Your Scrumhalf Connection - Women's Rugby Blog

Over the weekend the blog counter for Your Scrumhalf Connection broke 100,000 hits!! The fact that we are already up to 100,728 by TODAY is worth noting as well! I believe the count broke 100,000 in the wee morning hours of Sunday.

So lets celebrate by opening a virtual bottle of champagne (or your choice of beverage!), raise a glass and high-five each other around the Ruckosphere!

Thanks for reading, submitting, watching, viewing etc and making this blog what it is today. When I originally started this blog on March 31, 2006 it was for the purpose of writing about the West Rugby Union and all the teams in the West. Oh how the blog has evolved, changed and developed since that time.

Thanks for all your time, thoughts and kind words readers. I raise my glass to you!

UPDATE: There have been several emails and chats today of readers claiming (Shagam, Mikey and Alyssa!) they were the one that put the counter over 100,000. I have done some research on my counter logs and the one to put me over 100,000 is....DRUMROLL PLEASE....

A reader from Columbus, OH (specifically the Jefferson Commons of Columbus...isn't Street View SCARY?) put the counter over on June 29, 2008 at around 3:46am.Thanks for reading Columbus, OH!

Ronny recommended the video this week, thanks for sending it to me at yourscrumhalfconnection@gmail.com! The video this week is a 2008 Division 1 Women's match of New York vs Chicago North Shore. New York shows some serious muscle as they pushy try it in...looks to be about 8 meters! It appears that New York won this match 19-0 in April 2008 according to their website (I'm just guessing by the date of the upload and the information on their website, please let me know if I am wrong!).

Check it out:

Other Rugby Video Mondays:
6/23/2008: USA Rugby NCAA Iniative
6/17/2008: USA Rugby Youth Promotional Trailer
6/9/2008: West All Star Senior Rugby Fun in the Pool!
6/2/2008: Rugby is Beauty
5/27/2008: Rugby in Dresses!
5/19/2005: AMAZING try in Rugby league
5/12/2008: Sharks vs Minnows
5/5/2008: Trent University Women's Rugby Highlight Reel

from USA Rugby:

NELSPRUIT, South Africa – Before a packed crowd at Nelspruit Rugby Stadium, the USA Under-20 Women’s National Team wrapped up its South Africa tour with a nail-biting 21-17 victory over the South Africa U-20 Women on Saturday, June 28.

The game did not get underway exactly as the U.S. side would have liked, as the South African team came out with incredible speed on the outside and outpaced the USA backs on the kickoff to go up 5-0 within the first minute of play.

A resilient USA U-20 squad regrouped and the forwards continued to gain momentum off repeated pick-and-goes until Tayo Mafe touched down for the first U.S. try at nine minutes in. Catherine Parkhill’s conversion made the score 7-5 in favor of the visitors.

Toward the end of the second half, a slight breakdown in discipline saw a South African player head to the sin bin and the U.S. took advantage, with Tara McGrady catching a swift break down the sidelines and the forwards following close in tow with excellent support.

The ball again found the hands of USA hooker Tayo Mafe, who touched in for her second try on the day and another spot on conversion from Catherine Parkhill grew the U.S. lead to 14-5 at the half.

The USA U-20s came out strong after the break, with standout Seymira Salami darting in for a try in the corner and Catherine Parkhill successfully booting an impressive kick to bring the tally to 21-5.

However, the U.S. fell into a patch of trouble when captain Lisa Henneman was sent to the sin bin for a high tackle and Parkhill was shown red. The South African side capitalized on the adjustments among the U.S. backs to pull within striking distance, 21-17, following tries in the 16th and 21st minutes.

The final eight minutes of play saw the U.S. go down to 13 players when Seymira Salami was sin binned for not releasing, but the team’s forwards continued to dominate and the entire U.S. team committed to fend off the South African team for the victory. Despite one last desperate attempt for the try line by South Africa, the final blow signaled an end result of 21-17.

“The team put in an amazingly gutsy performance. They stayed focused and disciplined and were able to gut it out to the end. There were times when it looked like we might miss out by one point, but this team simply would not allow that to happen,” Under-20 Women’s Coach Bryn Chivers said.

“The entire coaching staff is immensely pleased with the team’s performance and we’re so thankful for the great amount of support we’ve received from our hosts and the fans in South Africa.”

For more information on the USA Under-20 Women’s National Team, please visit www.usarugby.org/goto/womens_u20.

USA 21
15. Tyra McGrady (Indiana), 14. Seymira Salami (State College, PA), 13. Marie Timm (USMA), 12. Lisa Henneman (C) (Seattle Women), 11. Blaine Martin (Brown), 10. Sadie Anderson (Fort Collins, CO), 9. Catherine Parkhill (Armstrong, MN), 1. Joanna Kitlinski (Grand Valley State), 2. Tayo Mafe (Michigan State), 3. Rachel Sommer (West Linn, OR), 4. Mallory Ives (Colorado State), 5. Anneke Brand (Texas Tech), 6. Candace Barley (Maryville, TN), 7. Jozy Gessner (Summit, CO), 8. Katie Johnson (Hopkins, MN)

Replacements: 16. Jay Marie Hill (Stanford), 17. Brittany Rose (West Chester East), 18. Alex Hartley (Brown) repl. Johnson, 19. Brittany Woodard (Hyde School, DC), 20. Kayla Morisoli (San Jose State) repl. Martin, 21. Lauren Danielsen (Summit, CO),
22. BriAnna Barto (Summit, CO) repl. Hartley

Tries: Mafe (2), Salami
Conversions: Parkhill (3)
Yellow cards: Henneman, Salami
Red card: Parkhill

**USA U-20 Women's National Team Game 1 vs South Africa, go here.

**USA U-20 Women's National Team Game 2 vs Developmental team, go here.

**Bryn Chivers gives an update on events, venues etc for upcoming U-20 WNT Events, go here.

USA Rugby is pleased to announce a Coach Development workshops in San Marcos, Texas July 19th thru July 20th at Texas State University and in Tulsa, OK July 26th thru July 27th at the Tulsa Rugby Field. Both Introducing Rugby and Developing Rugby Skills workshops will be offered and will run concurrently Saturday and Sunday from 9am to 5pm both days.

