American Raptors
Former professional rugby union team
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The American Raptors were a professional rugby union team that was based in Glendale, Colorado. The team played in two seasons of the transcontinental Super Rugby Americas competition from 2023 to 2024, before withdrawing from professional rugby ahead of the 2025 season.[1]
| ||
| Founded | 2006 | |
|---|---|---|
| Disbanded | 2024 | |
| Location | Glendale, Colorado, U.S. | |
| Ground | Infinity Park | |
| Most caps | Luke White (31) (MLR) Three players (24) (SRA) | |
| Top scorer | Will Magie (130) (MLR) Lucas González Amorosino (81) (SRA) | |
| Most tries | John Ryberg (16) (MLR) Three players (5) (SRA) | |
| League(s) | Major League Rugby Super Rugby Americas | |
| 2024 SRA | 6th Playoffs: DNQ | |
| ||
| Official website | ||
| americanraptors | ||
Established as the amateur "Glendale Raptors" in 2006, the team became a professional club upon joining Major League Rugby as a founding member in 2017,[2] but they played there only three years, competing as the "Colorado Raptors" in their final shortened season of 2020 before withdrawing from the league.[3]
After Major League Rugby, the team renamed themselves the "Colorado XOs" and turned their attention to developing rugby players from athletes originally from other sports, before becoming the "American Raptors" in 2021.[4]
History
The Glendale Raptors were founded as an amateur rugby club in 2006.[5][6] They won the national Division I Championship in 2011,[7] and were back-to-back winners of the Pacific Rugby Premiership in 2015 and 2016.
Major League Rugby
In 2017, the Raptors were accepted into the professional Major League Rugby competition. The amateur Glendale teams were renamed the Glendale Merlins before the inaugural MLR season in 2018. The Raptors finished the MLR regular season in first place in 2018, but lost the Championship final to Seattle.[8] In 2019, the Raptors finished the regular season in sixth place and did not play in the finals.
The team was renamed the Colorado Raptors ahead of the 2020 season [9] but the season was shortened and eventually cancelled due to impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Raptors announced their departure from Major League Rugby, effective May 2, 2020,[10] stating that the number of foreign players and the higher proportion of foreign to American players in the league no longer best served the goal of developing American players who could compete successfully in the Rugby World Cup. The Raptors therefore chose to withdraw from the league to better focus their efforts on the development of American players who could compete on an international stage.[10]
Super Rugby Americas
In June 2022, the Raptors played in the "Challenge Cup of the Americas" against Canadians UBC Old Boys Ravens and South Americans Peñarol Rugby and Jaguares XV,[11] before joining the Super Rugby Americas competition for the 2023 and 2024 seasons.[1]
Team names
Head coaches
- David Williams (2018–2019) [12][13]
- Peter Borlase (2019–2020)
- Paul Emerick (2022)
- Sarah Chobot (2023-2024)
- Mose Timoteo (2024)[14]
Captains
- Shaun Davies (2018–2019)
- Luke White (2019–2020)
Records
Season standings in Major League Rugby
| Season | Conference | Regular season | Postseason | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pos | Pld | W | D | L | F | A | +/− | BP | Pts | Pld | W | L | F | A | +/− | Result | |||
| Glendale Raptors | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2018 | N/a | 1st | 8 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 249 | 165 | +84 | 6 | 34 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 53 | 44 | +9 | Won Semifinal (Utah Warriors) 31–21 Lost final 23–19 (Seattle Seawolves) | |
| 2019 | N/a | 6th | 16 | 7 | 2 | 7 | 456 | 463 | −7 | 11 | 43 | N/a | N/a | N/a | N/a | N/a | N/a | Did not qualify | |
| Colorado Raptors | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2020[a] | Western | 8th | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 98 | 130 | -32 | 1 | 9 | - | - | - | - | - | - | Cancelled | |
| Totals | 29 | 16 | 2 | 11 | 803 | 758 | +45 | 18 | 86 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 53 | 44 | +9 | 1 postseason appearance | |||
Season standings in Super Rugby Americas
Home field
The team plays at Infinity Park,[15] the first rugby-specific, municipally owned stadium in the United States.[16]
Sponsorship
| Season | Kit manufacturer | Shirt sponsor |
