Giants team up with USA Rugby to tutor NJ high school players

JERSEY CITY — Even as he cringed at what New York Giants‘ management might think, Sisi Mauigoa couldn’t help but toss the rugby ball around at Lincoln Park in Jersey City on Oct. 28. After all, the rookie guard played rugby and volleyball growing up in American Samoa before realizing “there was a better future in football.”

He and NFL teammate Jarrod Gray, a former pro rugby player from Sydney, Australia, showed off their moves for Hudson Catholic players at a clinic on Oct. 28. Three members of the United States women’s national rugby team – prop Reece Woods, lock Malia Isaacs and center Kennedy Feasby – also stepped in for tackling drills. Only minimal touching allowed to preserve everyone’s health.

The women also took their turn throwing and catching the football. Mauioga, a massive 6-foot-6, 335-pound lineman, even awkwardly demonstrated his scoring celebration, which he hopes to do in the end zone someday.

“It warmed my heart,” Isaacs said of the young players. “I believe in them so much. … The kids had a spark in them. If they want to go on, they’ll be great.”

Check out our exclusive photo gallery from the USA Rugby and New York Giants clinic, then scroll down for the rest of the story.

International doubleheader in NJ

The national rugby teams will play an international doubleheader on Oct. 30 at Sports Illustrated Stadium. The women’s Eagles are slated to face England in the final match of the WXV Global Series, followed by the men’s Eagles’ rematch against Australia XV.

The American women have won the first four matches in the series, toppling Ireland, Wales and Italy twice. Australia shook off back-to-back losses to New Zealand’s All Blacks earlier this month by defeating the U.S. men, 61-12, on Oct. 24 in Nashville.

From rugby to American football

A rugby ball is wider and heavier than an American football, with more rounded ends and no laces. A pass looks more like a two-handed heave than a traditional quarterback spiral.

Points are scored similarly: by carrying the ball beyond the goal line or kicking between the posts. Tackling isn’t very different in a scrum or at the line of scrimmage either.

“The physicality is the big thing that transfers over,” said Gray, a 6-foot-7, 318-pound lineman who is part of the NFL’s International Player Pathway, which gives elite athletes from overseas an opportunity to develop football skills.

“The footwork, though, is much more detailed in the NFL. Having good feet helped me transition over. Rugby league is a lot more fitness, a lot more endurance. ‘Tackle, get up, make the next one.’ American football is more based on power, strength, explosiveness. That’s what I have to adapt to.”

Some of Hudson Catholic’s rugby players do double duty with the football team, and went straight from the clinic to practice for the Oct. 29 consolation game against Passaic. Defensive coordinator Jonathan Casillas, a former Giants linebacker from New Brunswick, kept a close eye on the Hawks. He gave tips on quick cuts to both the boys and girls, and not even the NFL players were exempt from teasing.

Hudson Catholic junior Mackenzie Harriett-Clay and her twin brother Kellen have been playing tackle rugby since fourth grade, but started flag years earlier. She’d never dreamed to have USA Eagles or NFL players at practice.

“I can learn when to tackle, keeping a straight line, staying low, being able to shift,” said Harriett-Clay, who lives in Carteret. “It feels great. I’m very grateful for it. Not a lot of people will have this chance. I have to work hard and prove I’m a good player.”

This article originally appeared on Morristown Daily Record: Giants team up with USA Rugby to tutor NJ high school players