Your Scrumhalf Connection - Women's Rugby Blog

From an anonymous poster:

The first half of this match saw the Menagerie's 'A' side pitted against most of the Jazz's new more inexperienced players. The Menagerie jumped out to a 14 - 5 lead at the half.

In the second half the Jazz put many of their experienced players in while the Menagerie played their newer players. The result was a 31 - 0 Jazz dominated half.

Final score, Jazz 36 - Menagerie 14.

This weekend the Jazz face the Scottsdale Lady Blues in defense of the West's 3rd seed into the National Championship Playoffs in October.

The Jazz will be striving to maintain the West's proud winning tradition.

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Thanks for the scores and match rundown.

Quarterfinals
Men's DI
Wyoming 29 Oklahoma 16
Truman State 38 LSU 5
Colorado 78 Texas 13
Colorado State 17 Texas A&M 10

Women's DI
Colorado 5 Oklahoma 10
Texas A&M 7 UNC 10
Air Force 29 Truman State 5
New Mexico 29 Wayne State 15

Mens' DII
Angelo State 29 Regis 12
Texas Tech 33 Wayne State 0
Northern Colorado 72 New Mexico State 15
Missouri 35 Northeastern State 10

Men's DI Consolation
Oklahoma 27 LSU 10
Texas A&M 31 Texas 18

Semifinals
Men's DI
Colorado 31 CSU 5
Wyoming 32 Truman 8

Women's DI
Texas A&M 39 Colorado 0 (Consolation)
Wayne State 44 Truman 10 (Consolation)

Oklahoma 8 UNC 7
Air Force 27 New Mexico 0

DII Consolation
New Mexico State 26 Northeastern State 5
Wayne State 33 Regis 22

DII Semi
UNC 32 MIssouri 24
Texas Tech 32 Angelo State 5

Finals:
Women’s 7th/8th Place 20-0 CU over Truman
Women’s 5th/6th Place 33-0 TAMU over Wayne
Men’s DI 7th/8th Place 31-14 LSU over UT
Men’s DI 5th/6th Place 22-15 OU over TAMU
Men’s DII 7th/8th Place 22-7 Regis over NSU
Men’s DII 5th/6th Place 22-7 Wayne over NMSU
Women’s 3rd/4th Place 17-0 UNM over UNC
Men’s DII 3rd/4th Place 24-12 Missouri over Angelo State
Men’s DI 3rd/4th Place 26-17 Truman over CSU

Men’s DII Championship 25-14 UNC over Texas Tech

Women’s Championship 23-3 Air Force over OU

Men’s DI Championship 17-10 CU over Wyo

http://stuartsteelephotography.smugmug.com/


KC Jazz played Minneapolis Menagerie this weekend...send me scores!

They also played the Chicago Women's Rugby Club on April 1, 2006...couldn't find any results.

Heard a rumor that ya'all might be attending Best of the West...is that right? Let me know!

Still waiting for the official score of the game, but sounds like it was a great test for Austin as they work to move up in the national rankings.

On April 22, 2006 the Valks are hosting Best of the West with 12 teams already confirmed. They are:

Valkyries A (possibly B), Austin, TX
Harlequin Olde Girls- Denver, CO
Black Ice- Denver, CO
Boulder Babes- Boulder, CO
Alamo City- San Antonio, TX
Rice University- Houston, TX
TWU (Texas Women's Rugby), Denton, TX
Arkansas Iron Maidens- Little Rock, AR
HARC- Houston, TX
University of Texas Women- Austin, TX
University of Texas A&M
University of Oklahoma

The Valks look forward to another exciting match as they travel to face NYRC and Beantown on May 6-7, 2006. Good luck ladies, make the West proud!

OU Women's Rugby Takes 2nd in West Championships (April 7-9, 2006)

Norman, Okla. - The OU Women's Rugby team is riding high after this weekend's stellar 2-1 performance and claiming 2nd place in the Western Collegiate Championships Women's Division 1 finals held in Norman.

The Roses defeated the University of Colorado 10-5 on Saturday morning and won a nail- biter against the University of Northern Colorado 8-7 in the semi-finals that afternoon.

Roses wing Lesley White was on fire all day Saturday as she scored both tries in the CU game and assisted with the try in the UNC match. Outside Center Wendy Young made crucial penalty kicks in both games and scored the only points in OU's 23-3 loss against the Air Force Academy in the finals Sunday morning.

"The team played fantastic all weekend. We came in as a #7 seed and are leaving a #2 seed in the West, we couldn't be happier," said OU Head Coach Tracy Curtis. "This sets us up nicely for a run at the Sweet Sixteens next year. With our seeding this year, OU is securely ranked in the Top Twenty nationally. It's a proud accomplishment and a big win for club sports at OU."

