs through July 4 |
| Tue May 19 • Exiles U19 Academy 7s Practice • Innovation Academy, 7 PM (also Thursdays) |
| Wed May 20 • Falcons HS Boys + Girls Practice • Fowler Park, 5:30 PM (also Mondays) |
| Wed May 20 • Renegades Summer 7s Practice • Larry Bell Park Marietta, 7-9 PM (also Mondays at Peachtree MS Dunwoody) |
| Thu May 21 • Exiles U19 Academy 7s Practice • Innovation Academy, 7 PM |
| May 21-23 • Boys HS Nationals • Elkhart, IN |
| 🏆 Sat May 23 • L1 Referee Course • Life University, $85 |
| May 26 (Tue) • Exiles Co-Ed Youth Touch (ages 5-14) Opens • 6 PM, Innovation Academy • Tuesdays through July, free |
| May 28 (Thu) • Exiles Co-Ed Adult & U19 Touch Opens • 7 PM, Innovation Academy • Thursdays through July, free • Club Social at Olde Blind Dog after |
| 🏆 May 30 • Peach Pitch 7s • Lithonia, GA • COME WATCH |
| 🏆 Sat Jun 13 • Hotlanta HS 7s (inaugural) • 1035 Fairburn Rd SW, Atlanta • RISING 9-U19 WELCOME via Exiles or Falcons |
| 🏆 Sat Jun 13 • Columbus Hotter Than Hell 7s • Columbus, GA • Men's social |
| Jun 13 • Rudy Scholz Award Gala • Seattle (Logan Ballinger, Life U, finalist) |
| 🏆 Jun 19-21 • Cape Fear 7s • NC • Men's social, player qualifier |
| Jun 25 • L1 Coach Course • Atlanta |
| 🏆 Jun 27 • Vulcans 7s • Birmingham, AL • Nationals men's qualifier + women's |
| Jul 6-10 • Rebels Rugby Skills & Drills Summer Camp • Ages 5-14, Roswell GA • Registration open |
| 🏆 Jul 11 • Christmas in July 7s • Orlando, FL • Nationals men's qualifier + women's |
| Jul 23 • L1 Coach Course • Atlanta |
| Jul 23-24 • L2 Coach Course • Atlanta |
| Jul 23-29 • Life U Women's Rugby Development Camp • Life University, Marietta • Girls 13-17, residential |
| 🏆 Jul 25 • Hotlanta 7s • Atlanta, GA • Nationals men's qualifier + women's • COME WATCH |
| 🏆 Dec 5-6 • Greer Christmas 7s • Greer, SC (HS) |
|
|
|
GOT A TIP? HOSTING AN EVENT?
Send us your events, corrections, news, and tips. Tournament results, club updates, coaching announcements, alumni news. If it's rugby in Georgia, we want to hear it.
Email the Radar →
|
|
THE RUGBY RADAR
A ball's eye view from the scrum.
Reading the web version? Subscribe here to get the next issue in your inbox. Already a subscriber and want out? Reply with unsubscribe and we'll take you off the list. No hard feelings.
therugbyradar.com • @therugbyradar • @LadyTrydown
Issue 4 • May 19, 2026 • © 2026 The Rugby Radar
|
|