Kenan selected for USA Rugby Camp

Fallbrook’s Cormac Kenan has been selected to attend the USA Rugby under-17 national camp.

A total of 45 players, including approximately two dozen from the Pacific Coast region and eight from the Southern California region, will attend the camp July 18-23 in Elkhart, IN. Approximately 30 to 35 of those players will be invited to the 2008 camp, at which 25 players will be selected to represent the United States in a 2009 international tournament.

“It is almost the last step in being selected for the national team, which means he has the potential to make the national team,” said Fallbrook Rugby Club coach Steven Hernandez.

The Fallbrook Rugby Club, which began with eight players playing the non-contact (touch rather than tackle) version of the sport, had three teams and approximately 50 players for its third season, which was played from January to April. “It just seems like rugby has taken off,” Hernandez said. “It’s just growing and it’s great that we have the community’s support.”

The Fallbrook Rugby Club plays its games at Potter Junior High School but now has an under-16 team with Fallbrook High School students as well as teams with Potter Junior High School players. Many of the players on the original under-14 team are now in high school, so the club added an under-16 squad and now has two under-14 teams. Because the club is not an official school team, students may attend any school, although all of the under-16 players attend Fallbrook High School and most of the players on the two under-14 teams are Potter students.

Kenan, who is now 15, has spent all three years with the Fallbrook Rugby Club. He played non-contact rugby during the club’s first year and has played contact rugby since the Fallbrook club initiated the contact version.

Kenan, who is currently a sophomore at Fallbrook High School, was a flanker and winger on the under-16 team. That club had a 5-2 record in the Southern California Rugby League, which encompasses two conferences stretching from San Diego County to San Luis Obispo County, and reached the playoff semifinals before a loss to a San Luis Obispo squad.

Kenan’s performance in the league matches earned him a selection to the Southern California under-17 all-stars, known as the Griffins, which took 22 players to the Pacific Coast Tournament held May 12-13 at Stanford University. The Griffins began the tournament with a 14-0 win over the Bay Area Rugby All-Stars and a 36-0 win over the Washington all-star team before a 17-10 loss to the Sacramento Valley all-stars.

The national camp will include scrimmages and unit work. Although Kenan and his family are responsible for financing the airfare to and from Chicago or northwest Indiana, all expenses at the camp itself are funded by USA Rugby, which is the national governing body of the sport.

An international rugby tournament takes place every two years. This year, the United States sent an under-17 team to the tournament for the first time. That tournament was played in England in April and saw the United States play Portugal, Romania and Canada. The United States lost all three matches, but by a combined total of six points.

USA Rugby also has under-19 and under-21 national teams and a top-level national team as well as the under-17 team. The rules for youth rugby vary from the adult rules to enhance safety; lifting in line-outs is prohibited, players in a scrum may be pushed back no further than one meter and binding between the legs is prohibited.

The rugby tradition of hosting the other team with a meal is part of youth rugby, and after the Sunday games at Potter Junior High School various parents contributed to the meals.

The tradition of rugby songs does not take place at the under-17 level, so Kenan doesn’t have a favorite rugby song. His favorite team is the All-Black of New Zealand.