Don’t miss your chance to register for $125 – log on to the Coaches’ Portal or call Kate Strickland (P: 303.539.0300 x129) to enroll now! Remember, the old CAP level 1, 2 & 3 accreditation is no longer offered and to remain certified you will need to participate in the updated program.

COST:
Coaches’ Portal: $20 annually (you must be a member of the Coaches’ Portal in order to register for a workshop)

Price changes (Noon MST on day listed) for San Marcos camp:

· Friday July 4th - $175
· Friday July 11th - $225
· Wednesday July 16th - $300 (online registration closes)
· Walk-in - $300

Price changes (Noon MST on day listed) for Tulsa camp:

· Friday July 11th - $175
· Friday July 18th - $225
· Wednesday July 23th - $300 (online registration closes)
· Walk-in - $300

For a complete schedule and to find out more about the Coach Development Program please visit www.usarugby.org/goto/cdp

Help spread the word; forward this email on to other rugby enthusiasts in your area! Hope to see you there!

SUMMER 2008 CDP SCHEDULE:

DATE	LOCATION	WORKSHOP(S)
June 28-29, 2008	Providence, RI	Introducing Rugby and Developing Rugby Skills
July 12-13, 2008	Omaha, NE	Introducing Rugby
July 19-20, 2008	San Marcos, TX	Introducing Rugby and Developing Rugby Skills
July 26-27, 2008	Tulsa, OK	Introducing Rugby
July 26-27, 2008	Washington, DC	Introducing Rugby and Developing Rugby Skills
Aug 2-3, 2008	Chicago, IL	Introducing Rugby and Developing Rugby Skills
Aug 9-10, 2008	Piscataway, NJ	Introducing Rugby and Developing Rugby Skills
Aug 16-17, 2008	Des Moines, IA	Introducing Rugby

I received an email a few weeks ago from Peter Dawson about being evasive (the sidestep) in Rugby and how important it is:

Hi Wendy,

In your entry about "WNT Elite Camp Wraps up" you report that Women's National Team Head Coach Kathy Flores said.
"For the backs, it's understanding the importance of the agility work to make them as evasive .....as possible."

This is just a note to suggest you might like to visit so you can let your readers know about a fantastic new rugby resource that is available - my website!

It contains information on being evasive (the sidestep) that you will be hard pressed to find elsewhere.

I do hope you and your readers will visit rugby-sidestep-central and benefit from doing so.

The site has been mentioned recently and linked to by TotalFlanker and...is currently the 'featured website of the month' in the museum section of RugbyRelics.

Best Wishes,
Peter

So I checked out his site and really liked the information I found on it. He has some great videos:

His site also goes over the first sidestep's and a few moderns sidesteps. More than that his site has some great information on rugby in general! Make sure to check out his site and check out these other sites as well:

Julie McCoy Footwork Camps - Site appears to be down, but I'm sure there are some footwork camps happening out there. Email me if the site has moved, or if anyone has any info on new camps by Julie. Here are some photos of a camp from last year in Little Rock, AR, it was for the Women's National Team 7s.

Alex Williams Rugby Camps for Women - I have heard from a few teammates and bloggers that they attended a camp last year and they loved it! The site hasn't been updated in a bit, but they do say they are planning to host a few camps in the 2008 summer. Email me if you have any more info!

All Sports Footwork Camp - I found this site while searching around on Google for rugby footwork camps. I have never heard of it before, or talked to anyone about it. But it was mentioned on a few other blogs, so I thought I would include it. Has anyone been to one of the camps?

There are plenty of camps held overseas, so it is exciting to see that these types of camps and/or ideals are picking up in America. Anything we can do to elevate the level of rugby in the states is a good thing in my opinion! Let me know if I missed any camps or if you know of any others.

Today will dawn a new day here at Your Scrumhalf Connection. I mentioned earlier in the month that I would start having more videos on my site since The Girl and I had just purchased a new video camera! Well here is the first installment of matches from the 2008 Summer 7s season.

Can you tell I'm excited? And here is a great shot of me waiting to ref a game...and I am taping a game!

So here goes, I am still working out what quality I want to shoot the film at, editing it and all...so bear with me as I work this new thing out!

If you want to see what other adventures the Satiated Beavers are up to this year, make sure to check out the BEAVER DEN.

Satiated Beavers vs HARC for 3rd/4th - Dallas 7s 2008 - 1st Half



Satiated Beavers vs HARC for 3rd/4th - Dallas 7s 2008 - 2nd Half



Satiated Beavers vs Little Rock Semi-Final - Dallas 7s 2008 - 1st Half



Satiated Beavers vs Little Rock Semi-Final - Dallas 7s 2008 - 2nd Half




2008 Bloodfest 7s- Satiated Beavers vs A&M Phatties 1st Half



2008 Bloodfest 7s- Satiated Beavers vs A&M Phatties 2nd Half



2008 Bloodfest 7s- Old Valkyries vs A&M Phatties (*only 2nd half)



Keep an eye out for videos on the 2008 Debutante Ball...I haven't had time to work on those yet, but they are coming!

from USA Rugby:

NELSPRUIT, South Africa – In the second match of its South African tour, the Under-20 Women’s National Team shut out the Mpumalanga Provincial Side 87-0 on Tuesday, June 24, at the Nelspruit Rugby Stadium.

Utilizing size and strength, the USA side took an early lead and never looked back in its game against the provincial team predominantly comprised of university students, scoring as early as the second minute when Rachel Sommer touched down the USA’s first try.

