Your Scrumhalf Connection - Women's Rugby Blog

These videos are from Sept 20, 2008 and are from the a Collegiate Round Robin that Austin B participated in. Videopgraphers were myself, Tiffany H., and Rachel K., thanks for the help ladies!

Austin B vs. UT

Austin B vs Texas A&M

Austin B vs Texas A&M from Wendy Young on Vimeo

Like my videos? Subscribe to my Youtube Channel here and my Vimeo Channel here.

Susan sent in the link to this video for Rugby Video Monday, it is Philly vs Raleigh from two weekends ago (9/20/2008) and is a great highlight reel. WOW, that Philly scrum was driving them backwards! Looks like Philly defeated Raleigh 48-5 in this match.

More videos from this game can be found here, here and here.

Other Rugby Video Mondays:
9/22/2008: Girls Play Too!
9/8/2008: Vassar Spotlight
9/2/2008: Funny Rugby Clips

Please keep sending me your favorite videos: yourscrumhalfconnection@gmail.com!

I was going to take a few days to write about the painful experience that has been Austin vs Glendale this year, but the comments on my last post have gotten a little crazy! The point of that blog was not to stir up controversy or badmouth a team, if you read it that way, read it again and really read it this time.

A lot of injustices were done by Glendale and before you think I am just ripping Glendale, keep reading! Austin made a few mistakes as well. Glendale should have come to Austin when they were scheduled. As we all know, Austin was cleared of ANY weather concerning Hurricane Ike and the match should have continued as scheduled. Glendale should have also made more of an effort to come to Austin on a rescheduled date. Austin should have stuck to their guns and not agreed to move their match or accept to play Glendale in Colorado. Austin should have been more vigilant in what was best for their team, not convenient.

The West perhaps has made the most mistakes here, one single person made the decision to cancel this match and started this firestorm. It was not taken to the West board, or Competitions Committee, unfortunately one single man made this decision. On top of that, the West failed to appoint a fair and neutral referee, they also failed to appoint Assistant Referees that were certified and not from either team. In all, the West in general fails because they allowed ANY of this to happen.

However, I think we should turn the tables on this and try to put a positive spin on all of this...what can we learn from this?

- Home games should not be taken for granted, and teams should not lose their home field advantage if at all possible.
- Rescheduling the game should not be a hardship on either team if at all possible, but Friendlys and Tournaments should be canceled in order to play a League Match.
- Referees should be completely neutral and possibly brought in from other territories. IE: if Glendale is playing KC, have a ref from TX or Missouri.
- Assitant Referees must be in attendance and certified referees and not from either team.
- Safety is always a concern, but what constitutes a National Weather Emergency or Natural Disaster?
- Who really has control over this league? Bill Haffner or the West?

What other concerns do we have? Do you experience similar problems in your Union? Have anything to say positive or negative (lets try to be positive!) please leave it in the comments.

If we can't expect each other as teams to hold each other accountable for our actions, than how can we expect the West or USA Rugby to be held accountable as well?

This is a BIG weekend in West D1 Women's Rugby!! The games this weekend could literally almost decide who will be representing the West at Round of 16s.

Saturday, Sept 27, 2008 -
Austin vs Kansas City Jazz at 11am at Infinity Park
Austin vs Glendale at 4:30pm at Dick's Sporting Good Park

Sunday, Sept 28, 2008 -
Austin vs Boulder at 12pm at Pleasant View (followed by Austin B vs Black Ice B)

Current Standings are:


Past Results:

March 1 - Glendale vs Boulder 33-5
March 29 - Sabres vs Glendale 5-9
April 12 - Austin vs Jazz 29-17
April 19 - Black Ice vs Glendale FORFEIT
April 19 - Boulder vs Sabres 0-60
May 17 - Sabres vs Black Ice 38-7
Sept 13 - Jazz vs Sabres 10-0
September 20 - Jazz vs Black Ice 50-11

The remaining games for the West D1 season are:

Oct 4 - KC Jazz vs Boulder (in Kansas City)
Oct 11 - Austin vs St. Louis Sabres (in Austin)
Oct 11 - Boulder vs Black Ice (in Boulder)

Good luck to all this weekend!

from Planet Rugby

The International Rugby Board has unveiled England as the chosen nation to host the 2010 Women's Rugby World Cup.

The tournament, which was most recently held in Edmonton, Canada, will be staged in London and was subject to detailed tenders from the Rugby Football Union and German Rugby Union.

"The Rugby Football Union has considerable experience of hosting major international rugby tournaments, including Rugby World Cup," said Rugby World Cup Chairman Bernard Lapasset.