The Air Force Academy came off two impressive wins on Saturday to defeat the Roses. The Zoomie backline was intense and had great ball movement to the wing where they scored their tries.

The Roses fought hard all 80 minutes and left everything on the field. Great line-outs and fringe defense were strong points for OU all game.

"We played with all our hearts and came up a little short," said flanker Becca Poslick. "I'm so proud of my team for dominating the way we did as an underdog and making Air Force fight for their championship."

Next up, the Roses travel to Austin, Texas, for the annual Best of the West Tournament on April 22. Club-side power-houses the Austin Valkyries and KC Jazz will be in attendance as OU hopes to bring their 2nd place magic to South Texas and capture the title: Best of the West.

For more information on the Roses please visit http://rugby.ou.edu or email Coach Curtis at rugby@ou.edu.

Valks Lay Down Gauntlet to 'Lanta

By Alex Goff

April 7, 2006 – The Austin Valkyries women's club will face the Atlanta Harlequins this weekend in a friendly, but to consider this a game of little consequence would be foolish, as Austin is hot on the trail of proving themselves a national contender.

The Harlequins in some ways represent something of the women's rugby establishment, with several national team players, some of whom have been around for some time (Pat Neder, Patty Jervey). This isn't a complete representation because Atlanta continues to bring in young talent (Kate Cox, Kirsten Aerts) to avoid that dreaded rebuilding year.

But Austin is in a way a contender made out of whole cloth as in only the most recent of years have they stepped forward and as much as made a public declaration they want to be at the top.

Head coach Andy Ireland wants this coming game to be part of that coming out process.

"As a team we have come on leaps and bounds in training and are targeting the game as an opportunity to beat a top three team," said Ireland. "The Quins are a quality team and have a number of Eagles in their side but we are confident of keeping our unbeaten run going. Playing strong teams is the only way we can judge our form and I think we will give them a very hard time up front and with natural pace 9 to 15 will run them around in the backs."

Running around the backs will be tough as the Harlequins have tons of speed. But in the forwards they continue to be a force, led by Eagles Meredith Ottens (yes, yes, we know, she's been around for a while too), lock Jennifer Joyce, and all-star flanker Anna Kunkel.

So it's just a game played in Austin on a Texas Saturday, but maybe, just maybe, it could mean more. If Austin is to make a statement, now would be the time.

You all have probably figured out I am from Oklahoma...and I have to do a bit of bragging here! The University of Oklahoma is proudly hosting a 24 team tournament this weekend in Norman, OK.

As we meet the demands of the West (lengthy list!) we have realized how much this costs to run a tournament. We had put our estimated budget at $8,000 but are now realizing it may unfortunately be much more. What an honor but what a burden!

So I just wanted to share a few things:

• t-shirt design (which is amazing!)
• placards each team will recieve
• score cards
• various west signs required

If you are around Oklahoma this weekend the action starts at NOON on Friday (tomorrow) with Div 1 Men's Rugby. Then the action follows on Saturday with matches starting at 8:30am and ending around 3:00pm. The rugby again continues on Sunday with championship matches. It will be an amazing weekend of rugby in the heartland.

Peace.
WE

St. Louis Sabres-

Sabres took first place beating the Lady Bombers in the championship match 37-0. Congrats!

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Sarah sent this to me! Thanks!

Truman State

In true rugby fashion, the tournament in St. Louis was changed last minute forcing the Bullets into three matches on Saturday two of which were against club teams. The first game was against the St. Louis Sabres. Ultimately the Sabres ended up winning the tournament but the Bullets were able to score on them. Their teamwork and basic skills dominated most of the game. One try was scored (the final try for either team) by the Bullets off of a quick-tap penalty pass from Michaella Levy by Natalie Gerhart. The final was 5-67.

A very short time later, the Bullets played a new club team also from St. Louis called the Bombers. They were able to use their forwards well and suck our backs into rucks ultimately resulting in several trys. By the end the Bullets were simply too exhausted and dehydrated to chase them anymore. The final score was 0-77.

The final game of the tournament was a rematch against WashU. The Bullets went out completely ready to beat WashU and ready to use what they had learned in the first two games. By working as a team and communicating the Bullets were able to overcome a much weaker WashU defense and ultimately score 6 trys. Scorers were Natalie Gerhart (and 1 kick), Alison Hays, Chelsea Klaus (2), Michaella Levy, and Jamie Mucho. After losing to WashU earlier this season the Bullets managed to shut out WashU at this meeting 32-0.

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Google alerts found this game summary here.

Washu University

They fought hard against Truman State but were ultimately defeated and were able to take 2nd place in the tournament. I also added their link to the sidebar under the Missouri Rugby Union. There site is here. I have included their logo...great fun!

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Found these results here.

Couldn't find any information on Green Country or Loyola. Can anyone help?

