Las Vegas Blackjacks RFC

Last updated
Las Vegas RFC
Lvblackjacks.jpg
Full nameLas Vegas Rugby Football Club
Union USA Rugby
Nickname(s)Blackjacks
Founded1976
Ground(s)Charlie Frias Park
PresidentThomas Carter
Coach(es)Herve Mazzocco
League(s) SCRFU Division I
Kit left arm whiteshoulders.png
Kit left arm.svg
Kit body whiteshoulders.png
Kit body.svg
Kit right arm whiteshoulders.png
Kit right arm.svg
Kit shorts.svg
Kit socks long.svg
1st kit
Kit left arm redshoulders.png
Kit left arm.svg
Kit body redshoulders.png
Kit body.svg
Kit right arm redshoulders.png
Kit right arm.svg
Kit shorts.svg
Kit socks long.svg
2nd kit
Official website
www.vegasblackjacksrugby.com

The Las Vegas Blackjacks Rugby Football Club (Las Vegas Blackjacks RFC) was a rugby union team based in Las Vegas, Nevada. They were members of the Southern California Rugby Football Union and competed in the Senior Men's 1st (Red) Division of USA Rugby. [1]

Contents

The Blackjacks finished in fourth place at the USA Rugby Nationals - Division I Tournament and won their first SCRFU Regular Season title in 2008. The Blackjacks won the regular season again in 2009 and made it to the National Final where they lost to the Gentlemen of Aspen. Redemption was found in 2010 as the boys claimed the nations top prize with a win in the national final against Belmont Shore.

History

The Las Vegas Rugby Club was established in 1976, following a newspaper advertisement to recruit players for a local rugby club. The Blackjacks have reached the National Final 4 competition three times since 2006 and were the national runner-up in 2009. The club finally reached the mountain top as they edged Belmont Shore for the 2010 National Championship.

In 2010, LVRC signed a player development agreement with Top 14 side, Montpellier Hérault RC. The agreement with Montpellier will have the French side sending young players to play with LVRC during France's offseason, while allowing amateur players with the Blackjacks the opportunity to play top-level professional rugby. [2]

Season-by-season record

Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, D = Draws, Pts = Points, PF = Points for, PA = Points against

SeasonWLDPtsPFPAFinishPlayoffs
2003470-1742835th, Division IUSA Sweet 16
2004260-1302786th Division I
2005271-1422267th, Division I
2006940-3471742nd, Division INational Semifinalist
2007570262192504th, Division ILost in Round of 32
2008921483751301st, Division INational Quarterfinals
20095102519245T-1st, Division INational Finalists
2010411223091152nd, Division INational Champions
2011580252853235th, Division IDNQ

Sponsors

The Blackjacks were sponsored by several different companies, including McMullan's Irish Pub, Bugsy's Bar and Grill, and the Megapixel Cafe. Canterbury of New Zealand is the official merchandise supplier of the team in 2012. [3]

Honors

Club Championships

Related Research Articles

Bristol Sonics are a rugby league club based in Bristol in the South West of England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boston Irish Wolfhounds</span> Rugby team

The Boston Irish Wolfhounds Rugby Football Club is a rugby union team based in Canton, Massachusetts, US. The club competes in, and is governed by, the New England Rugby Football Union, the Northeast Rugby Union, and USA Rugby. In 2014 it joined the American Rugby Premiership.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mystic River Rugby Club</span> Rugby team

The Mystic River Rugby Club, sometimes called Boston Mystic, is a New England Rugby Football Union (NERFU) club, founded in 1974, located in Malden, Massachusetts, and Melrose, Massachusetts, who field teams in Division 1 American Rugby Premiership and Division 2 Rugby Union in the United States and are the current 2018 USA Rugby D1 National Champions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rugby union in the United States</span>

Rugby union in the United States is played at youth, high school, college, amateur, professional, and international levels and governed by USA Rugby. There were over 125,000 players registered with USA Rugby as of 2016. Over 2,500 rugby union clubs exist around the country, including those who are part of college rugby. Professional club competition has existed as Major League Rugby (MLR) since 2017.