Before the close of the first half, the USA U-20s would score six more tries, with Seymira Salami completing a hat trick, including returning a kickoff to score, and Jozy Gessner, Catherine Parkhill and Mallory Ives each contributing a try a piece. Parkhill also converted three and chipped in a penalty kick to help put the U.S. securely at 44-0 heading into the break.

Salami and Parkhill were also key contributors to the USA’s second half scoring run, Salami adding 15 more points to her tally after the break and Parkhill kicking for six additional points before the end. The USA’s Kayla Morisoli, Tyra McGrady, Blaine Martin and Alisa Ly also notched a try each, while BriAnna Barto kicked for one conversion to bring the final score up to 87-0.

“The girls put together a strong performance and played really well today. After changing the way we handled the breakdown, our team was more aggressive than in the opening match against South Africa,” USA Under-20 Women’s Team Head Coach Bryn Chivers said. “We made some minor adjustments in practice leading up to today’s game and held a lot more possession as a result.”

“Parkhill and Salami each had big games but it’s hard to single out players – the whole team had a great game. They all set goals and were really focused on achieving those,” Chivers added.

The U-20 WNT will finish off its three-match tour on Saturday, June 28 with a rematch against the South Africa Under-20 Women’s National Team following a 23-12 loss on Saturday, June 21.

USA U20 Team vs. Mpumalanga Provincial Side
1 Joanna Kitlinski (Grand Valley State)
2 Tayo Mafe (Michigan State)
3 Rachel Sommer (West Linn, OR)
4 Mallory Ives (Colorado State)
5 Brittany Rose (West Chester East)
6 Alisa Ly (U of Minnesota)
7 Jozy Gessner (Summit, CO)
8 Alex Hartley (Brown)
9 Catherine Parkhill (Armstrong, MN)
10 Lauren Danielsen (Summit, CO)
11 Blaine Martin (Brown)
12 Lisa Henneman (C) (Seattle Women)
13 Kayla Morisoli (San Jose State)
14 Seymira Salami (State College, PA)
15 Tyra McGrady (Indiana)
16 Jay Marie Hill (Stanford)
17 Anneke Brand (Texas Tech)
18 Maggie Reidy (Divine Savior, WI)
19 Candace Barley (Maryville, TN)
20 Brittany Woodard (Hyde School, DC)
21 BriAnna Barto (Summit, CO)
22 Sadie Anderson (Fort Collins, CO)
23 Marie Timm (USMA)
24 Katie Johnson (Hopkins, MN)

USA 87
Tries: Salami 6, Sommer, Gessner, Parkhill, Ives, Morisoli, McGrady, Martin, Ly
Conversions: Parkhill 6, Barto
Penalty kicks: Parkhill

**USA U-20 Women's National Team Game 1 vs South Africa, go here.

**USA U-20 Women's National Team Game 3 vs South Africa, go here.

**Bryn Chivers gives an update on events, venues etc for upcoming U-20 WNT Events, go here.

Ice Cream for a Good Cause

On Thursday, June 26th, from 6-9 pm, Ben & Jerry's in West Lake will donate 25% of its total sales to the Austin Valkyries Women's Rugby Club. That means you have the best excuse ever to come cool off and eat ice cream while helping an active group in our community!

Feel free to join some of your fellow "chunk-spelunkers" in taking on the Vermonster - a giant bucket of 20 scoops of ice cream with all the sundae toppings you can think of - brownies, cookies, bananas, chocolate fudge, whipped cream, etc. Join up with a friend and see if you can tame the beast in just 30 minutes - if you do, it's FREE and both eaters get a year's worth of Ben & Jerry's! If you lose, it costs $49.99 (25% of which will go to the rugby team) but you'll get the glory of at least having played. And having eaten a lot of sweets. I know some folks who are planning their flavors already...

Please tell all your friends, make it an ice cream happy hour after work, and come help the Valkyries raise some money!

I totally forgot that I never blogged about the Valkyries trip to Atlanta, read the recap from Bags below:

The Austin Valkyries closed their spring 15's season with a successful trip to Atlanta this weekend, earning a split decision against a strong Harlequins squad and having our usual bevy of adventures and mischief-making. Game & social reports are below:

Game 1 (Atlanta "A" v. mixed Valks side): 32-24 Atlanta

Austin showed the effects of travel and dispersed housing arrangements by starting the match awfully slowly...then again they don't call it HOT-lanta for nothing and the ref's HARC socks should have tipped us off that we'd be playing in a pea soup of humidity. Needless to say, Atlanta outweighed our pack by about 15 lbs/player and figured out they could maul on us...which set up several breaks of the overloaded Valkyrie backline. However, after about 20 minutes of that nonsense the Valkryies roared to life, dominating the final ten minutes of the first half to put up 12 unanswered points thanks to two tries from Heidi Whitman -- one up the weak side set up by a stolen scrum & pass from Meredith Bagley, and one around the outside corner showing her classic speed & swerves. Buoyed by this result the Valks played with a keen fury in the second half, finally hitting low and poaching the ball in rucks to narrow the Atlanta lead. Tries were scored in two classic Valkyrie styles: a kick from Meg Pace off the back of a ruck (under which your author was lying...) that was nimbly chased down by rookie wing Fanni who found Heidi in support, then hooker Shalay Mefford unleashed her slippery moves by squirting through a gap near a break down, popping to T-Hole, who found Heiny for a gorgeous try that elicited several "whoops" from the sidelines.