Women's Inaugural Match, 87-0

Saturday, March 04, 2006

In what was a historical day for the St. Louis Bomber Rugby Football Club, the inaugural Bomber women's side took the pitch for their first match ever... and what a match it was as the Bombers notched their first win 87-0.

Some early opportunities by the Bombers went unrewarded, but it still only took 5 minutes for Eagle fullback Liz Reed to score the first ever try by a Bomber lady with a patented sprint around several KU defenders to dot down in the corner. Fellow Eagle flyhalf Mari Therrien quickly scored two minutes later following up on some of her own well placed tactical kicking. Therrien and Reed would combine for 7 tries and a number of poster tackles in only 45 minutes of play.

The Bomber scoring was continued by two consecutive tries by Team Alberta representative Robyn Keating as she followed up some nice handling by the backline to break a couple of tackles and side-step several other would be defenders to dot down. Keating would notch 3 tries of her own on the day showing tremendous promise both in attack and defense. Tries by Liz Reed, Lindsay Wieczorek and Liz Reed again rounded out the first half scoring, both following up some nice handling by Ann Marie Russell and Katie Giljum for a halftime score of 39-0.

Tries by Therrien, Reed and Therrien again opened the second half scoring as the two Eagles stepped off the pitch to make way for other promising newcomers. Western Sevens representative Ann Marie Russell notched the next Bomber try as she darted past several would be defenders following tackle breaking run by No. 8 Dre West. Western Territorial representative Michelle Stephen who led the Bomber forwards around rucks all day was rewarded with a try, taking a quick tap penalty and going the distance herself. Rugby newcomer Erin Herwig was the next Bomber scorer as she picked and jammed from the base of ruck and went 5 meters carrying no fewer than 3 defenders into the tryzone with her to notch her first 5 pointer. Ann Marie Russell and Robyn Keating finished the Bomber scoring with two long distance scores showing their tremendous pace on each.

The Bomber forwards were strong around the rucks and gained strength as the match went on. Michelle Stephen, Beth Mulligan and Dre West poached numerous balls and were at nearly every breakdown. Sheri Borders, Diana Rau, Ann MacDonald and Allison Whitaker had high tackle counts and applied the pressure that led to numerous turnovers by their opposite numbers. Erin Clark made her presence known at the lineouts and scrums in her rugby debut, putting Kate Giljum into the stratosphere in the lineouts. Team Canada U-19 representative Michelle Bella in her debut at scrumhalf displayed her speed and knowledege of the game as she provided not only good service but kept the KU defenders retreating with numerous line breaking darts from the base of the ruck. The Bomber backline boasts a bit of experience and lethal pace which bodes well for the future as they begin to gel. Promising upstart wing Josie Beckman and prop Sheri Borders added several conversions. Marissa Rhea-Mann and Allison Cook also played well in their run-ons.

Credit to the KU Women who never stopped playing with heart, a reflection of their coach, classy KC Jazz player Sonia Rios. Special thanks to Todd Philips of East Central College for hosting the match as part of an International Day for college.

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Google Alerts found this article here.

Women draw crowds at Twickenham

by RFU press office

	The World Cup trophy is one of the exhibits photo by RFU

4 April 2006

Since its launch last month, the Museum of Rugby’s exhibition on women’s rugby, entitled Women’s Rugby – A Work in Progress, has attracted over 1,200 visitors in its opening two weeks.

The exhibition, which looks at the female game ahead of the IRB Women’s Rugby World Cup in Canada this September traces its evolution from inception through to today’s global popularity.

Some of the most popular exhibits are proving to be the hands on displays, including the interactive video footage of previous World Cups and the audio recording of England legend Gill Burns. Younger visitors in particular have enjoyed the life size cardboard models of England players and many visitors have been surprised by the length of time women have been playing the game.

The exhibits are also provoking feelings of nostalgia in some older visitors. Said one elderly female visitor, “Seeing the exhibition took me back to my childhood when I tried to play rugby at school in the 1930s.”

As well as local residents and rugby enthusiasts, the exhibition is attracting international visitors from around the world, including touring clubs from Canada and Sweden. Their enthusiasm is reflected in the visitors book; "Women's rugby is a beautiful sport. Live rugby, life is rugby!" was one comment left by a visiting Spanish club; "Rugby is the greatest and the most fascinating sport. We love playing rugby!" came from a Swedish women's team.

The exhibition, entitled ‘Women’s Rugby - A Work in Progress’, runs until 17th September.

More information on the Museum of Rugby and the Women’s Rugby exhibition is available from Laura Stedman on 0870 405 2001 or laurastedman@rfu.com

For further information on the RFUW or women's rugby contact Julia Hutton on 07971 474557 or juliahutton@rfu.com

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Google alert "Women's Rugby" found this article here.