Peninsula Green Rugby Football Club

Bob Benson              (650) 520-1060        This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Moses Similai            (650) 630-1014        This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

John Foster               (650) 248-5984        This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Steve Everett            (650) 862 3872        This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Wade Hess                (650) 291-6155        This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Greg Lee                   (650) 714-4567        This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Peninsula Green Rugby - Season Information (See details on Calendar)

The Peninsula Green High School Rugby Club plays a full season starting in January and ending in May.  In the Fall, prior to the regular season, the Club starts practices on Saturdays to warm up for the regular season.  After the regular season, In June the club starts up again with those who want to play summer seven-a-side rugby.

Oct - Dec: Saturday practices (See calendar for details)

Jan:              Practices, Scrimmages and Non-league games

Feb – April:   League game schedule (with some non-league games)

May:             Playoffs and Tournament

For the remainder of Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr practice will be Mon and Wed evenings with Sat (or Fri night) for games, practice or scrimmage (depending on the schedule).

Practice - Mon and Wed - 7:30 PM to 9:00 PM - Woodside HS Football Field or Sequoia HS Football Field
Games - Sat - 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM - Woodside HS Football Field for home games (Practice / Scrimmage); Away games shown on Calendar.
  

Pen Green Alum Zach Test Named RUGBY Mag's 7s Player of the Year

Peninsula Green Rugby Club Alumni, Zack Test, (Redwood City) was named by Rugby Magazine, [the definitive magazine for Rugby Football in the United States] as Rugby Magazine’s Sevens Rugby Player of the Year on Jan 1, 2014.  Zack lives in Redwood City, CA when he is not training at the San Diego Olympic Training Center or traveling on the IRB (International Rugby Board) Sevens circuit with the USA Sevens Rugby Squad.

Zack grew up in Redwood City (Emerald Hills), CA, and started his rugby career with the Peninsula Green Rugby Club (Woodside, CA) as a sophomore (10^th grade) and played for 3 years with the Pen Green Club.  He quickly showed rugby prowess and became Captain of the team in his Senior year.  He was named to the USA U18 team and then the USA U19 and U20 teams.  In 2007 Zack (along with Travis Benson, also of the Pen Green Club) was named to the USA U19 team that won 4 of 5 games at the IRB World Cup in Belfast, Northern Ireland.  In 2008, Test (along with Jared Braun and David Tamilau also of the Pen Green Club) was named to the USA U19 team that placed 2^nd in the IRB World Cup in Kenya. 

Test attended Woodside High School where he was a star Wide Receiver on the Woodside football team.  After graduation from high school Test played wide receiver on the University of Oregon football team, before deciding to commit to rugby on a full time basis.  He was selected to the USA Sevens team in 2010 and has become one of the leading players on the USA team.  Test holds the scoring title for the team, and has been co-captain of the USA squad.  In the 2012-2013 season Test was named to the All Tournament team on 2 occasions.

Test is an active Peninsula Green Rugby Club Alumni, and he frequently helps coach the current Beaver squad when he is home from his USA Sevens Rugby Team training.  Test is always available to help younger rugby players achieve their goals.

Zack will be leading the USA Sevens Rugby Team at the IRB Las Vegas Sevens on Jan 24-26 in Las Vegas, NV.

The following is the text of the article written by Alex Goff of Rugby Magazine on Jan 01, 2014.

RUGBYMag Men's 7s Player of the Year: Zack Test

Zack Test has the ability to be among the best 7s players in the world, and in fact might already be there.

His 2012-2013 season showed a big step forward in his skills. He changed how he evaded tacklers, eschewing his signature move and instead incorporating a series of different attacking options. He became more direct in exploiting gaps. He improved his rucking and his ability to retain ball in contact.

He was named to the HSBC All-Series team, and deserved to be there, and he is RUGBYMag’s Men’s 7s Player of the Year.

“It always feels good to get recognition for how hard you work, but it’s not about me it’s about the team,” Test told RUGBYMag. “I am not too worried about individual awards, I just want to play a role on this team and help the USA be a top-eight team.”

Test unveiled a few extras this season. He has always been good in the air, but he made massive strides in his defense, and even unleashed a snappy kick from the hand that resulted in more than one Carlin Isles try.

