Could University of Mary Washington's Matt Gordon & Harry Masters be Selected in the MLR Draft?

Major League Rugby is holding its first Collegiate Rugby Draft on June 13 and the draft will be broadcast live on the Major League Rugby Facebook page at 7 pm ET. The Goff Rugby Report and DJCoil Rugby have collaborated in a four-part series on the MLR drafts.

The final part includes a four-part video presentation with Alex Goff, Doug Coil, Mike Tolkin, and Tim Brown looking at the inaugural season of the Major League Rugby College Draft. Episode 1 breaks down team and coach decision-making, and what the concerns are. Episode 2 will include the round 1 draft picks by the panel, episode 3 the round 2 picks, with the final episode focusing on free agency.

In Part 3 of the series, we looked at the collegiate draft, and who are the best prospects at each position. The University of Mary Washington had two players considered among the best Collegiate draft prospects at their respective positions in Matt Gordon and Harry Masters. They are among the 414 rugby players who applied for the collegiate draft and hope to be among the 24 players selected during the two rounds of the draft.

As we are nearing down on the MLR Draft there are a lot of questions about who will be chosen first, or who will even be chosen? With only 24 selections to be made in the draft, it seems MLR teams should dig deep and try to find “game ready” players – there are two of them that rate highly at one little school in VA, Harry Masters, and Matthew Gordon. Both of them go to the University of Mary Washington and both have played for the US All Americans.

As we are bearing down on the MLR Draft there are a lot of questions about who will be chosen first, or who will even be chosen? There are over 400 candidates declared and only 24 choices to be made. It seems MLR teams should dig deep and try to find “game ready” players – there are two of them that rate highly at one little school in VA, Harry Masters, and Matthew Gordon. Both of them go to the University of Mary Washington and both have played for the US All Americans.

Check out their videos – easily in the top 10 clips we have seen. It is nice that schools like Mary Washington support rugby and hopefully Masters and Gordon (who is projected by some to the top pick) will show that any school can have a place in the draft.

Here is Gordon’s video and why some think he may be a top pick – check out his all-round game at lock or 8: https://youtu.be/173Ihy9bDuM

Harry Masters looks equally comfortable at scrumhalf or Flyhalf and is game ready for the MLR as well: https://youtu.be/2MGng53FoyM

What do you think of these two students from UMW? Check out the draft to see where they land..

The University of Mary Washington

The University of Mary Washington is a small state liberal arts university of over 4,000 students located in Fredericksburg, Virginia, that is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. The University has 24 varsity sports with the men having 11 and the women 13. The athletic programs are mainly part of the NCAA Division III, however, the men’s rugby team “Mother’s Rugby”, was a member of the D1A Rugby East Conference the past two years.

University of Mary Washington Men’s Rugby

The men’s team will re-join The D1AA Chesapeake Collegiate Rugby Conference in 2020 to reduce travel expenses while maintaining a competitive Division 1 schedule. The team previously played in the CRRC in 2017 and as of Fall Champions, won the D1AA National Championship with a 38-30 win over Dartmouth College in 2018. This accomplishment was acknowledged with a Virginia House Joint Resolution No 664.

Matt Gordon and Harry Masters

UWU Men’s Rugby captain and No.8 Matt Gordon and scrumhalf Harry Masters were named to the Collegiate All-American team in 2019 and played for the All-Americans against Canada in a 23-22 win. Matt was named the MVP and was a first-team All-American selection, while Harry was named to the third team.

Matt is from Aberdeen, Scotland, and Harry from the Sunshine Coast of Australia. Both appeared poised to be drafted by Major League Rugby and sign professional rugby contracts. That is quite an accomplishment for a small university like the University of Mary Washington and should draw future student-athletes to the institution.