"With world-class facilities, strong tournament management and infrastructure and an extensive and enthusiastic support base for women's rugby, it is perfectly placed to host a memorable and successful Women's Rugby World Cup 2010."

UPDATE: Match was successfully rescheduled, for details check out this post.

Everyone come take a ride on the Merry Go Round...remember when you were a kid and you would sit in the middle of it and your best friend would spin and spin until you couldn't take it anymore? You would try to get up after it stop moving and you would feel nausea and pukey, its all you can do to hold the vomit down...That's pretty much a description of the 2008 West League Match season, specifically the match details vs Glendale. Here is a quick summary of our the Austin Valkyries Merry Go Round ride:

Hurricane Ike moves towards the Texas coast during the week before our League Match. There are broad reports of it being the worse storm to possibly hit Austin since 1961, so the Valkyries begin to make preparations in case the storm does hit or impacts us. Typically storms are forecast to hit Austin and surrounding areas, but usually the storms move around and do not hit Austin. True to that fact Hurricane Ike did not hit until early Saturday morning and the only affected areas were surrounding Houston and Beaumont.

During all of weather drama on Tuesday and Wednesday the Valkyrie Officers and Coaches have been in close contact with the Glendale Coach and Match Secretary. On Tuesday evening both teams decide to give the storm 24-48 hours in order to gauge safety and weather conditions. The storm continues to move Northeast during the next 24-48 and weather predictions only have a risk of high winds and 80% chance of rain for match day.

However, everything begins to shift dramatically Thursday morning when our Coach receives an call from Bill Haffner that there are concerns about safety and weather conditions for this match. Our Coach and Officers spend most of their workday on Thursday working with Bill and Glendale trying to keep the match on. We had requested further information on Hurricane Ike and received a report from OEM (Austin Office of Emergency Management) at 5:15pm saying all will be clear and safe. We also requested a report from FEMA and the National Weather Service and received their report at 6:30pm that Austin was OFF the "cities at risk" list. Our coach called an emergency meeting with the Austin Blacks at Burr field at 7pm and received permission to play in wind or rain at Burr Field. We also reserved a back-up field in case there was a large amount of rain. At 7:30pm our coach called the Glendale coach and confirmed that "the game was ON" - at 9pm confirmation of match and details were sent to West, TRU, Referee and both teams that the game is ON and will be played.

The Valkyries believe all is well and we continue our match preparations in case there are problems with the Hurricane. Friday morning at approximately 9am we receive an email from Bill Haffner that the game has been cancelled and we must reschedule with Glendale. Our coach quickly calls Haffner and the discovers the reason for canceling the match (given verbally over the phone) was "the storm may hit later and prevent travel out of Austin Saturday night." After pouring a stiff drink and buying pack of cigarettes, our Coach attempts to work within new template that implies "What Glendale wants, Glendale gets."

Since we are forced to reschedule by the West, we immediately offer the next weekend for the rescheduled match. Glendale refuses saying they are attending Aspen Ruggerfest. We suggest Sunday Oct. 5th and the response is "no, it costs too much." Glendale offers a counter offer of Sept. 27 and they can guarantee a forfeit by Black Ice (League Match) and they will move our Boulder Babes League Match to Sunday.

As soon as we received this counter offer of Sept 27 complete with forfeit and moving of a match, we contacted Black Ice and Boulder and asked if they had been informed of these decisions. Of course they had no idea what was going on and we suggested they call the Glendale coach as she was offering them up. Black Ice and Boulder were both of course appalled that these arrangements would be made without being consulted, and were extremely happy we had the integrity and fortitude to contact them.

On the originally scheduled match day we continued with our plans to play rugby and we hosted our B side vs Texas State in Austin, TX at the reserved pitch. The weather was picture perfect, the rugby was even more beautiful and we had a GREAT Hurricane Ike party.

Negotiations continued throughout the next week as Glendale, Boulder, Black Ice, Austin and the West officials continued discussions about this match and the conditions thereof. Finally we received confirmation that we would play Glendale on Sept 27, 2008 in Denver (pitch to be neutral and TBD). Glendale will play the Kansas City Jazz (League Match) and then we will play our League Match against them that afternoon. We found out later that Black Ice decided to forfeit their League Match because they wanted to see the best team go to Nationals and we confirmed with them that we would give them a B side match after we play Boulder on Sunday, Sept 28, 2008.

All in this has been a huge stress and completely ridiculous as the weather in Austin on Sept 13, 2008 was absolutely gorgeous without a drop of rain and our B side threw to Pod 2 without any problems all day long. There has been plenty of speculation as to why this match was really canceled, and I have my own opinions about that, but that is for another day.

