Long Beach State Rugby vs. Indigenous Australia Rugby

The Indigenous Australian Rugby Team concludes their match portion of the tour on September 28 against California State University – Long Beach at 4 pm and leaves the following day for home from Los Angeles.

For those who are able to attend the match, Long Beach State’s field is located at 1401 Palo Verde Ave in Long Beach, California.

After arriving in Los Angeles on a red-eye, the team had a busy Thursday. The team went to Compton and visited View Park school.

The team previous match for the Indigenous Australian Rugby Team was on Wednesday, where they defeated the Indigenous Representative rugby team, the Indigenous Warriors 97-7 at the University of Denver’s Diane Wendt Sports Field. All scores were scored by IART players with the Warriors using several IART players as replacements due to a roster of 15 players.

The Indigenous Australian Rugby Team Tour

The Indigenous Australian Rugby Team is an under-25 squad comprised of players of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders descent. Selection to the invitational team was based on the contributions made as a player, as well as to their communities.

The tour is a cultural exchange for the team and not only is the team playing six matches during a two week period, but it has also been traveling extensively and has been involved in community events.

The Indigenous Australian Invitational Rugby Team began their six-match rugby tour of the U.S. and Canada with a 72-19 win against Army West Point B at the Anderson Rugby Complex on the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. on September 18. The team then traveled to Boston and then to Portland, Maine where they beat the Portland Rugby Football Club 69-19 at Deering Memorial Stadium on September 19.

The third match was against the Rugby Quebec Selects on Friday, September 21 at Percival-Molson Stadium at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec. Playing three matches within 7 days proved to be a challenge as the team lost 26-12. A cultural highlight was attending the 17th annual Powwow.

On Sunday, September 23, the team faced the Ontario Blues Sr. Development XV losing 50-21 at the Oshawa Vikings Rugby Club. The following day the team visited Niagara Falls and met with the Iroquois Roots Rugby club in a cultural exchange with the Mohawk nation.

Then it was on to Toronto before flying to Denver for their 5th match on September 26th. The IART emerged with a 97-7 win against the U.S. Indigenous representative team, the Indigenous Warriors. Culturally to have two Indigenous teams play each other will be a cherished memory.

The IART concludes their match portion of the tour on September 28 against California State University – Long Beach at 4 pm and leaves the following day for home from Los Angeles.

Long Beach State Rugby

Head Coach Jason Reynolds indicated that the team is only a couple weeks into the season. The team has a large freshman class, so the coaching staff is evaluating the new players and trying them at different positions. The match will be the first for the team since April.

The last time we played the IAIR in 2015, it was in late November. At this junction in the season, it is too early to have a set squad in place. “We are excited to see our old friends and expose our new players to a strong standard of rugby which will help our team develop this preseason.”

Long Beach State is a Division 1 club in the Gold Coast Conference Intercollegiate Rugby.

CSU-Long Beach & IART Squads

CSULB: 1 Adam Sanchez 2 Parker Dixon 3 Blake Gomez 4 Sergio Pineda 5 Evan Morff 6 Luke Heynen 7 mike McGlone 8 Bruce Yun 9 Isaiah Lutali 10 Steven Bodley 11 jay Fisher 12 Jarod Leuta-Markey 13 Ewan Scott 14 Siona Suavva 15 Sierra Arteaga Replacements: Shuaib Ahmad, Justin Griffin, Ricardo Medina, Jesse Ronquillo, Scott Carso, Juan Rios, Jose Castillo, Zion Asuega,+ Head Coach Jason Reynolds

IART Squad vs. CSULB: 1 Kai Lowah 2 Bryce Adamson 3 Connor Lynch 4 Mitchell Hudson 5 Elliot Thompson (C) 6 Josef Wilson 7 Peter Fitzsimmons 8 Braeden Smith 9 Ethan Wikaira 10 David Green (VC) 11 Matt Saul 12 Anthony Fuller 13 Isaiah Huet 14 Josh Smith 15 Deon Evans-Ao 16 Jerone Wills 17 Liam Bilston 18 Aaron Brown 19 Daniel Rosendale 20 Leonard Snowball 21 Aaron Williams 22 Tirawa Gristwood 23 Aiden Wikaira 24 Ruben House 25 Shayman Shepherd