Game 2 (Atlanta "B" v. mixed Valks): 24-0 Austin

Having mastered the heat and withstood the initial Atlanta attack, the Valkyries dominated the Harlequins B side in our second match of the day. The Valks were camped out in the Atlanta end much of the first half, maintaining possession with strong pod play and direct pick-and-go's, forcing Atlanta to kick out of their own try zone a half-dozen times. Highlight try of the first half again involved the slick maneuvers of Shalay Mefford who, after a poached ruck (which, again, your author found herself underneath...) at about half field, found herself in the open on the far wing. Panic? No. Run straight into contact? No. Shalay, drawing on our 4 months of ball line warmups, cut directly at the defender marking Heidi, drawing her attention & flipping the ball to Heidi at the perfect moment for a flawlessly executed switch (or so I'm told, from my face-in-dirt ruck position). The second half continued apace, with a fun switcheroo between flyhalf Bags and scrumhalf Meg, as the Valks fought through heat exhaustion and Georgia fire ants to maintain their shutout of the 'Quins. Best try of this half had to be a gorgeous series of back line continuity that included about 5 players running close support with Bags feeding Meg at the 5 meter line for an untouched try. Atlanta defenders were literally left hanging at our ankles and even the ref complimented the play.

Kangaroo court & Costume report:

As we all know, the off-field activities are just as important, especially on road trips, as game scores and here again the Valks did not disappoint. We had 100% participation on our theme of "Creative Rugby Shirt you Always Wish you Had" with special acknowledgment to Meg's safety pinned nostalgia collection, Angela's use of Mona Lisa, Alexis's re-bus & drawing skills and Kitty's nod to presidential politics. Even Vaden, who ran into a touch of legal trouble about her shirt, made a great effort to win the drink up...And win we did!

Only about 25% of Atlanta have their costume on, and we also won a boat race AND sent more singers to the circle for rousing verses of our old favorites. Court commenced after the singing, with Rachel Kraft, Esq. rounding up all the Valkyrie criminals and Judge Bags overseeing punishments. Guilty parties entertained the crowd with interpretive dances, swing dances, 5 reasons rugby is the best sport ever, and 5 reasons Texas is better than France. Valkyrie court is in recess til next fall, and Beaver court will assume jurisdiction as soon as practice commences. Crimes & heinous violations at Men's Super 16s and Rookie party are eligible, however, for future prosecution...

All in all, a fantastic trip, a successful result, and a great cap to our spring season. We missed our absent teammates, be they stuck at work, healing from injury, or playing for the West 15's all-stars. We should all feel very optimistic for the fall 15s season -- we have depth, talent, commitment, leadership, coaching and vision for WINNING THE WEST and making nationals. Go Valks!!!

Yours in Rugby,
Bags

Pictures from Atlanta by Shalay Mefford here and here.

As promised last week here is the USA Rugby NCAA Video that was presented during the NASCs (ITTs) in PA this year. The video was shown during a few of the games at NASCs, and was awesome! So here it is and a few other highly recommended videos are listed as well:

USA Rugby's, Girls' Varsity Rugby OPPORTUNITY VIDEO (could not be embedded)


Women's NCAA Rugby

USA Rugby Women's Rugby Trailer



Other Rugby Video Mondays:
6/17/2008: USA Rugby Youth Promotional Trailer
6/9/2008: West All Star Senior Rugby Fun in the Pool!
6/2/2008: Rugby is Beauty
5/27/2008: Rugby in Dresses!
5/19/2005: AMAZING try in Rugby league
5/12/2008: Sharks vs Minnows
5/5/2008: Trent University Women's Rugby Highlight Reel

Read below for the latest news on the NCAA front:

U.S. Rugby Athletes Called Upon to Tackle Opportunity

Although rugby has been on the Emerging Sports List since 2002, it remained relatively unknown to athletic officials and administrators until last year when USA Rugby was granted a full-time staff member and budget for the initiative. As a result, USA Rugby has rapidly gained exposure and visibility to athletic administrations at a number of institutions, but needs the support of rugby athletes to spur faster progress and embrace this opportunity.

Currently, there are approximately 300 women's collegiate club teams participating within USA Rugby with nearly 7,500 women playing rugby in the United States at the collegiate club level. Although these numbers are much greater than other emerging sports, there has been surprisingly little movement by women’s collegiate rugby clubs to petition their universities for varsity status.

In order to gain more opportunity for female athletes in rugby within the NCAA, these numbers represent a critical factor known as "interest". There are thousands of comments circulating today on blogs, websites, articles and e-mails on the topic of rugby’s increasing popularity at the college level and how much the community strives to help it grow. Yet, one of the most prevalent questions posed to USA Rugby staff remains, "Why do we only have 4 NCAA women's teams with all the interest at the club level in college AND why aren’t more programs petitioning for varsity status?"

While the USA Rugby staff is the critical driver of the campaign to NCAA officials and athletic departments, the power truly lies with the students currently playing rugby.

Big 12 Universities Onboard

Some institutions housing successful club teams, including Texas A &M, the University of Colorado at Boulder and Texas Tech have all been part of the process since day one with several other Big 12 schools taking part in the process. Head Coach Will Riddle of the Texas A & M Women's Club program is among those convinced that NCAA varsity status would be a positive move for the institution in adding women's rugby.

"The involvement of the NCAA is vital to the continued growth of rugby in the United States. If Texas A&M and the other Big 12 institutions don't take advantage of this opportunity now, it will pass us by," Riddle stated. "There's far too much potential here to let that happen."

Teams like Texas A & M and the University of Colorado both tout nearly 40 player squads consistently, which speaks volumes in terms of gender equity and demand for women's rugby not only in conferences like the Big 12, but in the U.S.

Click here for the rest of this article.

Click here for the latest NCAA Newsletter from USA Rugby.

from USA rugby

NELSPRUIT, South Africa – Despite trailing by just a one point deficit at halftime, the USA Under-20 Women's National Team was defeated by the South Africa U-20, 23-7 in the opening game of its three-match South African Tour on Saturday, June 21.