We are looking forward to our League Match this weekend against Glendale and may the best team win! It doesn't go without saying though that Glendale obviously thinks they are pretty powerful, scheduling two league matches in one day, speaking for other teams when they don't have the right...is this what having USA Rugby in your backyard does, give you false confidence and false power?

UPDATE: Match was successfully rescheduled, for details check out this post.

Its not very often that you see videos of girls playing rugby against boys! This week's video is a HUGE shout-out to GRFC Women's rugby as they play with boys! This can be incredibly intimidating, but a useful tool if you can get yourself out on that pitch with boys or men's rugby teams. I love playing touch rugby with men's teams as it much faster, but less contact and I have really been able to excel my game through playing with them.

Other Rugby Video Mondays:
9/8/2008: Vassar Spotlight
9/2/2008: Funny Rugby Clips
8/25/2008: IRB Olympic Video Promo
8/18/2008: All Blacks Training Video
8/11/2008: Phelps and the 4X100 Free
8/4/2008: Penn State Documentary: Off to Do or Die

Please keep sending me your favorite videos: yourscrumhalfconnection@gmail.com!

And the Winner of the FREE Your Scrumhalf Connection tshirt raffle is...drum roll please!

Please send me your shirt size and postal address to my email at yourscrumhalfconnection@gmail.com and it will get shipped right out to you!

Thanks to everyone who submitted their name in the raffle, The Girl and I had fun printing out all the names and pulling one from our old retired rugby ball!

Look for this FREE raffle again next month!

I have to post this, hilarious (here's a link to the video as well)!!!

I can't believe the summer has flown by and its already Fall here in Austin! The weather has been unnaturally cool for this time of year (due to pressure systems around Hurricane Ike) and the break from 100 degrees has been welcome.

So what has been happening in my neck of the woods? Starting in June I was released to play rugby and spent plenty of time training for the West All-Star Team. I knew I was a backup scrumhalf going into the whole situation, so the pressure was low and it was actually nice to enjoy my time at NASCs. I also had a BLAST working with the West U23 All-Star as a trainer/scrumhalf coach for that team. Don't forget to read up on The Girl's LONG trip to PIT as she was also on the West Senior team and also helped with the West U23's as a forwards coach.

Before NASCs, I played my first game since ACL surgery at Dallas 7s in Ft, Worth TX. That tournament is always a blast with the Debutante Ball after a long day of 7's. Good tournament with plenty of women's teams (6) and of course it is always good to see old friends! We played well as a team in our first event and placed 4th I believe. I reffed two games and played in a few as well, love that tournament!

In July I was disappointed to not be selected for the Nations Cup Team, but knew it was a long shot as I was still coming off my ACL replacement surgery. However, I watched with pride as the team fought hard against England, Canada and England again. The pictures from the event were amazing and the new jerseys look smashing!! Also, make sure to check out the Youtube highlight video of England vs USA.

Bloodfest 7s was in July and that is an amazing tournament as well! I reffed and played with the Satiated Beavers in that tournament. My knee was coming along well and I was feeling more and more fit and more and more confident. The Beavers kicked arse in that tournament and placed 1st while A&M (last year's champions) placed 2nd. The Austin Valkyries, my club team, also began Sprint Training in July in order to be ready for our first league match against Glendale in September.

While some of the Beavers were in Cape Cod at Cape Cod 7s, the rest of the Beavers headed down to Corpus Christ for 7s by the Sea. The weather was absolutely gorgeous as we had partial cloud cover most of the day and of course the ocean was lovely as well. I reffed over 6 games that day and enjoyed every minute of it! Reffing men has been a pleasure as they have been respectful, honest and understanding. It has challenged my fitness, mind and character, and I am enjoying it immensely.

In August the summer continued to fly by as The Girl, Meg and I headed to Shreveport, LA to referee the TOLA 7s Championships and we enjoyed good buffet food, gambling and of course some great rugby. In the middle of August, the Austin Valkyries began fall practice with large numbers (yea for recruiting) and plenty of heart and gusto.

Of course August is the best month because it is my birthday month, and everyone knows that Virgos are the best!! For my birthday it was pretty low-key on the actual day as I had motorcycle classes, but that night was another killer Ros/Wendy duo birthday party.

September is almost half over and rugby is back in the works full swing! We are hosting a Private & Exclusive screening of Forever Strong next week, we have already played a few A side and B side games and I will be reffing under the new ELV laws this weekend for the first time. All in all things are moving well, my knee is stronger than ever and I hardly think about it anymore. I am training a new backup scrumhalf and she is kicking ass, I have had fun teaching her all the ins and outs of being a bad-arse scrumhalf.

