The Austin Gilgronis were a professional

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

team based in

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

, United States. The team was founded in 2017 as the Austin Elite, and competed in

Major League Rugby Major League Rugby (MLR or USMLR) is a professional rugby union competition and the top-level championship for clubs in North America. In the 2022 season it was contested by thirteen teams: twelve from the United States and one from Canada. Off ...

History

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. 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 A Negroni is an Italian cocktail, made of one part gin, one part vermouth rosso (red, semi-sweet) and one part Campari, garnished with orange peel. It is considered an apéritif. A traditionally made Negroni is stirred, not shaken; it is buil ...

, although the eponymous cocktail appears to just be a negroni with a different name. The name was met with significant backlash from fans. 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". 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. It appears Gilchrist could no longer financially sustain ownership and that the teams have since folded.

Home field

The team most recently played at the

Circuit of the Americas Circuit of the Americas (COTA) is a Grade 1 FIA-specification motor racing track and facilities located within the extraterritorial jurisdiction of Austin, Texas, in the United States. The facility is home to the Formula One United States Grand ...

Bold Stadium Circuit of the Americas (COTA) is a Grade 1 FIA-specification motor racing track and facilities located within the extraterritorial jurisdiction of Austin, Texas, in the United States. The facility is home to the Formula One United States Grand ...

, having previously played at

Dell Diamond Dell Diamond is the home stadium of the Round Rock Express, the Triple-A Minor League Baseball affiliate of the Texas Rangers major league baseball team. On April 16, 2000, the then- Double-A affiliate Express played their first home game at t ...

and the

Round Rock Multipurpose Complex Round Rock Multipurpose Complex is a multi-sports complex in Round Rock, Texas, United States and was the home of the Austin Gilgronis, Austin Elite of Major League Rugby. It was established in 2017 and serves people being a multi-sports complex ...

Round Rock, Texas Round Rock is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, in Williamson County (with a small part in Travis County), which is a part of the Greater Austin metropolitan area. Its population is 119,468 as of the 2020 census. The city straddles the Bal ...

Broadcasts

2021 home games were shown on

KBVO KBVO (channel 14) is a television station licensed to Llano, Texas, United States, serving the Austin area as an affiliate of MyNetworkTV. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside NBC affiliate KXAN-TV (channel 36); Nexstar also provides ...

. Lincoln Rose and Kit McConnico were the on-air talent.

Sponsorship

Colors and logo

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 The Texas Longhorn is an American list of cattle breeds, breed of beef cattle, characterized by its long horns, which can span more than from tip to tip. It derives from cattle brought from the Iberian Peninsula to the Americas by Spanish con ...

bull with a Lone Star on its forehead. The mascot was a bull-like character named Dozer. The team's final name, Gilgronis, was supposedly the name of a

cocktail A cocktail is an alcoholic mixed drink. Most commonly, cocktails are either a combination of spirits, or one or more spirits mixed with other ingredients such as tonic water, fruit juice, flavored syrup, or cream. Cocktails vary widely across ...

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. The home kit was orange, and the away kit was white. The last logo was just the club's initials.

Players and personnel

Current squad

The Austin Gilgronis squad for the 2022 Major League Rugby season was: * Senior 15s internationally capped players are listed in bold. * * denotes players qualified to play for the 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) * Brent Semmons (2020) *

Sam Harris Samuel Benjamin Harris (born April 9, 1967) is an American philosopher, neuroscientist, author, and podcast host. His work touches on a range of topics, including rationality, religion, ethics, free will, neuroscience, meditation, psychedelics ...

(2021–2022)

Assistant coaches

Mark Gerrard Mark Gerrard (born 4 September 1982) is a former Australian professional rugby union footballer. He currently is the assistant coach for the Austin Gilgronis in Major League Rugby (MLR) competition in the United States. In 2011, he was one o ...

(2021–2022)

Captains

Andrew Suniula Andrew Suniula (born 1 May 1982) is a former rugby football player who played rugby union as a center (rugby union), centre for the United States national rugby union team, United States national team (USA Eagles XV's). He last played for the A ...

(2018) * Ben Mitchell (2019) *Zinzan Elan-Puttick (2020) * Bryce Campbell (2021–2022)

Records

Season standings

References

External links

* * Austin Gilgronis Major League Rugby teams Sports in Austin, Texas 2017 establishments in Texas Rugby clubs established in 2017 Rugby union in Texas Rugby union teams in Texas {{US-rugbyunion-team-stub