Your Scrumhalf Connection - Women's Rugby Blog

To all clubs,

My name is Robert Sweeney and I play rugby for Midwestern State University men's team. This year we have had a spark in interest from females to start a women's rugby team at MSU in Wichita Falls, TX.

Based on the numbers we are expecting and also considering attrition rate, we would like to get some feedback from college and women's teams as to those who would be interested in possible matches against the women's this fall.

From the initial standpoint, we would be looking to play 10s matches at first unless we get enough females to have a 15s side. Also based on available coaches, we'd initially be looking to schedule games the same weekend as the men's teams.

If your teams would be interested in playing matches to help our girl's develop their game, please send me an email back and we can begin to look at possible dates for matches.

Cheers,
Robert Sweeney
MSU RFC Co-captain
www.mwsurugby.com

With the Women's Rugby World Cup looming, the USA team has gathered in California for one more run-through before the big event.

"This is our last chance to fine tune things," said center and vice captain Keenya Warner. "We won't be together again, except for a backs assembly, until the World Cup, so this is really important. I think any time we have together makes us stronger, and helps us come together as a unit."

Warner said the forwards have been working extremely hard to face up to the physical demands of the season, while the backs have also started to show their stuff.

While Ellie Karvoski has been getting the lion's share of the press, it's a full team effort, said Warner.

"The entire backline has been playing very well together and we feel confident in each other," Warner said. "Every moment together is important. There's really not much talk about how we did last time or where we finished. We're just focusing on what we need to do now."

Talk also stretches to the USA's opponents in the World Cup. They play England, Australia, and Ireland in what will be a massive test.

Captain Jen Crouse, who was in Spain in 2002 says this year's Eagles are a very different group.

"We have a lot of the same players but the dynamic is a lot different," she said. "We know each other better as players. We're chipping away at that challenge of learning to play with each other, reading each other better. The sense of unity is a lot better because we've had a lot more opportunities to gel and work some kinks out."

Crouse said those three teams in their pool games are now large in their thoughts.

"England are one of the best in the World and we would never look past Australia," Crouse said. "There is no luxury of an easy match to begin with. We start right with England which may be our most challenging game. We need to be mentally prepared for that and to do that we can't take anything for granted. You've got to have a commitment to be physically and mentally present to get through not one tough game but four or five or six."

Crouse said the excitement and anticipation is building, and there remains a sense among the players that they get to prove themselves against the best.

"We have a strong desire to reach and exceed our potential," she said.

The excitement extends past the team, however. Warner says that back with her club in New York a group of 50 will be making the trip to Edmonton for the tournament.

"There's just a lot of support out there, and that's going to be great to have those people in the stands cheering for us," she said. "Although, I think we need a special cheer, not just USA! USA!"

USA u23 Squad for Pihlly/MARFU series

Last Name, First Name, Pos. Terr., Team, Age

Kohanski Tess H U19 Syracuse 19
Crapster-Pregont Meg FB NE Cornell 20
Drey Kassie L MW UNI 20
Griffin Kelly C SC UCLA 20
Hughes Brea 8 W Texas A&M 20
Potter Jillion 8 W UNM 20
Tseng Jossy FH P Stanford 20
Ahrendt Kirsten FB NE Dartmouth 21
Black Kathryn P MA West Chester 21
Braaten Sylvia FH MW Marquette 21
McCoy Tiffany 9 MW UNI 21
Benlian Amber FH/ C MA PSU 22
CHOU Katie P P Cal 22
DUGGAN Jillian H SC UCSD 22
Hansen Erica 9 P Stanford 22
Hustwitt Jen FL NE Brown 22
Lear Kristy C MW U of MN 22
Mathews Kara L SC UCSB 22
McGee Vanesha FB/W/C MA Temple 22
Reddick Naima H/FL P Chico State 22
Warden Rachel L/8 MA UVA 22
Bingeli Alicia 12 W AFA 23
Groefsema Blair 8 SC UCSB 23
Hemstreet Allison FL P Berkeley 23
Kuchar Jenny C NE New York 23
Lange Jaime L W Hogs 23
Moreno San Juanita C P Western Oregon U 23
Schmidtke Traci P W Austin 23

I'm going to say it...and I hate to say it.

Soccer players have turned into crying, whining babies.

As a soccer player of 15 years at varying levels from HS to Club to Collegiate...I have to say that I am embarassed! The world cup was a slaughter of yellow cards and red cards. The most EVER in history! 336 yellow cards and 27 red cards...and now FIFA is defending these cards "If you count the number of red and yellow cards ... it’s in proportion,” Siegler, FIFA director said. "Before Sunday’s games, referees had handed out 136 yellow cards and 10 reds in 24 matches."

But I am not embarassed because of the amount of cards...that regrettableble...but I wembarrassedsed that grown men were falling down (taking dives) over and over and over! Stop faking it and play one of the most beautiful games ever!