Some good news on the WNT front, I just received an invitation to a Red vs White game in November in Ft. Lauderdale, FL...we are playing as an exhibition match for the U19 Tournament...more details to come as that event develops.

I have a few projects in route for the blog and the most recent is creating some sort of HTML form or ASP project that will allow you to submit your team's scores each week. If anyone has any hints or suggestions on this, I would appreciate it as I am trying valiantly to figure it out between work, school (one more semester till I graduate!) and rugby!

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS
Western Rugby Union
Senior Women’s All-Star Coach

The Western Rugby Union is soliciting applications for the position of Senior Women’s All-Star Team head coach. The appointment will be for three years (November 1, 2008 through October 31, 2011), subject to annual performance review of progress towards team goals and player and team performance.

Responsibilities and expectations of the head coach:
- Assume full responsibility for selecting, organizing, and preparing the West Rugby Union Senior Women’s All-Star team to represent the Western Rugby Union in the USA Rugby National All-Stars Championships.
- Assemble a staff to meet the needs of the program, as deemed appropriate (e.g., assistant coach(es), manager(s), strength and conditioning personnel, etc.).
- Recruit and retain a medical staff and/or a certified athletic trainer for all assemblies.
- Become familiar with the top women’s players throughout the Western Rugby Union, work with the coaches from the West Women’s U23, U19 and 7s teams to establish a player identification and selection process, as well as to recruit athletes from other sports to rugby.
- Review and adhere to the West All-Star reporting and budget formats as detailed on the West website (www.wrfu.org/AllstarSquad-BudgetRequest&Reporting.pdf) and
- Submit an annual program plan and budget to the Western Rugby Union no later than July 1st, and be responsible for keeping program expenses within the allocated budget.
- Submit interim reports on all team activities, as appropriate, and a final detailed annual report consistent with the reporting expectations.
- This is a volunteer position. The West allocates a budget to be used by the coach and staff to facilitate assembly and travel to events and training venues. However, this budget is not sufficient to cover all program expenses and requires some fiscal commitment by players and staff.
- The coach and/or staff may raise additional sponsorship support (e.g., money or goods in kind) to support the program beyond the union’s allocation, with the knowledge and approval of the West Executive Committee.
- Once appointed, the coach will be expected to be CIPP-enrolled with USA Rugby and the West.

Applicants must possess, at a minimum:
- Current USA Rugby Level I Coaching Certification and/or equivalent coaching credentials and qualifications
- Coaching experience at the club and/or local area union all-star level, preferably with women

All applications must include the following information:
- Complete personal contact information (e.g., mailing address, e-mail, telephone, etc.)
- Current CIPP number and club affiliation
- Education, occupation and/or other professional training
- Coaching and playing experience
- A brief written statement regarding your coaching philosophy and style, and your goals and objectives for this program. Please address how you will identify and recruit top female players to the West All-Star team, and how you will facilitate their development as players and a team.
- Two letters of reference from the rugby community (e-mail is acceptable)

Forward application materials to: Bill Sexton, President, Western Rugby Union. The preferred method for submission of application materials is through e-mail attachment. All applications will be reviewed by the Western Rugby Union Executive Committee.

The closing date for applications is 5:00 PM on Wednesday, October 1, 2008. The anticipated appointment date will be November 1, 2008.

Please direct any questions regarding this process to Bill Sexton.

See other Wanted Ads:
WANTED: Women's Rugby Coach in Clinton, NY
Wanted: Navy Rugby Seeks Coach
Wanted: Rugby Recipes
Wanted: Rugby Team in Amarillo, TX
Wanted: Rugby Coach in Central NY

An exclusive private screening of the FIRST Rugby Movie "Forever Strong" - winner of Heartland's truly moving picture award.



Support your local women’s rugby team with their fundraiser screening of this Heartland Truly Moving Film.

Tickets are $10 in advance, and $12 at www.austinvalkyries.com thru paypal (print your receipt and pick up tickets at WILL CALL)

Let any Valkyries know if you want tickets and we will get them to you!


We are a 501(c)3 non-profit organization with over 50 rostered players and social members

We actively support our local community – A.I.S.D. schools, Marathon Kids, Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, Nike’s Human Race

Team website gets over 7000 hits per year; local games and tournaments host up to 300+ players and spectators

Donation Packages:

$500 National Eagle – Full-color ad on back cover of playbill, 6 tickets to event, 10 raffle tickets, logo & link on website
$300 Texas All-Star – Full page b&w ad, 6 tickets to event, 6 raffle tickets, logo & link on website
$150 Austin Valkyrie – Half page b&w ad, 4 tickets to event, 4 raffle tickets, logo & link on website
$75 Rugger Hugger – Quarter page b&w ad, 2 tickets to event, 2 raffle tickets

More details can be found at http://austinvalkyries.com/foreverstrong.

