Feb 2, 2026 Newsletter

Club Schedule/News 

This weekend Oceanside HS girls will be playing Friday night (Feb 6) at Torrey Pines (vs. Edison, Rancho Bernardo, and TP.) Boys (Varsity & JV) host Rancho Cucamonga, Friday night (Feb 6) under the lights at MLK park. U8-U14 are all hosting OMBAC and MLK park, get signed up to help make it a great event! Good luck everyone!

U8 

U8 Thunder traveled up to Mira Costa HS to face both the LA Rugby Club and Encinitas Dragons…another showing with great heart and determination in the challenging heat. Even with the heat, Thunder remained focused, played excellent rugby and demonstrated clear improvement in skills, teamwork, and confidence. A great reward and reflection for their hard work and commitment. Special shout to Leif Engelson as player of the week. Full speed and aggressive on defense, consistently pulling flags while also showing confidence with stripped balls. His growth, positive attitude and toughness were a great example for the team.

U14 

This Saturday we traveled up to Manhattan Beach for a big day of rugby, playing two strong matches and showing the depth and growth of our program. First, a special shout-out to our captain Nathaniel Tavale. We are honored to have his leadership—hard-working, disciplined, and respectful on and off the field.

Game 1 vs. Dragons 

Our second-string players started and played the entire match against the Dragons and came away with a well-earned win 37-24 victory Several players stood out: Susan Brace, a first-year player at fullback, showed great improvement—fielding high balls confidently and breaking through for a 20-yard run. Her confidence continues to grow each week. In addition Nathan Adewale, also a first-year player, scored two trys and made a strong impact. Tanielu Molifua, playing at 8-man, had an outstanding performance, scoring three tries.

Game 2 vs. LA

In the second match, our starting lineup took the field and played the entire game against LA, dominating the match with a 60–7 victory. Standout performances included: twins Gavin and Landon Chapman at lock, who won all of our lineouts—including contested ones—and were relentless on defense, making every tackle. Nathaniel Tavale at 8-man was unstoppable, scoring trys off scrums and pod plays. Additional trys were scored by Cruise, Jackson, Kaden, Noah, and Cristian. Our back line played phenomenal rugby—unselfish, disciplined, and showing excellent chemistry throughout the match.

Overall, it was a strong showing from both our starters and developing players. The effort, teamwork, and growth on display made this a great day for our program.

HS Boys 

Oceanside welcomed Torrey Pines as the no. 3 ranked team in the nation (per #rugbyriot news) Friday night under the lights. Oceanside had a tall task ahead as they looked to string another win. Our boys struck first with some patient rugby inside the 22 but not long after the visitors answered with a penalty kick and a converted try of their own to take the lead 8-5. O’side was able to find their groove again after some back and forth scoring to secure a 15-12 lead at half. Minor mistakes were costly with Torrey opening the half by stealing and scoring off the kickoff then following up with another try to make it 27-15. Poor execution in set pieces (scrums and lineouts) and Torrey Pines defending their line well holding up Oceanside in the try zone 3 times was the difference maker. However with backs against the wall and time against us, the fight continued when we scored and converted with seconds left cutting the deficit to 27-22. That would prove to be the end but a superb effort from our Varsity boys. Standout players were Ean Glover, Malachi Misa, Deacon Maeva, Exzodus Taele and Thomas Reynoso.

The Oside JV team won their first match of the season with a strong performance against Torrey Pines on Friday evening with a final score of 32-14.  The boys continue to play a physical game with several hard hitting freshmen including starting prop, Leo Lili'o. The forwards had several other standout players including Jaysun Afasene and Kingston Faletoi who both scored their first trys.  After being out sick last week, backs Malachi Misa and Shay Chase were fast and furious, breaking through the defensive back line setting the team up for two more trys. Great to watch the improvement over just a few weeks of training and competition.

U12 

This week’s trip to Manhattan Beach tested our U12s, as we were short on numbers and asked a lot of the available players. Despite the challenge, the group continued to show growth and resilience week by week.

We were more appropriately matched than in past weeks, and it showed. In the opening match against Dragons, the kids demonstrated real growth: the offense found ways to score, the defense came up together, and the forwards won every single scrum. Fatigue and the sun took their toll—especially with no subs for the backs—but despite the scoreline, this was a meaningful step forward.

Game two came more than two hours later against LA Rugby Club’s B-side. With cooler conditions and some recovery time, the kids played their best rugby of the season. Forwards formed pods as practiced, backs organized well and found space, and the team earned a strong win that meant far more than just the final score.

A big day of learning, growth, and progress for Thunder U12.

 HS Girls 

This weekend, our girls team finished with a 2–1 record, picking up wins against Torrey Pines and San Marcos and taking a loss to LCC. While we were able to come away with two wins, our overall performance showed that there are areas we need to clean up and improve. The match against LCC highlighted some of the challenges we’re still working through as a team. This weekend gave us a clear look at what we need to focus on moving forward, and we’ll be using these lessons to get better in the coming weeks.

U10 

Up at Mira Costa HS with the rest of the Thunder teams, first game against LA RFC was amazing and we had good ball movement and hard running, combined with hard chop tackling. As a result Thunder came away with a 10 tries to 3 victory! Player standouts were Elli Delgado and Florentina Sapa’u with a wonderful performance and hard running.

In the second game against the Dragons we started out a bit slow but picked it up in the second half and fought hard to a 7 tries to 7 tie. Standout players were James Smith and Lola Thurman, both players demonstrated full effort and made wonderful plays.