A funny side note: a video of the Italian team practicing dives...who knows if it is true or not, but hilarious.

Vote for rugby as an icon of English culture!

Like apple pie to us Americans ...

Per Blondie and her blog.

All 6 territorial teams, plus an Atlantis team coached by Emil Signes, played in round robin format to then determine seeding for a single elimination tournament to follow on Sunday. To say National Coach Julie McCoy was testing the limits of all players would be an understatement!

Just briefly (there will be a more detailed account of the weekend's events later ) :

The West team, despite being completely new and having just one day's practice together won the 1st place seeding after round robin play: 4 wins, 2 ties, 0 losses....the only team to go undefeated! The West defeated South, MidWest, Marfu, and Northeast in the first round and tied Atlantis and a much improved SoCal team.

This won them a bye in the single elimination tourney where they lost to the South in the Semi final. The South were the eventual winners over Midwest.

Congratulations to Austin Valkyrie Rosalind Chou for her outstanding performance at Cape Fear 7's as a member of the West 7's select side! Roz played almost every minute of a grueling weekend that began with 5 matches (yes, I'm serious) on Saturday and 2 matches on Sunday. Roz's fitness served her well as well as her super-positive attitude and dedication to her new team-mates.

Please congratulate Roz when you see her! She was completely awesome and represented the Valks well!

Arrived at work this morning at 5:30am. Whew...hate these early mornings, but at least I get done by about noon and have the whole day ahead!

I was watching ESPN Classic at around 7:30 and the special Who's Number 1 came on. It was AWESOME! They had a number of women listed including:

Nadia Comaneci: first woman gymnast to achieve a Perfect 10 (they have since changed the rules in gymnastics and no one will EVER recieve a 10 as the scoring has moved to a scale of 20.)




Mia Hamm: Youngest National Player and World Cup Player. First-ever three-time U.S. Soccer athlete of the year, male or female (1994-1996) ... Member of the Gold Medal winning U.S. Women's National Team at the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games.

Gertrude Caroline Ederle: Was the first woman to succesfully swim across the English Channel, completeing the feat on August 30th (my birthday!), 1926, in 14 hours and 39 minutes.



So then I did a simple search on Google for "greatest women athletes of all time" and found that Sports Illustrated did a piece on it...here are their results!

1. Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Track and Field
-Won three gold, one silver and two bronze medals over four consecutive Olympic Games. (1962)

2. Babe Didrikson Zaharias, Track and Field
-Ultimate multisport athlete won three Olympic medals to go with 31 LPGA titles. (1911-1956)

3. Billie Jean King, Tennis
-Opened minds by beating Bobby Riggs in 1973 "Battle of the Sexes"; opened doors by helping establish Women's Sports Foundation in '74. (1943)

4. Sonja Henie, Figure Skating
-Dominated figure skating with 10 consecutive world championships and three Olympic gold medals. (1912-1969)

5. Maritina Navratilova, Tennis
-Martiina Navratilova (#5) and Chris Evert (#6) each won 18 Grand Slam titles; together, their rivalry elevated women's tennis. (1956)



6. Chris Evert, Tennis
-Martiina Navratilova (#5) and Chris Evert (#6) each won 18 Grand Slam titles; together, their rivalry elevated women's tennis. (1954)



7. Bonnie Blair, Speed Skating
-Won a U.S.-record five individual gold medals over three Olympic Games. (1974)

8. Wilma Rudolph, Trach and Field
-Overcame polio to win Olympic gold. (1940-1994)

9. Nadia Comaneci, Gymanstics
-First gymnast to receive a perfect score in Olympic competition. (1961)

10. Tracy Caulkins, Swimming
-Most versatile swimmer ever and winner of three Olympic gold medals. (1963)

11. Florence Griffith Joyner, Track and Field
12. Mia Hamm, Soccer
13. Nancy Lopez, Golf
14. Steffi Graff, Tennis
15. Cheryl Miller, Basketball
16. Margaret Court, Tennis
17. Mary T. Meagher, Swimming
18. Olga Korbut, Gymnastics
19. Peggy Fleming, Figure Skating
20. Joan Benoit Samuleson, Distance Running
21. Dawn Fraser, Swimming
22. Teresa Edwards, Bastketball
23. Julie Krone, Horse Racing
24. Ann Meyers, Baskteball
25. Jean Driscoll, Wheelchair Racing
26. Fanny Blankers-Koen, Track and Field
27. Mickey Wright, Golf
28. Maureen Connolly, Tennis
29. Janet Evans, Swimmer
30. Althea Gibson, Tennis
31. Mary Decker Slaney, Track and Field
32. Dorothy Hamill, Figure Skating
33. Suzanna Lenglen, Tennis
34. Lyuboz Egorova, Cross Country Skiing
35. Kathy Whitworth, Distance Running
36. Larrisa Latynina, Gymnastics
37. Grete Waitz, Distance Running
38. Katarina Witt, Figure Skating
39. Amy Van Dyken, Swimming
40. Michelle Akers, Soccer
41. Pat McCormick, Diving
42. Getrude Ederle, Swimming
43. Wyomia Tyus, Track and Field
44. Nancy Lieberman-Cline, Basketball
45. Picabo Street, Skiing
46. Anne Donovan, Basketball
47. Tenley Albright, Figure Skating
48. Lyne Hill, Rock Climbing
49. Rosi Mittermaier, Skiing
50. Susan Butcher, Dogsledding

Thanks to all these ladies that have changed the face of women's sports as we know it. Without their efforts we wouldn't be where we are today! Free to compete!