With upmost respect to those that are suffering from Hurricane Ike 2008, I humbly submit Austin Hurricane Ike Watch 2008.

9am - Current conditions:
Partly cloudy and humid, no rain yet. Field reporters at the main rugby pitch and backup pitch report that field conditions are ideal for matches.

I will be live blogging throughout the day with updates on weather and forecasts. We look forward to a beautiful day in Austin with a 50% chance of rain and possibly high winds. Good luck to the Austin B side and TX State as they brave this weather and play their originally scheduled matches.

10am - Warmup Conditions:
Ditto as above, no rain yet, winds are a slight breeze out of the South East. We are heading to Burnet Middle School to cheer on our B side against TX State. More to come at kick-off.

11:30am - Kickoff Conditions
The wind has picked up a bit, but it is still a pleasant blustery breeze. No rain in sight, but the cloud formations are to die for!

We enjoyed a great match watching TX State and our B side, winds did play a small factor in lineouts, but both backlines were able to execute their moves with proficiency. Overall the game was quite enjoyable as both teams really rallied through Hurricane Ike conditions. Our B side won in the end but both teams excelled and learned on the day!

Throws to pod 2 happened all day as the wind never got above 10 to 15 mph, and was quite a pleasant change!

1:00pm - Social Conditions
Still no rain on Hurricane Ike Watch 2008 but the sun has decided to show its face as we all have Hurricane Ike sunburns!

9:00pm - Airport Conditions
Hurricane Ike finally arrived, we had about 20 minutes of hard rain showers here in Austin. However, the airports were able to stay open and were able to handle all of the air traffic without any delays...

So all in all, Glendale canceled this match for no reason at all. Was it fear of the heat? Was it fear of the Hurricane? Was it fear that they weren't quite ready? Well this will all be settled soon enough, more later on the ridiculous attempts to reschedule this league match....

Not sure what this post is about? Make sure to check out the post from yesterday...

Also, check out more pictures of the game and social at the Your Scrumhalf Connection Facebook page.

Umm, so this weekend's league match against Glendale could be interesting, check out the weather heading towards Texas!


For live tracking of the storm and updates, go here.

HURRICANE IKE UPDATE:

Karl left a comment that brought me back to great memory of rugby in the snow! Remember in 2003 when Club Championships were in Colorado Springs and a foot of snow fell? I was there trying out for the West U23 All-Star team and it was crazy! What adventures rugby has shown me in my life! Enjoy this shot of one of our players heading towards the fields in the blizzard...the fields were only 30 or so feet from the camera...white-out!

Albuquerque, New Mexico / 5 Tournament Pitches - Club Men, Club Women (16 teams) & College Men's (8 teams)

$350.00 - 3 games Guaranteed

Tentative Schedule:
Friday
Combined Captains Meeting and Incomers Social
Hooters (4100 San Mateo Blvd)

Saturday
ALL DAY RUGBY POOL PLAY

"Saturday Night Rugby Dinner, Social and Live Band”
3rd Floor “JOCKEY CLUB” at the NM state Fair grounds

Sunday
Championship Sunday - (All semifinals and finals)

Tournament Website: http://abqrugby.tripod.com/highdirt.html

Tournament Contacts:
Aubrey Edge
Randall Titone

This weeks WANTED comes from Lesley, and like many of us they are seeking a coach that is not a player. Read on for more details...

The Hamilton College Women's Rugby Football club seeks a new coach, to be in place as soon as possible. The coach position works in collaboration with the Captains and President.

Must be available for three (3) practices/week (Wednesday-Friday). Must be available for at least five (5) games (not including playoffs) in the fall (schedule to be determined).

The candidate must have previous rugby experience at the collegiate level (be it player or coach). Salary: $1,000/per season (negotiable). Hamilton College is located in Clinton, NY - 10 minutes from Utica and approximately 45 minutes from Syracuse.

Lesley

If you are interested, or know someone that could possibly be interested, please leave a note in the comments or email me.

See other Wanted Ads:
Wanted: Navy Rugby Seeks Coach
Wanted: Rugby Recipes
Wanted: Rugby Team in Amarillo, TX
Wanted: Rugby Coach in Central NY

This week the video comes from Sally, she loves this video highlight reel from Vassar Women's Rugby. Good rugby, good support and great music always makes a great video! Thanks for sending in the video Sally!