IART Tour match selections

IART vs. Army West Point: 1 Kai Lowah (c) 2 Jerome Wills 3 Liam Bilston 4 Braeden Smith 5 Elliot Thompson 6 Josef Wilson 7 Peter Fitzsimmons (VC) 8 Leonard Snowball 9 Ethan Wikaria-Noosa 10 Aaron Williams 11 Matt Saul 12 Anthony Fuller 13 Isaiah Huet-Emerald 14 Corbin Walters 15 Deon Evans-Ao 16 Connor Lynch 17 Aaron Brown 18 Mitchell Hudson 19 Daniel Rosendale 20 Bryce Adams 21 Sayman Shepperd 22 David Green 23 Ruben House 24 Aiden Wikaria 25 Josh Smith 26 Tiriwa Gristwood

IART vs. Portland: 1 Connor Lynch 2 Bryce Adamson 3 Aaron Brown 4 Mitchell Hudson 5 Daniel Rosendale 6 Josef Wilson 7 Corbin Walters 8 Liam Bilston 9 Tiriwa Gristwood 10 David Green 11 Josh Smith 12 Aiden Wikaira 13 Deon Evans-Ao 14 Shayman Shepperd 15 Ruben House 16 Jerome Wills 17 Kai Lowah 18 Elliot Thompson 19 Braeden Smith 20 Peter Fitzsimmons 21 Leonard Snowball 22 Anthony Fuller 23 Aaron Williams 24 Ethan Wikaria-Noosa 25 Isaiah Huet-Emerald 26 Matt Saul

IART vs. Rugby Quebec Selects: 1 Kai Lowah (c) 2 Jerome Wills 3 Liam Bilston 4 Elliot Thompson 5 Daniel Rosendale 6 Josef Wilson 7 Peter Fitzsimmons (VC) 8 Leonard Snowball 9 Ethan Wikaria-Noosa 10 Aaron Williams 11 Corbin Walters 12 Isaiah Huet 13 Deon Evans-Ao14 Josh Smith 15 Ruben House 16 Bryce Anderson 17 Aaron Brown 18 Connor Lynch 19 Mitchell Hudson 20 Braeden Smith 21 Tiriwa Gristwood 22 David Green 23 Matt Saul 24 Aiden Wikaria 25 Sayman Shepperd 26 Anthony Fuller

IART Squad vs. Ontario Blues Sr. Development XV: 1 Kai Lowah 2 Bryce Adamson 3 Aaron Brown 4 Elliot Thompson 5 Braeden Smith 6 Daniel Rosendale (C) 7 Corbin Walters (VC) 8 Leonard Snowball 9 Aaron Williams 10 David Green 11 Shayman Shepperd 12 Aiden Wikaira 13 Isaiah Huet 14 Josh Smith 15 Matt Saul 16 Jerone Wills 17 Liam Bilston 18 Connor Lynch 19 Mitchell Hudson 20 Peter Fitzsimmons 21 Josef Wilson 22 Tirawa Gristwood 23 Ruben House 24 Deon Evans-Ao 25 Anthony Fuller + Ethan Wikaira (HIA)

IART vs. Indigenous Warriors: 1 Aaron Brown 2 Bryce Adamson 3 Connor Lynch 4 Mitchell Hudson 5 Braeden Smith (VC) 6 Josef Wilson 7 Jerone Wills 8 Peter Fitzsimmons (C) 9 Ethan Wikaira 10 David Green 11 Tirawa Gristwood 12 Anthony Fuller 13 Isaiah Huet 14 Josh Smith 15 Ruben House 16 Kai Lowah17 Liam Bilston 18 Elliot Thompson 19 Daniel Rosendale 20 Leonard Snowball 21 Aaron Williams 22 Deon Evans-Ao 23 Matt Saul