Rhino Rugby America, Inc., based in Petersburg, Ill., has announced a licensing agreement for the USA, Canada & South America with Rhino Rugby UK.

Rhino Rugby America (RRUSA) will manufacture and distribute scrum sleds and rucking machines in North and South America. These machines are made in the USA at the company’s facility in Petersburg.

Rhino Rugby of Somerset England has been a leading manufacturer of scrummaging equipment for over 25 years. Their "Premier PS1" scrum sled is the best selling rugby sled in the world. Rhino Rugby USA is now producing this sled, along with the Rebel 3 scrum sled & the exciting new rucking machine the "Collision King" right in the Midwest.

Rhino's line of scrummaging equipment boasts decades of precision engineering and testing. The products are made of heavy-duty steel on a super heavyweight diamond plate steel base, and assembled using unitized welding and finished with industrial powder coating for extreme outdoor durability.

Long life detachable foam pads covered with durable PVC, realistic had grips for loose & tight head prop's binding and heavy duty handrails for players adding weight to the sleds all provide flexibility and durability.

The four high quality vertical pads utilize sliding steel arms with heavy duty elastic bungees to create a realistic give at impact that feels like a real scrum.

Rhino newest addition to their line of quality training equipment is "The Collision King". 'One of the biggest breakthroughs in rugby training equipment in recent years’ – Jim Telfer Coach to Scotland and British & Irish Lions.

Most leading coaches and commentators believe that the Rugby World Cup 2011 will be won and lost at the breakdown – the point of contact. The winning sides will be those that are able to bring top quality technique and practiced aggression to this aspect of the game.

Richie Gray, an experienced specialist skills coach based in Galashiels in the Scottish Borders has spent a number of years developing a simple, yet highly effective, machine to enable players to practice correct body position and technique in this most important phase of play. He has just recently teamed up with Rhino Rugby to launch the resulting product. Already based on demonstrations of the prototype; England, Wales and Scotland have ordered multiples of the Rhino Collision King for their Rugby World Cup training camps. Additional interests are flooding in from around the rugby world. Rhino Rugby USA is now producing the Collision King in Petersburg, IL.

James Carlberg, president of RRUSA, said the addition of any of these high quality scrummaging sleds will increase the efficiencies of the packs, safety in the scrums and the overall strength of the forward pack.

“Overseas rugby powerhouses take quality training equipment for granted. It has always been there and it shows,” he said. “As American rugby clubs work to get better and compete at higher levels, simple additions of a scrum sled like a Rhino will increase their rugby playing ability tenfold. Adding a Collision King to their open field training will boost their rucking and loose playing ability exponentially. If 75% of our matches are loose play, then this becomes a very critical training area, not just for quality of play, speed of winning the ball and getting it out, but for safety too.”

The Rebel 3, Premier PS1 and the Collision King are in stock and ready to ship. The products are ready to sue when delivered, and the company has videos on YouTube showing how to unpack the sleds.

“These are true ‘Made in the USA’ products and Rhino Rugby USA is very proud to bring them to The Americas,” said Carlberg.

Representatives from Rhino toured the RRUSA facilities in person before they entered into the licensing agreement, to ensure quality control.

Carlberg said he expects to continue to manufacture other rugby equipment in the future.

Products can be viewed and ordered at www.rhinorugbyusa.com, by emailing James Carlberg at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or giving them a call at 217-632-0119. There is also a full set of Rhino Videos highlighting their entire rugby line on Rhino TV on Youtube.com.