Six years in, Warriors rugby team proud to be 'Utah built'

HERRIMAN — After an offseason built on change, the Utah Warriors will focus their sixth season on their roots.

The club's sixth season in Major League Rugby under first-year head coach Greg Cooper didn't involve a flashy new signing, an overseas star making his way stateside — former English Premiership club Newcastle fly half Joel Hodgson and New Zealand hooker Henry Bell may qualify might qualify, but barely — or a fancy new rebrand like MLR rival Rugby New York underwent by introducing the nickname "Ironworkers."

Perhaps the biggest change across the league came Friday, when Major League Rugby commissioner George Killebrew stepped down from the role he's held since 2019. Former Utah Warriors COO Nic Benson, a former league deputy commissioner, who run the league as chief executive officer.

For the Warriors, trying to build its Major League Rugby franchise includes a focus on being "Utah Built," the club explains in one of its newest marketing campaigns. Even the newest draft pick comes with a uniquely Utah backstory.

"We keep it very low-key," said Lance Williams, the Warriors flanker who is coming off a first-team All-Major League Rugby performance in 2022. "We don't want no attention; we'll show up and let our hard work show it."

That may be the best policy for Utah, one of MLR's original seven teams and one of five that remains after the league ejected teams in Los Angeles and Austin following financial improprieties a year ago. The Chicago Hounds were added as an expansion team to take one of those vacated spots, and the Miami Sharks will begin play in 2024 to swell Major League Rugby to 13 teams.

But even amid rapid growth of rugby across the United States, which is set to host the Rugby World Cup in 2031 and 2034, the original team in Utah has kept its sights on a local level.

For Utah rugby — Warriors included — the game is about community, as team CEO Kimball Kjar illustrated when he shared that high school and club rugby players from Herriman, Mountain Ridge and American Fork showed up at Zions Bank Stadium to help clear snow ahead of Saturday's home opener.

This year's team captains are also community-based in flanker Bailey Wilson — the Australian native who played for Utah-based United Rugby Club and Utah Valley University now entering his fourth season with the team — and Paul Lasike, the former BYU All-American and NFL fullback who is returning to the league after playing parts of four seasons in the Premiership with Harlequins, just outside of London.

"Just having seen what the club was from Year 1 in 2018, to see where it's come in six years has been awesome and has given me fire," Lasike said. "I'm going to do everything I can this year to help Utah; that's what Utah Built means to me."

Wilson and Lasike aren't alone in representing the Beehive State. Warriors up and down the roster fill out Utah backgrounds, from BYU graduates Calvin Whiting and Olive Kilifi to former U-17 and U-18 All-American Tomasi Tonga from Herriman to the newest Warrior, Tai Kauwe from Orem.

But there's no better player to win the captain's armband than Wilson, the Lone Peak High graduate, or former BYU football standout Lasike, their head coach said.

"As head coach, I'm delighted that Bailey is again captain of the Warriors," Cooper said of the fourth-year flanker and third-year team captain in a team release. "He's a committed Utah man, leads by example and is respected by all. Having Paul as a vice captain provides the Warriors with a strong combination. Paul is a great thinker of the game and a proven performer who commits himself 100% to the cause."

Utah opened the season with a 33-17 loss at San Diego last week, and will open the home campaign against former Warriors scrum half Danny Christensen and the second-year Dallas Jackals at 2 p.m. MST Saturday at Zions Bank Stadium.

The teams set a Major League Rugby record with 11,423 tickets sold at Snapdragon Stadium in last week's match. And while Warriors fullback Caleb Makene enjoyed playing in that kind of environment, he's looking forward to the home opener even more.

"It was pretty awesome; I love their new stadium. We were really excited to play there. The crowd was awesome; it's such a good thing for the MLR to have 10,000 people," said Makene, who scored a try against the Legion, on the W Nation podcast. "That's what we're getting in a crowd back home, right? I loved the atmosphere, but I'm looking forward to getting back home. You can't beat the Utah crowd."

Saturday's match will be broadcast on KMYU and streamed on The Rugby Network.

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