|---|---|---|
| 2018–2019 | XBlades | None |
| 2020 | Paladin Sports |
Honors
2018 season
| Date | Opponent | Home/Away | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| March 10 | New Orleans Gold° | Home | Won, 38–14 |
| March 30 | Utah Warriors° | Away | Won, 42–15 |
| April 7 | New York Athletic Club RFC° | Away | Won, 35–22 |
| April 21 | Austin Elite | Home | Won, 41–26 |
| April 28 | Seattle Seawolves | Away | Won, 19–15 |
| May 5 | Utah Warriors | Away | Won, 36–29 |
| May 13 | San Diego Legion | Home | Won, 31–27 |
| June 3 | New Orleans Gold | Away | Won, 41–10 |
| June 8 | Houston SaberCats | Home | Won, 37–24 |
| June 16 | Seattle Seawolves | Home | Won, 33–11 |
| June 23 | San Diego Legion | Away | Lost, 5–23 |
| June 30 | Utah Warriors°° | Home | Won, 34–21 |
| July 7 | Seattle Seawolves°°° | Neutral | Lost, 19–23 |
° = Preseason game
°° = Playoff Semifinal
°°° = Final at Torero Stadium in San Diego, California
2019 season
Exhibition
| Date | Opponent | Home/Away | Location | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 17, 2018 | USA Collegiate All-Americans | Home | Infinity Park | Lost, 10–55 |
| September 16, 2018 | Ontario Arrows | Away | York Lions Stadium | Lost, 18–40 |
| October 6, 2018 | Denver Barbarians | Home | Infinity Park | Won, 81–7 |
| October 13, 2018 | Utah Warriors | Home | Infinity Park | Postponed |
| October 20, 2018 | Utah Warriors | Away | Postponed | |
| October 27, 2018 | Rugby Americas team | Home | Infinity Park | Lost, 31–50 |
| January 13, 2019 | San Diego Legion | Away | Torero Stadium | Won, 38–31 |
| January 19, 2019 | Houston SaberCats | Away | Constellation Field | Won, 36–21 |
Regular season
| Date | Opponent | Home/Away | Location | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 27 | Seattle Seawolves | Away | Starfire Stadium | Lost, 18–20 |
| February 2 | New Orleans Gold | Away | Archbishop Shaw Stadium | Lost, 31–40 |
| February 17 | Austin Elite | Away | Dell Diamond | Won, 24–13 |
| February 23 | Utah Warriors | Away | Zions Bank Stadium | Draw, 26–26 |
| March 2 | Toronto Arrows | Home | Infinity Park | Won, 22–0 |
| March 9 | Austin Elite | Home | Infinity Park | Won, 38–19 |
| March 16 | San Diego Legion | Home | Infinity Park | Draw, 28–28 |
| March 24 | Rugby United New York | Away | MCU Park | Lost, 19–31 |
| March 30 | New Orleans Gold | Home | Infinity Park | Won, 34–33 |
| April 6 | Houston SaberCats | Home | Infinity Park | Won, 52–44 |
| April 20 | San Diego Legion | Away | Torero Stadium | Lost, 15–46 |
| April 26 | Rugby United New York | Home | Infinity Park | Won, 20–16 |
| May 4 | Utah Warriors | Home | Infinity Park | Won, 64–22 |
| May 18 | Seattle Seawolves | Home | Infinity Park | Lost, 36–53 |
| May 26 | Toronto Arrows | Away | Lamport Stadium | Lost, 12–40 |
| May 29 | Houston SaberCats | Away | Aveva Stadium | Lost, 17–32 |
2020 season
On March 12, 2020, MLR announced the season would go on hiatus immediately for 30 days due to fears surrounding the 2019–2020 coronavirus pandemic.[17] It was cancelled the following week[18]
Regular season
| Date | Opponent | Home/Away | Location | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| February 8 | Houston SaberCats | Away | Aveva Stadium | Lost, 12–21 |
| February 16 | San Diego Legion | Neutral | Las Vegas Ballpark | Lost, 22-49 |
| February 22 | New Orleans Gold | Home | Infinity Park | Lost, 20-27 |
| February 29 | Utah Warriors | Home | Infinity Park | Won, 22-14 |
| March 6 | Toronto Arrows | Won, 22-19 | ||
| March 15 | Old Glory DC | Away | Cardinal Stadium | Cancelled |
| March 21 | Austin Gilgronis | Home | Infinity Park | |
| March 29 | Seattle Seawolves | Away | Starfire Sports Complex | |
| April 4 | New England Free Jacks | Away | Union Point Sports Complex | |
| April 18 | Houston SaberCats | Home | Infinity Park | |
| April 25 | Rugby United New York | Away | MCU Park | |
| May 2 | Rugby ATL | Home | Infinity Park | |
| May 8 | Utah Warriors | Away | Zions Bank Stadium | |
| May 17 | Austin Gilgronis | Round Rock Multipurpose Complex | ||
| May 24 | Seattle Seawolves | Home | Infinity Park | |
| May 30 | San Diego Legion | |||
See also
- Glendale Merlins – Formed in 2017, when the club's top side moved to Major League Rugby.
- Denver Stampede – the now defunct PRO Rugby team that played at Infinity Park in Glendale during 2016.
Notes
- 2020 regular season shortened and playoffs cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