Other Rugby Video Mondays:
9/2/2008: Funny Rugby Clips
8/25/2008: IRB Olympic Video Promo
8/18/2008: All Blacks Training Video
8/11/2008: Phelps and the 4X100 Free
8/4/2008: Penn State Documentary: Off to Do or Die

Please keep sending me your favorite videos: yourscrumhalfconnection@gmail.com!

Today marks eight months since I had ACL replacement surgery. Sure I played a few 7s games and moonlighted at NASCs, but it's nice to be back in shape and back on the pitch with my mates and team.

Just a scrimmage today, but I'm back at number 9 where I belong!

Saturday's a rugby day!

UPDATE: The scrimmage went well, it was HOTTT as hell, but that is rugby in Texas! I will try to put up a match report in the next couple of days...

This is a shame, in a time where women's rugby is sweeping the nation and the world...here is another story where we are being pushed around and trodden upon.

Every women's team has experienced something like this, just last year the Valkyries were asked to move their practice to Monday/Wednesday as the men were expecting large numbers at practice. Sounds fair right? Of course we moved, but then realized that the men were not having large numbers (30-40 guys, they expected 90-100) and asked if we could move back to our regular days...they said no? Interesting...

from 3news.co.nz:

The Canterbury Rugby Union is sticking to its guns after being dubbed "chauvinistic dictators" for barring a top women's rugby team from playing at a premier ground.

While top men's sides continue to play at Rugby Park", the Canterbury women's team has been relegated to grass-roots venues.

Rain, hail or shine, the Canterbury women's rugby team keeps on training to retain their spot at the top of the women's NPC.

This weekend they battle old foes Otago, but instead of hosting them at Rugby Park with its grandstand and strong rugby history, they have been relegated to the more modest fields of QEII's Ascot Green.

"Basically, our home venue of Rugby Park was removed from us, and we were just not very happy with the way it was dealt with," says centre Stacey Lene.

The team was told late last week it could not play at the park, because the grounds needed to be rested, only to find out the Canterbury Colts played a friendly match there that same day.

Then they found out all their games had been moved from Rugby Park, while the Canterbury men's A and B squads and Colts would continue to play there.

"We thought we were possibly higher up the ranking, and we weren't," says captain Melissa Ruscoe.

In a letter to The Press, Lene challenged the CRU "to explain its arrogant, insulting behaviour to a team of talented women who sacrifice their time and energy, only to be oppressed by an ignorant, patriarchal minority".

But the union denies it is favouring the blokes.

"It's not about being more important," says Hamish Riach of the CRU, "and as I say it's not actually a story about the women, it's about trying to manage Rugby Park."

Riach says other teams have also been bumped from the park.

Despite the distraction, the team is determined not to lose focus.

"We'll play on Saturday and keep going," says Ruscoe, "and wear that red and black jersey with pride."

And they have not given up hope of a home semi-final at their old stomping ground.

While my journey as a blogger has been quite short lived (going on 2 years!), I have made more friends in this short time than I ever thought possible. One blog that I read on my Google Reader each week with excitement is Friends of Rwandan Rugby at http://friendsofrwandanrugby.blogspot.com/.

A few months ago I emailed Emma who runs the blog and asked her about the touch rugby pictures from a particular post. I was intrigued by the youth rugby players, their passion in this sport and most of all what Emma was doing in Rwanda! Here is what I received back from Emma:

I received your message through our blog site. Thanks for getting in touch! I have been playing rugby since 1996, and in 2001 I went to live in Rwanda to discover that NONE of my students had ever heard of the great game. This started lots of coaching sessions (as I couldn't bear to imagine 2 years without playing, and the deprivation of the Rwandan youngsters!), and the establishment of a charity in the UK called Friends of Rwandan Rugby.

The pictures on the blog are of a Tag rugby tour we help last week. We work in conjunction with another charity called Tag Rugby Development Trust. 3 volunteers came from England, 1 employee from TRDT from Uganda and we worked with 3 Rwandan coaches. We taught 150 primary school kids, girls and boys, Tag, trained a teacher from each school and left them with all the equipment. We hope to run this again next year.

If you go back through the files of the blog, we also had a mini-girls 7s tournament. There is no officially organised league for girls in Rwanda but there are some die-hard girls out there loving it! Our organisation is working on establishing a league for them to participate in.

Hope this answers some of your questions, please feel free to contact me if you would like me to clarify anything.

Best wishes
Emma Rees
FoRR Trustee

Emma, thanks for writing and I hope you have a few more readers and supporters of your blog after this post! Keep on ruckin girl, your great work is appreciated!

