Seth Vallance from Hartbeespoort is playing really good rugby in the USA

Seth Vallance, hailing from Hartbeespoort in North West is playing rugby and really good rugby in Nebraska at Wayne State College. A Wolverines team member, Seth left for the USA in August 2022.

Says Head Coach Darrin Barner of Wayne State College in Wayne, Nebraska USA, ' Seth Vallance, rugby lock/2nd row for Wayne State College, had been selected to the NCR National College Rugby All Star Tournament that was recently held in Houston. The All Star competition takes the very best players in the USA at college/university level to compete against each other in a 3 day tournament. Vallance played for the WESTERN GRIZZLIES who are the regional scouting group for the state of Nebraska along with other Western States in the USA.'

Says Coach Barner, "With a talent pool of 500 college rugby teams in the USA, this is quite an honor for anyone, but I had to laugh when Seth told me that he thinks he is the only (Freshman) first year student selected on the team, and I told him, he needs to be very proud since 90% of the players chosen are probably a few third-year players and most being fourth-year students between 22-23 years old. I'm pretty sure he is the only freshman on the team, which simply says what type of raw talent he has."

Vallance caused a flurry of social media excitement when after scoring a try the National Collegiate Rugby Instagram account tagged the USA Sevens Instagram account.

The All-Star Tournament yielded slightly disappointing results for the WESTERN GRIZZLIES who lost in the finals to New England Independents Reds.

After the tournament, the best 23 players in the country were selected for the All-Tournament Team at the Collegiate Rugby All-Star National Shield Challenge and Seth Vallance was on that list. With four years of university rugby ahead of him and only 19 years old, this is a player to watch.

Contributors:
Coach Darrin Barner at Wayne State College
https://www.ncr.rugby/news/23-players-stand-out-at-the-collegiate-rugby-all-stars.