Team culture plays a huge factor in procuring success on the field, and the Utah Warriors have cultivated a great sense of camaraderie and connection necessary this season. The reward is a berth in the Major League Rugby Western Conference Final playoff round where the Warriors will take on the Houston Sabercats at home this Saturday.
Establishing the type of culture Warriors Coach Greg Cooper has headed doesn’t just happen, however. Since the end of the 2024 season, Cooper and Warriors management have worked arduously to bring in players from around the world to buy into Cooper’s theme of ‘Utah Built’ and then enhance it.
And the results have largely spoken for themselves, with Cooper and his team taking the Warriors to new heights in their quest for an MLR championship shield.
“We’re really connected as a team,” said Cooper when asked of the primary reason behind this year’s team’s success. “The players really enjoy one another’s company, and they fight for each other. These players are playing for their family and their community…They’re playing to represent their state.”
Playing to represent the state of Utah is significant, considering Cooper’s team is made up primarily of international players, several of whom are playing their first season for the Warriors organization.
Liam Coltman is one of those players. A native New Zealander, Coltman is a veteran player who opted to play for the Warriors after playing for more than 10 years in his home country. He quickly became one of Utah’s most valuable players from his hooker position, providing quality play, but perhaps more important lending quality leadership while embracing Cooper’s theme of ‘Utah Built.’
“It’s about being a good person, in general,” Coltman said of what it means to be Utah built. “It doesn’t matter if it’s on the playing field or off it. It’s (about) being a true person and not faking anything.”
Coltman has enjoyed Utah’s culture, finding the outdoor offerings the state has to offer similar to what he experienced growing up on the south island of New Zealand. He’s also found connections with the community and certainly among his teammates — many of whom are also native New Zealanders.
But it’s not just Coltman. Other first year players such as D’Angelo Leuila (New Zealand), Jordan Trainor (New Zealand), Gavin Thornbury (Ireland) and Aki Seuili (New Zealand) have come in to not just provide great play, but meld with and enhance the culture Cooper has been working toward.
“The regions these guys are coming from aren’t exactly the same, but there’s that same sort of resilience and never-say-die attitude,” Cooper explained. “We selected people we knew could work hard and embrace our Utah Built culture.”
Cooper is quick to put aside any success his team has forged so far this season to focus on the task at hand. The current task is to turn the tables on a Houston team that has dealt the Warriors two losses this season.
“We have to rectify some things, but we’re in a pretty good space,” Cooper said. “We have to bring our A-game against these guys…the big thing is to focus on the process and that will take care of the outcome.”
Houston defeated RFC Los Angeles 27-21 on Monday to advance to Saturday’s showdown while Utah got past the Seattle Seawolves 23-21 in its semifinal match.
Both teams will enter the match with the typical physical toll rugby players take on throughout a season with several players likely unable to perform due to injury. But a lot of that physical toll can largely be ignored simply with the significance of Saturday’s match.
“I think the adrenaline and the opportunity to do something special,” Cooper said of what will push his team through. “We’ve had the opportunity to do something no other Warriors team has done, but it would be nice to go the whole way.”
Should Utah advance past Houston it will battle the winner of the Eastern Conference finals between the New England Free Jacks and the Chicago Hounds for the MLR shield.
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