Another great article from my inbox that was passed on to me by Rick of TYRA (Texas Youth Rugby Associaton) fand I thought it was very interesting, the video is quite good as well. These types of iniatives are essential for Youth Rugby and will help build our youth teams!

from ABC News:
The city of Hawaiian Gardens, east of Los Angeles, sounds like a holiday resort. But few people come here on vacation. The population, which numbers just 15,000, has been plagued by gang violence and racial tension.

Now, middle-school and high-school kids from one of the most dangerous suburbs in America are getting out of the gangs by playing a game that isn't American at all — rugby. And they say it's changing their lives.

"It's an alternative to gangs," explained Jesse Ortiz, one of the players on the team. "Most of us would be dragged into gangs or influenced. Instead of being out there on the streets like the gangs are doing, we're here playing rugby."

It's a way for these kids to meet on a level playing field.

"It don't matter what race you are," said another teammate. "We're just here to play."

A third member of the team agreed. "There's no race like black or Mexican. We're just one color: "green, rugby."

So what's the allure of this full-contact sport? For one thing, getting a great hit on an opponent can be a rewarding sensation.

"It feels good," said Antonio Gutierrez, one of the players. "It's the best feeling ever. I let a lot of my anger out — a lot."

It was that anger that inspired Ernie Vargas, 56, a gang prevention coordinator, to introduce them to the new sport of rugby, a precursor to football that originated in the U.K.

Vargas says gang membership in the city of Hawaiian Gardens starts early and is widespread. "You might have a neighbor. You might even have a brother, sister, cousin or relative" that is part of a gang, he said. "Some even maybe have parents or a step-father, mother, somebody that used to be involved in it."

What does life in a gang membership look like for these young people?

"It means you're going to back up your neighborhood," Vargas explained. "If I'm with three or four guys and we run into some other guys from another neighborhood, we're all committed to back each other up and fight. They could possibly be willing to be in a situation where they could die for it."

Click here for the rest of this article.

from Womeneagles.com

National 7s head coach Julie McCoy has announced the practice squad leading up to the 2009 Seven's World Cup. Following the National All-Star Sevens Championships, the final selections for the squad of 20 players plus 11 reserves will now continue on the road to the 2009 World Cup.

McCoy said, "these players have been selected to represent the US in the next World Cup. This elite squad will now practice and play together through the World Cup. We won't be looking any further for additional athletes. All Non traveling reserves will be expected to participate in the training and skills programs outside the camps, readying themselves for duty in the event players in the Practice Squad are dropped."

"The squad includes 3 developmental players, who are just out of the collegiate program or the developmental program. These players are included as we look forward to the next World Cup cycle."

All 20 players have already pledged their full commitment to attending every training camp scheduled to be held over the months leading into the Sevens RWC in Dubai next March.

"So far, the process has been very encouraging, as we've been fortunate to get 20 athletes to commit to taking a month away from personal obligations such as work and school to dedicate themselves fully to training. I'm very pleased at the number of athletes who have stepped up to the challenge and fully committed to winning the World Cup. Everyone is focused on the task at hand and I'm confident we can make enough progress needed to return from Dubai with the Cup," McCoy added.

McCoy has also named a handful of non-training reserves to this pool. These are players who were on the cusp of being in the top 20, and have committed to training along the same lines as the practice squad.

"The non-training reserves will train along with the 20 person pool at the same time," McCoy explained. "If we should have needs such as filling in for an athlete who should sustain a significant injury that would require 3-6 months off of training, or if a player initially chosen to the practice squad lacks progress in her fitness testing, we may bring up a player from the non-traveling reserves selections."

McCoy also is working with the USA Board of Directors and the City of Little Rock to ensure that players will not have to pay out-of-pocket for their upcoming travel and board expenses. Additionally, a stipend will assist players with other expenses.

"Giving the USA Women's Sevens Team the chance to compete and even win the Sevens World Cup is a top priority for USA Rugby and the Board of Directors and we're thankful for their provision of full (financial) support of these plans," Coach McCoy said."

Also released was a provisional schedule for the squad which, given that the team qualifies, culminates in the final squad's participation in the Seven's World Cup in Dubai, U.A.E in March 2009.