The USA Rugby Super League, usually known as the Super League, was a national rugby union competition which ran from 1997 to 2012, contested by nine clubs in the United States by its last year. In the 2013 season, it was replaced by the USA Rugby Elite Cup.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boston RFC (United States)</span> Rugby team

Boston Rugby Football Club is a rugby union team based in Weymouth, Massachusetts, US. The club competes in, and is governed by, the New England Rugby Football Union, the Northeast Rugby Union, and USA Rugby.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Belmont Shore RFC</span> American rugby union team

Belmont Shore Rugby Club is an American rugby union team named after the Belmont Shore neighborhood of Long Beach, California, which has a tradition of amateur rugby.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Santa Monica Rugby Club</span> Rugby team from Santa Monica, California, USA

Santa Monica Rugby Club is a rugby union club from Santa Monica, California, United States. The club teams, known as the Dolphins, compete in the Southern California Rugby Football Union (SCRFU) a territorial union of USARugby, currently fielding teams in the following divisions: Division 1 (men), Division 1 (women), Division 2 (women), U18 boys, U16 boys, U14 boys, U12 boys, U10 coed, and U8 coed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Georgetown University Rugby Football Club</span> Rugby team

The Georgetown University Rugby Football Club is the intercollegiate men's rugby union team that represents Georgetown University in the Mid-Atlantic Rugby Conference of National Collegiate Rugby, Division II. They have twice reached the USA Rugby National Tournament Final Four, in 2005 and 2009.

The Southern California Rugby Football Union (SCRFU) is the Geographical Union (GU) governing body within USA Rugby that governs adult rugby union teams in Southern California, the Las Vegas metropolitan area, Arizona, and New Mexico. The SCRFU includes numerous men's and women's, leagues representing all levels of competitive play. College rugby is run by the college conferences and Youth Rugby is governed by Southern California Youth Rugby (SCYR). During the busiest part of the 15s seasons, southern California will have over 80 matches in a weekend. The current board of SCRFU is Geno Mazza (president), Patrick Rashidian, Kevin Holmquist (treasurer) and Bradley Davidson (secretary).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chicago Griffins RFC</span> Rugby team

The Chicago Griffins RFC rugby union team was founded in 1973. The team competes in the National Division I Midwest League, USA Rugby's top tier, after the demise of the USA Super League and play their home games at Riis Park in Chicago, Illinois, US.

The Los Angeles Rugby Club (LARC) is a rugby union club in South Bay, Los Angeles, California, United States. It is a member of the Southern California Rugby Football Union within USA Rugby.

Paul Keeler is an American rugby union coach and former player. Keeler has coached Old Blue RFC, San Francisco Golden Gate, and Santa Clara University. In 2016, Keeler was the head coach of PRO Rugby team San Francisco Rush.

Riverside Rugby Club competes in the Southern California Rugby Football Union. Riverside's style of play has been described as "Southern Hemisphere" Rugby. This style, popularized by New Zealand, Tonga and Fiji, emphasizes back-play over forward play, and focuses on quick ball movement and a high work rate. Riverside R.C. is best known for winning back-to-back titles at the 2003 and 2004 USA Rugby Club Sevens National Championship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flint Rogues Rugby Club</span> Sports club

The Flint Rogues Rugby Football Club is a rugby union team from Flint, Michigan and member of USA Rugby, Division III Midwest Rugby Eastern Conference, Northern League and Division III of the Michigan Rugby Football Union.

Seta Tuilevuka is an American rugby union player who currently plays for the Seattle Seawolves. Tuilevuka plays at centre and was selected to tour with the USA Eagles squad for the Autumn 2010 tour of Europe.

Thomas Jankowski is a Polish international rugby union player, playing for Las Vegas Blackjacks RUFC and the Poland national rugby union team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shalom Suniula</span> US international rugby union player

Shalom Suniula is a former rugby league and rugby union player, who played for the Seattle Seawolves in Major League Rugby (MLR), and for the United States national rugby sevens team. He played rugby union for the United States Eagles XV's, USA Sevens, and at club level for Belmont Shore RFC, as a scrum-half or fly-half. His brothers Andrew and Roland Suniula also played rugby for the U.S.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women's Premier League Rugby</span> American top-level womens rugby union football tournament

The USA Rugby Women's Premier League is the top annual American women's rugby union competition. It is player-run and operates in partnership with USA Rugby. It involves the top 10 clubs in the country. The league was founded in 2009.

Back Bay Rugby Football Club competes in the Southern California Rugby Football Union 3rd Division. The club was founded in 1985 with the consolidation of two first division clubs, Irvine Coast and Newport Beach. Consolidated with Huntington Beach Unicorns as the Beach City Narwahls.

References

  1. ↑ "2008 Schedule and Results". Las Vegas Blackjacks RFC. Archived from the original on April 3, 2008. Retrieved April 7, 2008.
  2. ↑ Mita, Hepi (May 15, 2010). "Vegas rugby club enters into player agreement with French pro team". Las Vegas Sun . Retrieved May 16, 2010.
  3. ↑ "Sponsors". Las Vegas Blackjacks RFC. Archived from the original on February 26, 2008. Retrieved April 7, 2008.


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.