Santos Update
Spring 2026
March 9, 2026 - DW
I finally made it to a Santos training session at an undisclosed location last Saturday, March 7. Las Vegas Irish RFC’s maiden voyage to Santa Fe had been forfeited by that club earlier in the week, leaving our team and their hordes of local fans understandably frustrated. That frustration is compounded by the City’s protective winter fields policy, which prohibits field use by organized clubs until ? The responsible posture is to support the judgment of the pros. Beyond that one has to wonder where we would’ve hosted the Irish had they come. This is the dilemma we find ourselves in as the only Southwest club besides Flagstaff operating at 7,000 feet. And the head-scratching continues . . .
Saturday would have been a glorious day for a 15s match with plenty of sun, temps in the 60s, and almost no wind. As announced by ringleader Rainer Ball, the business of the day was to be touch rugby. Participants included Rainer, team captain Ryan Weir, Dylan Merrigan (w/ Max and Madeleine in tow), Coben Branch, and seven new team members.
Soon after the opening kickoff it became evident the average level of rugby experience was pretty low. Although one or two had played more than the others, most were feeling their way along.
According to Rainer some of these brave lads had actually stepped into the breach a week earlier against Aardvarks, when for unspecified reasons the Santos had turned up short on numbers.
The result was a seesaw, one-point victory against a team significantly weaker on paper than the Santos when at full strength. The takeaways from that game has to be gratitude to the Newbies and a recognition of our shared responsibility to expedite their progress. And of course, as always: recruit, recruit, recruit.
Saturday’s touch match reminded me of an opening day from my previous life as a college coach, except most of these players appeared north of 30 years old. To his credit Mr. Ball let the usual booboos of new players pass without comment in favor of using natural breaks in the action as opportunities to reinforce fundamentals.
Happily, what the rookies lacked in sophistication they more than made up for in enthusiasm. Dropped balls, forward passes, and wrong options abounded. Uneducated running lines meant heaving lungs, yet everyone visibly enjoyed just going for it without feeling inhibited by a bunch of veterans witnessing their miscues. What began as a collection of tentative hiccups by two groups of individuals transformed over 90 minutes into a spirited match of 5s featuring some tasty moments of team play.
It was a pleasure to meet and watch Annie Regan on Saturday. Rumors of a group of aspiring women ruggers have been circulating these past few months and if her colleagues are as determined and hard-working as Annie, Santa Fe may soon join the rest of the world in rugby’s biggest revolution since professionalism.
Over the course of 50 years in and around rugby, the vast majority of games have receded from my memory. In their place are multitudes of unique experiences I will always remember. Thanks to our newer members for making Saturday’s visit one of these.
Annie Regan - Sam Schwyter - Andrew ---- (sorry!) - Conor Hicks – Louis Pennings – Chris Noble (played a bit in Auckland) – Enrique Salazar (former Vato)
Hope to see everyone - including Anasazi - at our downtown location, The Boxcar, for this Saturday’s Six Nations viewing party. Watch for updates. A reminder also that next Tuesday is St. Patrick’s Day!
