For the first time since 2012, International Rugby is coming back to Springfield this Fall!
Alongside the first half of SRFC’s 2024-2025 campaign in Mid-America rugby, Springfield men and women will be hosting an Australian rugby club on September 21 for a full day of rugby.
Home Matches
September 21: Mark your calendars for this MASSIVE day of rugby as we host Souths Rugby Union from Adelaide, South Australia. We will be hosting around 17 men and 13 women in our homes this weekend and will be showing them around the Ozarks for a good ol' American time! Saturday will host a men's and women's match between our clubs as well as Drury University Men's Rugby vs. Pitt State. Saddle up for this day is it's the first international match we have hosted in over a decade.
September 28: The St. Louis Hornets, are coming to Springfield for our first divisional matchup of the season. After two hard matches against good sides we hope to be hitting on all cylinders as we face them in a rematch of a competitive tie from last Fall. They're a tough team so we'll need all the support we can get from our home crowd on this day.
October 19: Our third divisional match of the season will be in front of the home crowd as we host the Mercenaries from Alton, Illinois. This is a fun side to play! They always play hard till the whistle sounds and are a lot of fun off the pitch. We look forward to hosting them as well as the Oklahoma City Crusaders that day.
November 2: This will hopefully be a tradition for years to come as we face our cross-town brothers Drury Men's Rugby at home. We are excited to continue to develop our bond with these guys on and off the pitch as we all help to grow rugby in the 417 area.
Road Matches
September 14: Springfield Rugby starts the season by traveling to rugby powerhouse Kansas City Rugby Football Club. They are coming off a championship season as they went undefeated in league play. We will be playing their DIII side and we're looking forward to the challenge.
October 5: We are on the road again to Columbia, Missouri as we face the Outlaws for our second divisional match of the season. The Outlaws are a solid side and will look to upset us on the road. We will have to have our best foot forward when we face these guys.
October 12: The Mudpuppies will head back to Kansas City to take on up-and-coming KC Northland RFC. This will be a friendly match but we will in no way take this side lightly. They are technically sound and hungry after coming off a solid summer of 7s.
October 26: SRFC travels to 2023/2024 league defending champions, St. Louis Royal Ramblers. They are an extremely tough team in our league and always give us a run for our money. We'll look to dominate them with physicality and rugby IQ this year if we can. This is always a great match to watch.
Club News
With the sudden passing of head coach Chris 'Jacko' Jackson the club has been devastated to say the least. He leaves a massive hole in our club but especially in our hearts as we mourn for his wife and 3 children he left behind. He will forever be missed but he would tell us to pick up and trudge on so that's what we look to do. This season is for Jacko!
The board has appointed club President Benjamin Thomas as head coach for the fall season. Fall training starts August 6th for the Springfield Rugby Club and will be every Tuesday and Thursday at 6:00 PM through the fall. The Queen City Chaos women's rugby club will train at the same time and place. Alli Haug will head coach Queen City this year. New players are always needed so come out whenever you get the chance.
The weekend of September 21 we will be hosting our friends from South Australia on and off the field. Reach out if you’d like to help house, feed, or entertain our guests! Rugby is a worldwide community, let’s show our new friends a great time in the Ozarks.
Rugby on the Rise
The hype around the sport of rugby has been massive lately as the USA Eagles have just placed 3rd in the women's rugby sevens event at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. They also just secured a $4 million dollar donation to their program after winning from businesswoman Michele Kang. Kang is owner of 3 different women's soccer franchises and pledged $1 million per year for the next 4 years leading up to the 2028 Summer Olympics set to be held in Los Angeles. The money will go towards increasing resources and coaching support for the women's national team.
SRFC and the Queen City Chaos have been receiving loads of messages recently about joining rugby from local men and women alike. These messages are in direct response to the amazing work our USA men's and women's teams have done. The publicity has had a ripple effect on the rugby community throughout America.
It's impeccable timing as we have just had a massive effort this summer to recruit new players. With your donations, sponsorships, and our board's support we have been able to get in touch with a record amount of players this offseason. We had an extremely successful new player clinic on July 20th that saw 11 new women and 8 new men come out. We expect a lot more at training Tuesdays and Thursdays for both teams in the wake of all this enthusiasm.
Join us for training or a match at any time throughout the season at 4035 E Sawyer Rd, Republic, MO 65738. Home games are typically at 2:00 PM but are subject to change. Admission is free of charge and we always have concessions and drinks for visitors. We hope you can come out and support rugby in Springfield this fall. See you at the pitch!
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