In a cool partly-cloudy weather with no wind, the South Africans opened their account in the sixth minute with a try by winger Lindiwe Masole. Fly-half Zenay Jordaan failed to convert.

However, the Americans replied four minutes later with a try by flanker Katherine Johnson. Fly-half Lisa Hennenans conversion gave the visitors their maximum points for the afternoon.

The home side ended the first half with a lead in the 25th minute when Masole scored a penalty kick. The half-time score of the match at Nelspruit High School was 8-7.

In the second half, the Americans were subjected to further Masole punishment when she earned her team three points in the 48th minute, after a penalty against the visitors.

Two tries within three minutes sealed the fate of the Americans when centre Celeste April scored in the 52nd minute and full-back Aimee Barrett (captain) in the 55th. Masole failed to convert the former but was successful with the latter.

The U-20 Women are scheduled to play two additional games in Nelspruit, the capital of the South African province of Mpumalanga. The team meets another test against the South Africa Under-20 Women on June 28, and also has a match versus the Mpumalanga Senior Women on June 25.

For more information on the USA Women’s National Under-20s, please visit www.usarugby.org/goto/Womens_U20.

The USA Under-20 Starting Lineup:
1 Rachel Sommer (West Linn, OR)
2 Brittany Woodard Hyde School, DC
3 Jay Marie Hill Stanford
4 Anneke Brand Texas Tech
5 Maggie Reidy Divine Savior Holy Angels, WI
6 Candace Barley Maryville, TN
7 Katie Johnson Hopkins, MN
8 Alex Hartley Brown
9 BriAnna Barto Summit, CO
10 Lisa Henneman (C) Seattle Women
11 Tyra McGrady Indiana
12 Marie Timm USMA
13 Catherine Turnerdrown Riverton,UT
14 Seymi Salami State College, PA
15 Sadie Anderson Fort Collins, CO

Reserves:
16 Joanna Kitlinski Grand Valley State
17 Tayo Mafe Michigan State
18 Mallory Ives Colorado State
19 Jozy Gesner Summit, CO
20 Catherine Parkhill Armstrong, MN
21 Kayla Morisoli San Jose State
22 Blaine Martin Brown

The U19 Girls Rugby blog has a quick writeup of their 2 day trip to South Africa, I'm sure they will have more posts about the trip, so keep checking back!

**USA U-20 Women's National Team Game 1 vs South Africa, go here.

**USA U-20 Women's National Team Game 2 vs Developmental team, go here.

**USA U-20 Women's National Team Game 3 vs South Africa, go here.

**Bryn Chivers gives an update on events, venues etc for upcoming U-20 WNT Events, go here.

Quick video of the MEN'S U-20 Match against South Africa a few weeks ago. Couldn't find any videos or photos of the women's match though.

This post is dedicated to the The Girl and the long journey to the 2008 NASC (ITTs) in Pittsburgh, PA. First is a short summary leading up to the long journey and last is The Girl's delirious story of the night that never ended.

Note: The Girl is my girlfriend, best friend, and more, she asked to have her identity to be silent and a secret. So if you know who she is, please respect her privacy and don't reveal her!

Since The Girl is changing careers this year from a number cruncher to a High School Math Teacher she has had to make some hard choices. For the last 2 years she has been the Assistant Coach of the West U23s and before that played for 5 years on the West U23 team as well. This year she had to leave the U23s in the capable hands of the other coaches as her student teaching was starting the week of NASCs.

However she decided to tryout for the West Senior rugby team as well this year. Of course she made the team, so she had an even bigger decision to make! Eventually she decided to bow out of coaching completely and to arrive on Thursday in PA to play for the Senior side. Upon searching for tickets to PA, she realized that it was going to be horribly expensive, finally she purchased a ticket and it was $660!

*Thanks to the Texas Rugby Union (TRU), Austin Valkyries and the Austin Valkyries Alumni group, The Girl did receive several donations...off setting the cost of the ticket quite a bit.


Greetings!!!

Good morning everyone... I'm signed in at the Philadelphia airport... that's right! you heard correct... yes it may be 5:30am (4:30am Texas time) but I am not delirious (or maybe I am) I am in deed in Philadelphia and not Pittsburgh.

So what had happened was.... thanks to the great driving skills and street knowledge of Meg Pace (Amen to Austin Fire women) I arrived at the Austin airport in plenty of time for my 5:45pm flight yesterday... while I was on time, the oh so not friendly American Airlines flight was not.... so I get to Dallas at 7:15pm for my 7:30 departure to Pittsburgh (yes the correct city)... the nice little flight attendant came on the loud speaker and asked all passengers who did not have a connection to please stay seated to let the passengers that DO have a connection to d-board the plane first...does anyone listen to this nice flight attendant?? HECK NO! I seriously thought about doing rucking drills down the center isle, but being I was stuck by the window! I could not get to the isle, so i was stuck...

side note: in the future, anytime the nice flight attendant makes that announcement and that applies to you, please remain in your seat!!

ok where was I....so, I had a mile sprint warm-up in the airport to my gate (which was in another terminal) (thank god for those workouts!) I arrived at the gate at 7:30pm (remind you thats when the flight was to take off)... ok so maybe it was like 7:30 and 30 seconds... BUT I COULD SEE THE PLANE!!! Did they let me on...NO! So yes I got a little irate and probably had security on the way to taze me...but I was very upset!

So... chapter 2 of the story (I know, we are only on chapter 2!?).... after thinking of every possible way to get me to Pittsburgh by Thursday night... I was on the phone talking with Wendy... there was thought of me driving from Philly to Pitt... or Wendy coming to get me... or flying up in the morning... I finally decided on leaving Dallas at 8:30pm which put me in Philadelphia at 1 am!!!!! I then went to a hotel (yes I got that sh*t comped what what!) at 2am... proceeded to sleep until 4:30am... do the math... and now I am at the airport awaiting my 7am (6am Texas time) departure to Philly which gets me there at 810am... and warm up starts at 9am!!!

thanks for reading,
The Girl

And that is her version of the story...what a journey, but its what a lot of rugby players go through to play this sport that we love. We just have to keep reminding ourselves that we love this game, we love our teams and we love what rugby has done for us.

