Austin_Gilgronis
Austin Gilgronis
Professional rugby union team from Austin, Texas
The Austin Gilgronis were a professional rugby union team based in Austin, Texas, United States. The team was founded in 2017 as the Austin Elite, and competed in Major League Rugby.[1]
| Full name | Austin Gilgronis | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | AG's | ||
| Founded | Austin Elite (2017–2019) Austin Herd (2019–2020) Austin Gilgronis (2020–2022) | ||
| Disbanded | 2022 | ||
| Location | Austin, Texas | ||
| Ground(s) | Bold Stadium (Capacity: 5,036) | ||
| Coach(es) | Sam Harris | ||
| Captain(s) | Bryce Campbell | ||
| Top scorer | Mack Mason (118) | ||
| Most tries | Hugh Roach (8) | ||
| League(s) | Major League Rugby | ||
| 2022 | 1st (Western Conference) | ||
| |||
| Official website | |||
| www | |||
 Current season | |||
On September 19, 2019, after extensive polling at the end of the 2019 campaign, the team opted to rename itself the Herd. The logo remained the same although the orange color action was removed indicating a shift away from using orange for the upcoming season.[2] Prior to the 2020 season, Adam Gilchrist and Loyals LLC purchased the team and renamed it the Gilgronis, a reference to a yet-to-be-produced cocktail based on the Negroni, although the eponymous cocktail appears to just be a negroni with a different name. The name was met with significant backlash from fans.[3] Under Gilchrist's ownership, the team's record improved and the team clinched a playoff berth in its 2022 season before being disqualified from the postseason by MLR for "violating league rules".[4] In October 2022, MLR announced that the Gilgronis and the LA Giltinis (both owned by Adam Gilchrist) had been expelled from the league for unspecified reasons.[5] It appears Gilchrist could no longer financially sustain ownership and that the teams have since folded.
The team most recently played at the Circuit of the Americas in Bold Stadium, having previously played at Dell Diamond and the Round Rock Multipurpose Complex in Round Rock, Texas.[6]
2021 home games were shown on KBVO. Lincoln Rose and Kit McConnico were the on-air talent.
| Season | Kit manufacturer | Shirt sponsor |
|---|---|---|
| 2018–2019 | XBlades | None |
| 2020–2021 | Paladin Sports | |
| 2022 | Ascension Seton |
The Austin Gilgronis jersey was black, orange, and white. The mascot was a gray fox character named Austin Gray. Gray foxes inhabit central Texas, and Austin Gray's initials were AG; matching that of the team.
The Austin Herd jersey was sky blue, black and white. The initial team logo features the stylized head of a Texas Longhorn bull with a Lone Star on its forehead. The mascot was a bull-like character named Dozer.[7]
The team's final name, Gilgronis, was supposedly the name of a cocktail created by the owners, but that cocktail doesn't seem to exist and the name was more likely an amalgamation of the owners name (Gilchrist) and the popular pre-existing cocktail called the negroni.[8] The home kit was orange, and the away kit was white. The last logo was just the club's initials.
Current squad
The Austin Gilgronis squad for the 2022 Major League Rugby season was:[9]
Note: Flags indicate national union under World Rugby eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-World Rugby nationality.
- Senior 15s internationally capped players are listed in bold.
- * denotes players qualified to play for the United States on dual nationality or residency grounds.
- MLR teams are allowed to field up to ten overseas players per match.
Head coaches
Alain Hyardet (2018–2019) [10]
Brent Semmons (2020)
Sam Harris (2021–2022)
Assistant coaches
- Mark Gerrard (2021–2022)
Captains
- Andrew Suniula (2018)
- Ben Mitchell (2019)
- Zinzan Elan-Puttick (2020)
- Bryce Campbell (2021–2022)
Season standings
| Season | Conference | Regular season | Postseason | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pos | Pld | W | D | L | F | A | +/− | BP | Pts | Pld | W | L | F | A | +/− | Result | |||
| 2018 | - | 5th | 8 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 224 | 238 | −14 | 6 | 18 | – | – | – | – | – | – | Did not qualify | |
| 2019 | - | 9th | 16 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 263 | 482 | −219 | 5 | 5 | – | – | – | – | – | – | Did not qualify | |
| 2020[lower-alpha 1] | Western | 5th | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 104 | 155 | -51 | 1 | 7 | – | – | – | – | – | – | Cancelled | |
| 2021 | Western | 3rd | 16 | 9 | 0 | 7 | 389 | 317 | +72 | 11 | 47 | – | – | – | – | – | – | Did not qualify | |
| 2022 | Western | 1st | 16 | 12 | 0 | 4 | 475 | 229 | +246 | 9 | 58 | – | – | – | – | – | – | Disqualified [11] | |
| Totals | 57 | 25 | 1 | 35 | 1,455 | 1,421 | +34 | 32 | 135 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 postseason appearances | |||
- 2020 regular season shortened and playoffs cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- "Austin Elite, new U.S. pro rugby league lure major TV contract". Austin American-Statesman. November 7, 2017. Archived from the original on November 9, 2017. Retrieved November 9, 2017.
- Vinicombe, Tom (January 29, 2020). "The Austin MLR team have rebranded and fans can't get over the absurd new name". RugbyPass. Retrieved February 13, 2020.
- Judd, Brandon (June 3, 2022). "This pro sports league just disqualified a team right before the playoffs". Deseret News. Retrieved June 4, 2022.
- Pengelly, Martin (October 26, 2022). "LA and Austin out of MLR as US rugby faces further uncertainty". The Guardian. Retrieved October 28, 2022.
- "Austin Elite rugby franchise plans to play home games in Round Rock". Austin Statesman. April 13, 2018. Retrieved April 22, 2018.
- Lyttle, Kevin (May 4, 2018). "Austin Elite home opener both a success and a work in progress". Austin American-Statesman. Archived from the original on May 4, 2018. Retrieved May 4, 2018.
- Dart, Tom (February 10, 2020). "Austin Gilgronis: why would a US rugby club name itself after a cocktail?". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved May 29, 2020.
- "Austin Gilgronis". Americas Rugby News. Retrieved December 6, 2021.
- "Alain Hyardet appointed as Head Coach". Austin Elite Rugby. September 12, 2017. Archived from the original on November 7, 2017. Retrieved November 9, 2017.
- "Major League Rugby in crisis as LA and Austin disqualified from playoffs". The Guardian. June 7, 2022. Retrieved July 8, 2022.
- Former Austin Elite official website at the Wayback Machine (archived May 18, 2019)
- Former Austin Herd official website at the Wayback Machine (archived January 28, 2020)