America and South Africa coming together in the name of RUGBY!

America and South Africa coming together in the name of RUGBY!

It is a great honour for UXI Sport to welcome our first (of many to come) American rugby exchange students. Tucker Trickey (scrumhalf) and Jake Stone (flank) have officially joined the Western Province Rugby Academy family – all the way from San Diego, United States of America.

Hailing from the Californian city, Tucker and Jake are exceptionally talented players from the San Diego Legion Academy. The San Diego Legion is an American professional rugby union, which was founded in 2017, and competes in Major League Rugby. The San Diego Legion professional squad is home to many South African players, such as Cecil Afrika, Dean Muir, Bjorn Basson, Tiaan Loots, Carlo de Nysschen and Joe Pietersen (of whom Captained the squad in 2019).

Such as with SA Rugby, USA Rugby also engages in National Development Programs which make use of a High-Performance Pathway initiative, one of them being the San Diego Legion Academy – where Tucker (22) and Jake (20) hail from. The San Diego Legion Academy and the Western Province Rugby Academy came together to provide once in a lifetime OPPORTUNITIES for these two talented players – the ultimate South African Rugby Experience!

Based in Stellenbosch, Western Cape, Tucker and Jake’s month-long high performance rugby experience has already been off to an exciting start. Not only will they be engaging in the UXI High Performance programme, but will also be representing Hamilton’s u/20 in the Super A Club League. We have no doubt that Tucker and Jake will have an extraordinary time at the Western Province Rugby Academy; and we hope that they will be inspired to achieve greatness, through sport to life!

The UXI Rugby Institutes offers international players the unique experience to travel South African, see the beautiful and cultured country; in all its diversity! From Table Mountain and the Winelands in the Cape to the Kruger National Park and Mbombela Stadium in Mpumalanga. Our players study Rugby under super minds of Coaches, such as Ricardo Loubscher at the Cheetahs Institute of Excellence in Free State, to Brendell Brandt at the Griquas Rugby Institute in Kimberley. The rugby opportunities and travel experience are endless!

A huge word of thanks goes to the San Diego Legion Academy staff, Anton Moolman (UXI International Marketing Director), and the entire WPRA team for making this exchange programme a reality for Tucker and Jake. We look forward to the remainder of their journey in Stellenbosch, South Africa.