Dartmouth Stars Shine for National Teams

After Dartmouth Rugby took home the USA 7s Collegiate Rugby Championship and made a deep run to the DI-AA Final 4 in 15s this past season, two Big Green stars are getting an opportunity to showcase their skills on an international stage.

The USA Rugby U20 National Team (the “Junior All-Americans”) selected Madison Hughes ’15 to help in their run for the IRB Junior World Rugby Trophy, an international U20 championship being held in the United States for the first time as Salt Lake City serves as host. Hughes has been a key contributor for the team, starting at fullback and taking penalties and conversions for the U20s. In the first game of group play, Hughes and the U20s took on Tonga, one of the tournament favorites. The U20s won 22-11, with Hughes scoring a try and putting in 4 penalties to account for 17 of the team’s 22 points. The story was the same in their second game against Chile, with Hughes scoring 34 points on 3 tries, 2 conversions, and 5 penalties as the U20s defeated Chile in a 54-25 thumping. Following a 36-13 victory over Russia last night, the Junior All-Americans will play Japan for the championship on Saturday. Live streaming of the Final will be shown on KSL.com and DeseretNews.com on Saturday, June 30th, at 8pm EST. Madison’s 72 points is currently 10 points shy of the JWRT record going into Saturday’s championship match.

Recent graduate Nate Brakeley ’12 has also gained attention from a national side. The USA Rugby Collegiate All-American Team selected Brakeley as one of 46 players to compete for a spot on a touring side that will travel to Ireland in August. The 4-day training camp took place over the weekend in Houston, Texas. Brakeley shined on the first day of the camp, tying for first in the team’s fitness tests. If Brakeley is selected for the touring side, this will be the second time in two years that Nate has represented Dartmouth on the All-American team, the precursor to the senior national team. Nate has recently been accepted to study graduate work at Cambridge, where he will look to continue his fine play by competing for a spot in the famed Oxford-Cambridge Varsity Match.

Also, as a quick reminder, be sure to pick up you CRC Champions gear from the Dartmouth Rugby Boathouse Store. The store will remain open until July 9th. Check it out at http://dartmouthrugby.boathousegear.com/.

If you would like more information about this topic, or to schedule an interview, please call Matt Robinson at (781) 413-5865 or e‐mail at Matthew [dot] S [dot] Robinson [dot] 13dartmouth [dot] edu