Junior Stormers cultivate top talent
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the second of two articles about the Junior Stormers rugby club’s 2017 season. The club is ranked among the best in the country and features two All-Americans.
The area’s high-school level competition rugby club has seen its players graduate to prestigious college programs and the team’s two highest-profile members will depart this year after a banner final season.
The Little Rock Junior Stormers, the state’s only competitive high school rugby team under the Little Rock Rugby Club system, is one of the only clubs in the country with two USA Rugby All-American selections.
Jessieville High School senior Ruben de Haas is a front-runner to be selected by the Men’s Junior All-American team for the upcoming qualifying match with Canada for the 2017 World Rugby Under 20 Trophy tournament in Montevideo, Uruguay. The winner of the match between the USA and Canada will represent Rugby Americas North at the second-tier world championship later this year.
The rest of the field has already
been completed. The other seven teams in the tournament are Chile, Fiji, Hong Kong, Japan, Namibia and Uruguay.
De Haas captained the Boys High School All-Americans in two matches last summer against Ontario Blues under-19 development team at Appleby College in Canada after USA Rugby’s five regional tournaments. He was joined on the team by fellow Jessieville senior Steven Benson, who became the second player from Arkansas ever called up. Benson started both matches in Canada.
Benson played linebacker for the Jessieville Lions football team on defense and receiver on offense. He joined the Junior Stormers five years ago when the club was created.
“It is an awesome opportunity,” Benson said. “I definitely encourage anyone who gets that opportunity to take advantage of it.”
Benson committed to play rugby for the Arizona Wildcats, who were scheduled to face Baylor this weekend in the Division 1A quarterfinal in Waco, Texas. He said he may have considered playing football for a Division 2 school without opportunities in rugby.
“I probably would have just gone to the University of Arkansas because I would want to go to a Division 1 college and I would have just gone for academics,” Benson said.
De Haas trained last summer with the juniors team of the Cheetahs professional franchise in South Africa. He is originally from South Africa and his father and grandfather both played for the Cheetahs. He is now considering professional offers from franchises in Europe and could join up with a team by June.
“I’m sad, but you’ve got to move on to bigger and better things,” de Haas said.
The Junior Stormers completed the regular season yesterday in Little Rock against a team from Shreveport, La., and will compete in June as the Arkansas All-Stars at one of USA Rugby’s regional tournaments, where players will be selected for the BHSAA team. The All-Stars will likely compete in the South Regional Cup in Atlanta, Ga., or the Midwest Regional Cup in Indianapolis, Ind.
“I love playing rugby,” Ruben said. “You have to work hard to accomplish things. It’s not just going to come to you. It is part of it.
“Your body gets tired, but it is part of it. I wouldn’t want to be doing anything else.”
De Haas is one of the top scrum halves in the country. The position is similar to the role of a quarterback in football. The scrum half removes the ball from the back of the scrum and passes it to other backs, usually the fly halves.
The forward positions are flanker, prop, hooker, lock and number eight. Benson lined up as a lock last season for the Junior Stormers, but the national team moved him to number eight, where he played this season.
Other forwards on the team are Vincent Eubanks, flanker, a senior at North Little Rock High School; Drew Galloway, flanker, a senior at Jessieville; Logan Grant, lock, a junior at Hot Springs World Class High School; Austin Kenji Griffin, prop, a senior at Maumelle High School; Kaleb Hughes, hooker, a senior at Sylvan Hills High School; Logan Jones, flanker, a senior at the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts from Maumelle; John McCoy, flanker, a freshman at Lakeside High School; Cody Olds, second row lock, a freshman at Benton High School; Zack Tisdale, prop, a junior at Lake Hamilton High School; and Josh Zamudio, prop, senior, Jessieville.
Ryan Fulbright, a junior at ASMSA from Bismarck, backs up de Haas at scrum half. The back positions include fly half, full back, center and wing.
The team’s backs are Colton Ault, wing, junior, Jessieville; Hunter Ault, wing, junior, Jessieville; Romelo Burts, inside center, senior, North Little Rock High School; Santiago Carstensen, wing, junior, Sylvan Hills; Tristen Davis, wing and full back, senior, Jessieville; Leotis McClure, wing, junior, ASMSA, from Arkadelphia; Sean McNeely, full back, a senior from Fountain Lake Charter High School; Rickey Owens, fly half, senior, Jessieville; and Dylan Wright, outside center, junior, Jessieville.
The nine schools represented on the team are the most since Pieter de Haas, Ruben’s father, helped found the club five years ago. He played professionally in South Africa for the Cheetahs and the Lions clubs.
“There’s a lot of seniors going out, but there is a big enough core for guys to continue,” Pieter de Haas said.
Former Junior Stormers have moved on to rugby programs throughout the country, including Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, and Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Mo., has expressed interest in several players. New seniors join the club each year after their high school football careers end, but many are left without enough time to hone their rugby skills to play at the next level.
“They all say the same thing, ‘I wish I started earlier,’” Pieter de Haas said.
The club’s main sponsors include Arkansas Next Level Sports & Personal Training, Ike Eisenhauer State Farm Insurance and Village Health Mart.
“We have good sponsors on board for the longevity of the program and we have good coaches on board,” said Pieter de Haas. “It gets better and better.”
The assistant coaches are Dan Jones, Jay Fulbright, Ike Eisenhauer and Erik Lunsford. Leonce Deloch, with Arkansas Next Level, leads fitness training and Michael Butler is the club’s medical trainer.