Ticket to Pittsburgh: $660 (but landed in Philadelphia!)
Ticket from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh: $141
Donations from Teammates and Union: over $500
Playing the sport we all love? PRICELESS

For other tales during the 2008 NASC visit these links:

Links to Day 1 NASC - West U23s, Day 2 NASC - West U23s, Day 3 NASC - West U23s and Seniors, 2008 NASC Day 4 - West U23s & Seniors, 2008 NASC Day 5 - West U23s & Seniors, 2008 NASC Day 6 - West U23s & Seniors and the 2008 NASC Full Results.

The last day of the trip is always hard, but you have to wake up and play some rugby first. This year we (the West Senior team ) lost on Friday to MARFU 50 to 8, and that loss was hard to take. Our trainings the day before had felt strong, tight and intense, but we didn't bring it on Friday and they did. So today was about playing for heart and pride as we did not want to be last in the standings. We played the South who had lost to the MARFU developmental team on Friday.

The game seemed very long and drawn out, usually rugby games are so quick and fast...this one was completely the opposite. I don't necessarily know if anyone felt the same, but that's how I felt. Perhaps it was because it was the end of a long week of rugby, perhaps it was because I was watching the match...who knows. Regardless the West played well and we were able to shut out the South 13 - 0. The game highlighted our unselfish play and teamwork as we pounded the ball hard in the forwards and then moved it out wide to the gazelles. The game plan was simple and we worked it well as a team.

Towards the end of the game I began wondering if I was going to get to get to play, I know I am coming off a major injury, but I can't help my competitive spirit. The clock was winding down to about 12 minutes when the coaches decided to put me in. I threw on a jersey and quickly warmed up and then waited as my precious minutes ticked off the clock. The touch judge was less than worried about getting me in the game. I was literally yelling at the ref to put me in! Finally I got on the field and the action began. After a few phases of open play the ball ended in touch where there was a South injury. The backs were looking at the clock and realizing that there wasn't much time left, so why don't we run it out of our red zone?

We didn't run it all the way in the try zone before time was up, but we moved it to their side of the pitch, and it felt wonderful to be out there directing traffic, running in support and orchestrating the game plan. I loved it...good to be back!

After our win, The Girl and I hurried over to the West U23 game which had a half left. The game was not looking as good for the U23s as they were losing pretty badly. It seemed like all the momentum and steam they had against the MARFU U23 Developmental side had left them. The coaches tried to bolster them at halftime and I told the subs on the sideline that they had better be hoarse after the game because they needed to hear us roar. Towards the end of the game we did see some sparks of energy, but nothing big enough to have a big comeback like I was hoping for. They left their hearts out there, but the NRU U23 team won it 41 to 3.

After the game we stayed to hang out and watch the rest of the games, the U23 and Senior finals were both awesome (even if the scores don't show it) and I am glad we were able to watch. It was disappointing that the 3rd and 4th place matches were being played at the same time and they couldn't watch the finals. Weird schedule...

After the games the mad rush to the rental, hotels (those staying Sun night) and airport began. I went with the U23 girls and we made good time with only a few mishaps. As we dropped people off at the airport we learned that anyone flying through Chicago or the Midwest was going to be delayed due to weather. It was hard to be upset as so many people have lost so much, but sometimes after a rugby trip all you want to do is go home!

Links to Day 1 NASC - West U23s, Day 2 NASC - West U23s, Day 3 NASC - West U23s and Seniors, 2008 NASC Day 4 - West U23s & Seniors, 2008 NASC Day 5 - West U23s & Seniors, 2008 NASC Day 6 - West U23s & Seniors and the 2008 NASC Full Results.

Saturday is a RUGBY DAY! Well not really, at NASCs it is a built in day of rest! Since everyone was recovering and revamping from the matches on Friday, it was a great rest day. The West Senior side had a light practice in the morning. After practice we were approached by the PerfectWater representatives that wanted to show us their new product.

I guess the PerfectWater people had been to the USA Rugby office in Boulder, CO the week before, so a few of the players already knew what PerfectWater was, but I had no idea what it was. Evidently it is a new product on the market and they are directly marketing to sports like rugby, so we were a perfect pitch for their PerfectWater. Make sure to check out their website at http://www.drinkperfectwater.com/.

So after practice and our PerfectWater we all headed back to the hotel to shower up real quick and hit the town of Pittsburgh for some touristy stuff. The Girl and I quickly jumped in a van with a few teammates and we headed out to explore.

We met most of the team at the Church of the Brew Works for some lunch and some adult beverages. On the outside it appears to be a regular church but on the inside they have changed it in to a restaurant with a brewery included! The architecture was mostly intact and they took special care to use the old pews in building the bar, stairs etc. It was beautiful, but slightly soul stirring as I sipped my Pipe Organ Pale Ale.

After the Church of the Brew Works we split up from the team and our van decided to head to the Duquesne Incline in downtown Pittsburgh. The Duquesne Incline officially opened for business back on May 20, 1877 and served as one of four original inclines used to transport passengers and freight to the residential area along “Coal Hill,” which today is known as “Mt. Washington.” The ride was quite short, but the view of the city was unsurpassed, it could have only been better if the sky had been clear, but still a pretty view.

In the picture to the right, The Girl looks out over the city while I sneak a picture of her. At the top of the hill after the short incline ride there were a few sweet shops, bars, an ice cream shop...it was cute and quaint. After walking around for a bit we realized that we probably needed to head back to the hotel as we had team dinner and the ever exciting rookie skit!