Austin Bloodfest June 24, 2006
Since this was a social tournament the Satiated Beavers decided to play it a little differently. Instead of having "selections" we decided that if you wanted to play you should just raise your hand! (I missed that memo as I was out getting McDonalds and hot choc...damn you Wendy!)

Our first game was against TX A&M...and we had just taught them how to play 7's about 15 minutes before we played...so we thought we had it in the bag. Not so much...they caught us on our heels several times and were able to take advantage of their fitness. They caught a big lead on us in the first half and we weren't able to recover enough in the second half.

The second game was against Alamo City/San Antonio. Once again we showed a hand if we wanted to play...this time I was ready! It was a tough match and there were only two tries scored. One by me and one by Alamo. We both missed our kicks and the game ended in a tie.

The third game was against Alamo City/San Antonio again. This time we beat them soundly by 15 or 20 points. Nice work ladies...finally we were working together and feeling the groove.

The fourth game was against Denton...since we had played them before in Dallas we knew what to expect. Speedy little girls they are! But we were able to defeat them by 5 or 10 points. NICE!

The fifth game was a motley against TX A&M. This was alot of fun to play in! We had a few beavers (including me!), Oklahoma and Alamo City players. TX A&M beat us easily though and went on to win the tournament. Nice work ladies!

As for the rest of the Beavers 7's season...I believe we are going to Corpus Christi in a few weeks and having a friendly against TX A&M next week. Keep up the fitness ladies!

Sorry all...been SUPER BUSY with the move and all to Austin.

Here's basically a summary of what has been going on around locally and for me in general...

NATIONAL ALL STAR CHAMPIONSHIP JUNE 9-11, 2006

Found a SUPER cheap ticket to Colorado and arrived Tuesday afternoon...was picked up by my AWESOME brother (Hi Jeff!) in his new fun car. Its a 70's VW Thing. I have attached a pic because it is such a fun car!! He just got it a few months ago and was super excited to show it off!

Anyways I arrived a few days early to train with the Olde Girls as I was attempting to play scrumhalf after playing outside center in Minnesota. I was excited to have the opportunity as only one of the coaches had ever seen me play scrumhalf and none of my mates had EVER seen me play there. Thanks for the chance coaches and mates!

West vs. Pacific
Our first game was Friday against Pacific. We arrived at the field a nervous bunch...hours before we had to play. So the apprehension began...and we finally got to warm up. Most of us had our boots on WAY before we were supposed to! I was selected as one of the 5 reserves as scrumhalf and made sure I was mentally prepared to come in at any time but knew I would get some playing time at the half. The game started and as a team that usually starts on their back foot we had made a goal to start at a running pace and control everything. We did an excellent job of bonding together and stepping up to the goal.

I don't know the exact scores...and can't find them anywhere on the internet! But I am remembering that Pacific scored a few times in the first half. The second half began with a few substitutions including myself and Hoops. We were SO pumped...and then the storms that had threatened all day started producing lightening. USA Rugby called for a game delay of at least 30 minutes. So all the adrenaline and pace-setting we had done as a team was shot down. We spent at least an hour in the parking lot before we were allowed to warm up and start playing again.

The second half went well, we had some GREAT runs and got very close to scoring but couldn't quite get the ball into the try zone. We ended up losing...we had them on the run at the half, they were starting to tire...but damn colorado storms.

On Saturday we were able to watch the USA Women play Canada. What a match!! It looked like a tough one for the eagles, but then Ellie Karvoski stepped up and notched a few tries to make it look easy. Great job ladies! Shout-out to DUDE!

Northeast def. West, 29-6
Sunday morning we knew that we had to play early against the North East and that if we wanted to stay in Tier 1 we had to have a win. I was selected as starting scrumhalf and was nervous as hell! But I knew that they wouldn't put me in that spot unless they had full confidence...we had to win!

We were moving the ball well, setting clean rucks and doing all the hard work but couldn't seem to get the ball into the try zone again. Over and over we had great continuity, support and fitness...but just couldn't make it happen. The penalty kicks by Val were great though!

So all in all the weekend didn't go quite as we had imagined...as for the U23 women though, they kicked ass all weekend and were able to take 1st place! Nice work ladies!