“I’ve been playing on the circuit for quite a while now and the game kind of slows down for you,” Test said. “After a while you realize you were in a situation and you might have made the right decision or the wrong decision, so you think of those situations and learn the ins and outs of the decisions being made. But it’s also the chemistry of the team. You know if you take a risk you know someone’s going to be there and you’re still going to get the ball back. As far as kicking, I’ve been working on kicking for the past couple of games and reading the game. And I know Carlin Isles, if we can keep it in bounds but near the sideline he’s going to get it. So it’s something I hope we can keep doing.”

_{Zach Test - Cover of Rugby Magazine - played PenGreen for 3 years, now plays on USA Eagles, and is an active PenGreen "Beaver" alum)}

The Peninsula Green Rugby Football Club is a non-profit organization and member of "Rugby NorCal" which is the Youth and High School Rugby Association for Northern California (www.rugbynorcal.org)

The Peninsula Green Rugby Football Club is coached by experienced rugby players and certified rugby coaches. Our goal is to teach the fundamentals of rugby in a safe, fun and positive environment. We teach young athletes life skills as well as rugby skills.  All player skill levels are welcome. Please note the some of our most successful senior athletes started with little (or no) understanding of rugby prior to joining the PenGreen Rugby Club. The Peninsula Green Rugby Football Club is working hard to build on the success of last season. Our aim is to increase the number of athletes playing for Peninsula Green. We request your help in spreading the word. We welcome all players.  Rugby has a place for you, and The Peninsula Green Rugby Club is committed to teaching all interested players how to play rugby.  If you are a footballer we welcome you to our sport: rugby builds stronger footballers, football builds stronger rugby players. 

The Peninsula Green Rugby Football Club (PGRFC, PenGrn, PG), located in Woodside, CA is the premium Club on the San Francisco Peninsula. The PenGrn Club has a long history on the San Francisco Peninsula since Paul Negus, Rich Kelly and Chad Keck founded the PGRFC in 1998.  In 2009 the Club Leadership positions transitioned to Coaches Bob Benson and Moses Similai and they have carried on the Club tradition. In addition to training many years of high school and youth rugby players, the Club has spun off the core players and coaches to found 2 additional high school rugby teams and 3 youth rugby teams that have generated growth of the sport. The Club fields 2 Varsity teams and a JV team; The PGRFC is affiliated with the Peninsula Razorhawks Youth Club, and the 6 youth teams are run under the separate organization of this club.  

The PGRFC plays a highly competitive schedule in the Rugby NorCal SBRO (Varsity and JV) that includes high school club and varsity teams from a geographical area that stretches from Santa Rosa to Gilroy and East to the Sierra Foothills. The PGRFC is perennially in the NorCal playoffs and in 2016 the PGRFC Beavers won 3 NorCal Championships (Varsity D1, JV D1, Varsity Sevens). The 15 a-side teams were undefeated in regular season play. The Peninsula Green Rugby Varsity Team was ranked #4 in the USA at the end of the 2016 season. In the Pacific Cup Tournament the Beavers Varsity team lost in the finals to a strong Danville team (Ranked #1 in the USA).

The Club fields a roster of 65 to 90 players and draws from High Schools primarily from the mid-peninsula region (Aragon, Serra, Carlmont, Sequoia, Woodside, Menlo-Atherton, Menlo School, Sacred Heart, Palo Alto, Gunn, Mountain View). Recently players from the East Bay (Hayward) are traveling to the Peninsula to play for Pen Green.

The Peninsula Green Rugby Football Club has a track record of graduating players to successful college rugby programs - Cal Berkeley, Navy, UCSB, UCSD, St Marys, UC Davis, Arizona, UCLA, Cal Poly, San Diego State.

Over the years, the Peninsula Green Rugby Football Club has produced 18 players who have earned caps as USA U17/U19/U20/HSAA Eagles, and several alumni have played on the USA Eagles men’s teams. Pen Green alum, Zack Test, has played successfully for 7 yrs and is currently the leading all time scorer on the USA Eagles Sevens team (and a Rugby Olympian). Test also started for the USA 15 a-side team in the 2015 World Cup. Pen Green alum, David Tameilau, started as #8 for the USA Eagles 15 a-side team in several matches in 2016. In the first season of Pro Rugby (2016) there were 6 Pen Green Alumni on the San Francisco Pro team and 1 Pen Green Alum on the Sacramento Pro team.