We had dinner at Carrino's and they were so sweet! Evidently the manager is an old rugger from the Pittsburgh Harlequins and he was so very awesome! After we pigged out, we eagerly awaited the rookie skit to be performed! We were not disappointed as every veteran was poked fun at and some got more fun than others! No video of the skit this year, I wasn't feeling so hot so I totally forgot the camera.

However, I have some other videos of us goofing around...check them out:

2008 Plank Game Challenge Part 1

2008 Plank Game Challenge Part 2



2008 Plank Game Winners



2008 Dance Off with your Pants OFF!



Links to Day 1 NASC - West U23s, Day 2 NASC - West U23s, Day 3 NASC - West U23s and Seniors, 2008 NASC Day 4 - West U23s & Seniors, 2008 NASC Day 5 - West U23s & Seniors, 2008 NASC Day 6 - West U23s & Seniors and the 2008 NASC Full Results.

Totally forgot it was Monday yesterday, between travelling and having a huge week packed full of rugby, it just slipped my mind. This week's video is focused on Youth and High School Rugby and the grassroots movements that are slowly happening in surrounding cities and towns across the US.

While at NASCs 2008 I attended a short promotional session on NCAA Rugby in the US, it was a great talk and thanks to USA Rugby for putting it on. I tried to search for the video from that meeting, but couldn't find it. I will keep searching and post it if I find it.

Other Rugby Video Mondays:
6/9/2008: West All Star Senior Rugby Fun in the Pool!
6/2/2008: Rugby is Beauty
5/27/2008: Rugby in Dresses!
5/19/2005: AMAZING try in Rugby league
5/12/2008: Sharks vs Minnows
5/5/2008: Trent University Women's Rugby Highlight Reel
4/29/2008: Hong Kong 7s USA Women's National Team
4/21/2008: Greatest Rugby Tackles

I am only on Day 4 of my write-up of my trip, but here are the full results and scores from USA Rugby:

PITTSBURGH – Mid-Atlantic (MARFU) defended its 2007 Under-23 title and the Northeast snapped the Midwest’s Senior division winning streak as the USA Rugby National Guard Under-23 and Senior Women’s All-Star Championships wrapped up today at Founders Field.

In the Under-23 Women’s championship match, the reigning champion MARFU team took control of its meeting with the Midwest early on, scoring three unanswered tries in the first half to go up 19-0 before the break. After switching sides, the Midwest still struggled to finish offensively and by the final blow MARFU had surged ahead to a final score of 29-0.

“We feel good about defending our title. We changed our plan from our Pac (Pacific Coast) game,” Mid-Atlantic Head Coach Lisa Rosen said. “We knew that Midwest would have a steep backline so we switched up our defense and played an aggressive game.”

Kate Daley, who led the scoring charge for the MARFU Sharks with three tries in the final match, was named the National Guard Under-23 All-Star Championships MVP by Women’s National Team selectors.

Pacific Coast steamrolled past the Southern California U-23 team in the third place match, easily shutting out the Griffins with a final score of 56-0. Pac Coast fullback Kristen Demaria proved troublesome for SoCal, scoring – 21 points in her team’s big win. Following the loss, SoCal now moves down to Tier B for next year’s competition.

Meanwhile, the Northeast Under-23s easily put down the West in the battle for fifth place to earn a promotion to Tier A for next year’s competition. Although the West was first to get on the board with an early penalty kick from Erin Wood, the NRU took over from there, scoring seven tries for a final score of 41-3. Tess Kohanski led the way for the Northeast with five tries.

In the contest for seventh place, the South Under-23s dealt the TU developmental squad a convincing 63-7 victory. The developmental team scored its only points late in the first half off a try by Monique McQueen and conversion from Christie Taylor, while the South was propelled by fullback Suzanne Uchneat, who had 31 points in her team’s victory.

Over in the Senior Women’s Championship, the two-time defending champions from the Midwest proved no match for the powerful pack and swift footing of the Northeast. In a true team effort, the NRU side spread the ball around to go up 19-0 before the break and continued to grow its lead in the second half.

After switching sides, the Northeast would score three more unanswered tries before the end. Christina Hobson and Kelly McMahon contributed one a piece before speedster Jenna Flateman broke free and blazed down the side for her team’s last try to bring the final tally to 34-0 – NRU’s return to the top for the first time since 2005.

In recognition of an outstanding combined showing, the Northeast pack was recognized by Women’s National Team Head Coach Kathy Flores as the MVP of the Senior Women’s competition.

“I think we played really in our match against Pac on Friday, but we knew we had things to work on. In practice yesterday we spent an hour in the scrum machine fine-tuning and the results certainly showed through on the field today – both Christina Hobson and Phaidra Knight gave standout performances,” said Northeast Head Coach Drew Fautley. “Although our forwards received the MVP award, I definitely don’t want to take anything away from the backs. This was 100 percent a team effort.”

The remainder of the Senior Women’s division was also marked by other shutout victories, including the third place meeting between the Pacific Coast and SoCal, which saw the Pac Coast get out to 22-0 lead by the end of the first half, before sealing the deal in a 32-0 final. Following the loss, SoCal will be relegated to Tier B.

The MARFU Senior side overpowered its developmental counterpart in the 5th/6th place match, with a 31-0 final tally. Vanesha McGee led the way for the Sharks with a pair of tries, while fullback Elizabeth Black converted three of the six tries in the win, which earned MARFU I a promotion to Tier A for next year’s all-stars competition.

In the Tier B consolation match , the lower seeded West team defeated the No. 5 seed South team 13-0. The Mustang’s Deanna McGillivray started things off for the West with a drop goal, while Bethany Zick and Megan Knight added a try each.

For more information on the USA Rugby National Guard Under-23 and Senior Women’s All-Star Championships, visit www.usarugby.org/goto/USAR_Championships or contact Ashley Voss.

