The Sacramento Express were a professional

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

team that played in the short lived

PRO Rugby The Professional Rugby Organization, known as PRO Rugby, was an American professional rugby union competition. PRO began play in April 2016 with five teams and ceased operations by January 2017. The competition was sanctioned by USA Rugby and b ...

competition. They were based in

Sacramento, California Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat, seat of Sacramento County, California, Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento Rive ...

, and played their home games at

Bonney Field Heart Health Park is a sports venue located on the grounds of Cal Expo in Sacramento, California, United States. The soccer-specific stadium has a capacity of 11,569 and includes a full-sized (120 x 80 yard) soccer field. Heart Health Park is ...

History

In early November 2015, PRO Rugby launched its Facebook page and scheduled an announcement for November 9, 2015. On November 9, 2015, PRO Rugby made an official announcement outlining its plans and a framework for the competition. USA Rugby affirmed that it sanctioned and supported the PRO Rugby competition. PRO Rugby announced its first team, Sacramento, on November 18, 2015. In February 2016, Luke Gross was announced as the head coach of the new Sacramento

team. The league reportedly had begun extending contract offers to select players by mid-February. In early March, the league made its first official announcement regarding player signings when it announced that Italian international

Mirco Bergamasco Mirco Bergamasco (born 23 February 1983) is an Italian rugby union and rugby league footballer. Bergamasco has played both rugby league and rugby union, and is a dual-code rugby international, having played for both the Italy national rugby uni ...

would be joining the Sacramento team. Sacramento and other teams started convening their players in mid-March 2016 to begin training. On December 20, 2016, all PRO Rugby players received notice their contracts will be terminated in 30 days if progress is not made towards resolving disputes between the league and USA Rugby.

Venue

Current players and staff

Roster

The squad for the

2016 PRO Rugby season The 2016 PRO Rugby season was the inaugural and only season of the PRO Rugby, contested by teams from the United States. The season ran from April to July 2016. This was the first season of professional rugby union in North America. PRO Rugby co ...

Coaching staff

Season summaries

Leading players

Coaches

References

{{PRO Rugby Rugby clubs established in 2016

Express Express, The Expresss or EXPRESS may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Film * ''Express: Aisle to Glory'', a 1998 comedy short film featuring Kal Penn * ''The Express: The Ernie Davis Story'', a 2008 film starring Dennis Quaid * The Expre ...

2016 establishments in California 2017 disestablishments in California Rugby union clubs disestablished in 2017 PRO Rugby teams