Cal Poly Humboldt men’s rugby

By Ray Hamill — The Cal Poly Humboldt men’s rugby team is extending an invitation to local sports fans to check out this year’s team in its season opener at the Redwood Bowl on Friday night.

The Jacks, who won a national championship just two year’s ago, will open the new campaign against Division 1-AA San Francisco State University, with kickoff set for 7 p.m.

The game is part of the alumni weekend festivities, which will also include a women’s alumni game on Saturday at College Creek Field at 11:30 a.m., followed by the Old Growth men’s game and an alumni dinner.

The new men’s hall of fame class will also be announced this weekend.

The CPH men’s team is eager to promote the sport locally, especially at the youth level, and there are plans in the works to develop a local youth league in the coming years.

And team officials see Friday night’s game under the lights as a way to help towards that.

“It’s all about exposure,” men’s team assistant coach Vincent Celotto said. “I tell the kids in high school all the time, just come out and check us out.

“Our hope is to improve the sport locally and get some more kids out to play. We want to introduce the game to more local youth and we want to promote the game locally more.

“Hopefully we can go to bigger and better things over the next five years, but I know there’s a lot of work still to do.”

After back-to-back trips to the national championship final four tournament in each of the past two seasons, the Jacks will begin this season with high expectations once again.

Friday’s game, however, along with the first half of the 2024 schedule is expected to challenge this year’s team.

The good news for the Jacks is that they have eight players back from the 2022 national championship squad, along with some talented newcomers ready to take up the challenge.

“Probably half the roster has experience, but we’re reliant on our veterans from the national championship squad,” said Celotto, who has 30 players on the roster. “We have very experienced forwards, but we’re young at the back. We’re trying to mix and match and see where the talent is.”

Right now, a tentative schedule includes four home games this fall.

“We’ve got a good mix of veterans from the national championship squad and some walk ons, but I feel good about the team,” Celotto added.

Submitted photo