Day 2 Schedule – Founders Field

Under-23 Women
7/8th place - South 63, TU Developmental 7
5/6th place - Northeast 41, West 3
3/4th place - Pacific Coast 56, Southern California 0
Championship - MARFU 29, Midwest 0

Senior Women
7/8th place - West 13, South 0
5/6th place - MARFU 31, MARFU Developmental 0
3/4th place - Pacific Coast 32, Southern California 0
Championship - Midwest 34, Northeast 0

Day 1 Results

Under-23 Women
Northeast 43, South 0
West 80, TU Developmental 0
MARFU 15, Pacific Coast 10
Midwest 25, So Cal 7

Senior Women
MARFU 50, West 8
MARFU Devel 12, South 8
Midwest 20, So Cal 8
Northeast 19, Pacific Coast 10

Links to Day 1 NASC - West U23s, Day 2 NASC - West U23s, Day 3 NASC - West U23s and Seniors, 2008 NASC Day 4 - West U23s & Seniors, 2008 NASC Day 5 - West U23s & Seniors, 2008 NASC Day 6 - West U23s & Seniors and the 2008 NASC Full Results.

Alrighty, time for another post! Yea for stale airport air and delayed flights! Seems that most of my teammates have had their flights delayed, moved or outright canceled, what a headache this trip has become!

Back to the blog though, lets blog about Day 4 of my trip at the 2008 NASCs! The morning was early again as we were scheduled to play MARFU team at 10am, so warm ups began around 9am. I woke up that morning anxious and eager as I wanted our team to be successful in our match today. I knew that I was not going to play at all, or maybe just a few minutes, so I wasn't really worried about my performance. The team seemed to be in good spirits and we were all eager to get to the field and start our pre-match rituals.

The weather was dreary and dark as we approached the fields, and the clouds looked like they would burst at any minute. Sadly the game was pretty dark and dreary for the West senior side as well, MARFU was well conditioned and we simply could not keep up. After the game we learned that MARFU had had 3 matches together as an All-Star team and this was obviously a huge advantage for them. However, since excuses are not what makes a rugby team, we had to face facts that we did not perform as a team. We looked forward to Sunday's match against the South as a way to show everyone that we are a good team and we can bounce back from a beating.

But guess what? I got to play some rugby!! The coaches gave me ten minutes and it was amazing. At first I was a bit overwhelmed to be out on the pitch again (remember I have only played a few 7s matches since being released) but I quickly fell into the groove and started organizing the defense. I tackled a few times with no hesitation and rucked as well! It was great to be out on the field again in my element, playing scrumhalf...

So that loss was a tough one to take as we have been trapped in the bottom tier for quite some time now and we were hoping this would be the year we would be released. But it was not meant to be, so we have to look forward to our match on Sunday and work hard to beat the South.

Right after our game The Girl and I headed over to the West U23 vs MARFU motley game, we had only missed a few minutes, but the score was already 40-0 or so. But I do have to say that the score did not reflect that game at all, the motley played hard, fast rugby and really gave the West U23s a good match. The final score was quite high, but as a spectator if you didn't look at the score you would have thought it was 0-0 and the next try would win it all. Great rugby to watch!

Links to Day 1 NASC - West U23s, Day 2 NASC - West U23s, Day 3 NASC - West U23s and Seniors, 2008 NASC Day 4 - West U23s & Seniors, 2008 NASC Day 5 - West U23s & Seniors, 2008 NASC Day 6 - West U23s & Seniors and the 2008 NASC Full Results.

Whew, sorry I haven't been posting very often, this week has been pretty exhausting with practices early in the morning and doing triple duty as a trainer/coach & player. Exhausting!

On Thursday the senior team had all arrived (except for The Girl....that story is for another blog!) and we had our first two training sessions. Since the U23s practiced at the same field right before the Seniors, I was out at the fields again at 7am. They had a good hard physical practice with some split time where the forwards worked on defense and the backs polished off their plays. Practice was hard, intense and we all got a good sweat going on. All of the coaches jumped in to play offense so we had enough to give them a good run on defense.

Side note: I have always had a fascination with seeing if my coaches could really play. It started when I was young and playing soccer...I always wanted to challenge my coach and really see if they could hang. This fascination continues on now, so it was cool to see Angie, Will and Mary play and see their skills!

So when the Senior team showed up I was all warm and ready to go so I just jumped in to our dynamic warm up. It was nice to be back playing rugby at all, but it was also nice to be with old friends and teammates. WE got about 20 minutes in before we were asked to leave the practice field and were ushered up to the adjacent softball pitch. Evidently the field was not reserved after all as they wanted to do some maintenance on the fields. So we were forced to do walking rugby because the field was very hilly and not ideal for running at all. We adjusted and were able to get some training in and practice went well for our first gathering as a team again.

After practice we headed out to get some lunch and rest before our second training of the day in a few hours. Our van was full of energy as we had car dancing, loud music and lots of stories fro our past West adventures. It was great to be back with old friends and to reminisce about our playing days together.

The second training of the day was much better as we had an actual field to practice on. We had to do some bartering to get what we needed, but we ended up sharing the field with the MARFU U23 and Seniors...so no big deal. Practice was intense and sweaty as we did plenty of defense and a long team run. Our coaches drills are always interesting and I really enjoy them, so I look forward to trainings.

The night was simple and easy as we had team dinner and most of us hit the sack. Maybe tomorrow will blog about The Girl's long journey to PIT and the debacle that was...

Links to Day 1 NASC - West U23s, Day 2 NASC - West U23s, Day 3 NASC - West U23s and Seniors, 2008 NASC Day 4 - West U23s & Seniors, 2008 NASC Day 5 - West U23s & Seniors, 2008 NASC Day 6 - West U23s & Seniors and the 2008 NASC Full Results.