Congratulations to the following players selected for the Women's National Team Sevens Player Pool:

1. Tyshawn Henry, New York RFC
2. Phaidra Knight, New York RFC
3. Lindsey Stephenson, At Large
4. Amy Daniels, Beantown RFC
5. Pam Kosanke, Chicago Northshore RFC
6. Kelly White, Belmont Shore RFC
7. Alison Price, New York RFC
8. Jen Sinkler, Keystone RFC
9. Melissa McKibben, Kansas City RFC
10. Teena Mastrangelo, Chicago Northshore RFC
11. Ines Rodriguez, Keystone RFC
12. Donna Thomas, Little Rock RFC
13. Christy Ringgenberg, Minnesota Valkyries RFC
14. Kirsten Ahrendt, Keystone RFC
15. Ellie Karvoski, Little Rock RFC
16. Yancy Graf, Beantown RFC
17. Ida Bernstein, Keystone RFC
18. Jennifer Starkey, NOVA RFC
19. Jess Watkins, Stanford University
20. Jenna Flateman, New York RFC

Non-Traveling Reserves:

1. Lauren Hoeck, NOVA RFC
2. Tess Kohanski, Syracuse University
3. Kit Wagner, Beantown RFC
4. Claire Gregorich, Glendale RFC
5. Sadie Anderson, Penn State University
6. Lauren Rosso, Penn State University
7. Daniela Mogro, New York RFC
8. Alison Worman, Penn State University
9. Beth Black, NOVA RFC
10. Haldre Rogers, Seattle RFC
11. JoAnne Ward, Albany RFC, injured reserve

US Women's National Seven's Team Staff:

Head Coach: Julia McCoy, MD
Assistant Coach: Christopher Ryan
Assistant Coach: Andrew Fautley
General Manager: Tristan Lewis
Team Manager: Sadeana Green
Team Physios: Lisa Bartoli, MD
Team Physio: Michael Moses

Provisional WNT Sevens Calendar:

Sept. 4-7: US 7s Practice Camp, Bronxville NY
Sept. 26-28: US 7s Footwork/Skills Camp, Little Rock, AR
Fitness testing held to determine squad for the Qualifier. (12 players plus 2 travelling reserves)
Oct. 18-22: US WC Qualifying Assembly, Miami, FL
Oct. 23-27: US WC Qualifier, Nassau, Bahamas
Nov. 22-Dec. 1: Dubai Sevens, Dubai, U.A.E
Jan. 16-18: Little Rock Camp - Full squad testing/skills camp
Jan. 30-Feb. 9: Little Rock Residency Program, full squad
Feb. 9-16: USA 7s, San Diego, CA
2 full squads to compete
Feb 16-23: Little Rock Residency training
WC Squad of 12 plus 2 travelling reserves selected during this week
March 1-9: World Cup 2009, Dubai, U.A.E

For more USA WNT 7s Team action, check out their Tournament Results from the Amsterdam Tournament here.

Since beginning this blog I have been blessed to receive a few free items or rugby swag along the way, and so I decided that I should share the wealth! One of the first tshirts I received was from the Notre Dame Rugby team, after I blogged about the return of their team. After exchanging a few emails with Christopher Liedl the men's coach, he asked if I would like a free tshirt, of course I was SO excited! Check out the email below from Christopher at Notre Dame:

The thanks are all ours. It really was an unexpected privilege to see someone writing so highly of the Notre Dame Rugby program. The t-shirt was the least we could do. As far as directing anyone who might be interested in buying shirts, the Student Activities Office should have them on our online marketplace within a month or so. Thanks again for the shout out. I hope you're getting a lot of good use out of the shirt.

Regards,
Christopher Liedl

Whenever I wear the Notre Dame Rugby shirt I get plenty of attention and lots of compliments! Thanks again for sending it Christopher, and I will continue wearing it with pride!

So for those of you that are still reading, I will be giving away Your Scrumhalf Connection tshirts once a month beginning this month! It will be a random drawing and you can get your name in the hat by either emailing me, or leaving your name and comment in the comments section. Winners will be picked on Sept 15, 2008 and your shirt will be mailed out shortly after that. Good luck!

Have you ever had a break-away run down the pitch, only to drop the ball a few meters before the try line? These moments are horrifying and true moments you would like to forget on the pitch. Unfortunately cameras are becoming more and more prevalent on rugby pitches and so more and more of these mistakes are caught on film.

Sit back and enjoy a few for today's, Rugby Video Monday:

Other Rugby Video Mondays:
8/25/2008: IRB Olympic Video Promo
8/18/2008: All Blacks Training Video
8/11/2008: Phelps and the 4X100 Free
8/4/2008: Penn State Documentary: Off to Do or Die
7/28/2008: Dropkicking Props!
7/22/2008: NY Rugby's U19 Program on ABC
7/14/2008: Letchworth Girls' Rugby
7/7/2008: USA U20 WNT vs South Africa