Your Scrumhalf Connection - Women's Rugby Blog

so sad, i fractured my left hand this weekend playing rugby. blogging will be delayed for awhile...

photos coming soon...maybe my x-rays too!

leigh made me that awesome tongue depressor splint...

And yet another rugby video...Hardest Tackles in Rugby League.



I just thought this was hilarious!!

FROM ESPN.com
NEW YORK -- Emmitt Smith danced off with the mirror ball.

The three-time Super Bowl champion, who proved to be as nimble on his feet in the ballroom as on the football field, was named the winner of ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" Wednesday night. With the victory came the glittering trophy.

Emmitt Smith
Greg LeBoeuf/WireImage.com
After dancing his way to 166 rushing touchdowns in the NFL, Emmitt Smith was well prepared for "Dancing with the Stars."

The NFL's all-time leading rusher beat out actor Mario Lopez.

The hunky, dimpled Lopez was generally regarded as the series most dynamic celebrity dancer, but the public's vote, the deciding factor after the contestants had tied in the judges' tally at Tuesday's final dance-off, brought Smith the victory.

"It is awesome! It is awesome!" declared Smith, after hugging his professional dance partner Cheryl Burke. "We came a long way, we really have."

Burke won last season, too, on the arm of singer Drew Lachey.

Smith had kind words for Lopez, who was gracious in his defeat. He called the former "Saved by the Bell" star a "true gentleman" and said he and partner Karina Smirnoff "raised the bar" during the competition.

The rest of the article can be found here.

And another funny article and video:

A fight broke out at the Super Wal-Mart broke out in Palmdale in California when store employees decide to move the line from inside to outside.

According to a television station, a group of PS3 line-waiters got angry when they were told they could no longer wait inside a Wal-Mart for the PS3 and would have to go outside instead. The group ran through the store knocking everyone and everything in their path over.

Sheriff's deputies were called and the store temporarily shut down to restore order.

PS3 Shuts Down Wal-Mart [Yahoo Video]

Cyclist Landis's Drug Test Was Mislabeled by Lab, Le Monde Says
By Nancy Kercheval

Nov. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Part of the urine sample that disqualified Tour de France cycling champion Floyd Landis for drug use was mislabeled by the lab, Le Monde reported.

Landis's laboratory identification number was different than the one cited on the French lab report of the second half, or B part, of the urine, the French newspaper said, without citing a source. The administrative error doesn't mean the B sample used to verify the existence of the banned drug testosterone didn't belong to Landis, Le Monde said.

Attorneys representing Landis are trying to discredit the laboratory in order to clear the U.S. cyclist's name, Le Monde said. The latest information will be presented at a slide show about Landis in Tucson, Arizona, on Nov. 17, the night before the 16th annual Tour de Tucson. Landis repeatedly has denied using drugs.

The lab's computers were broken into by hackers who addressed similar incidents of mislabeling at the facility, Le Monde said.

Article found here.

So the USA 7's guy on Facebook and I have become little buddies and he sent me this awesome link this morning.

Can't beat girls in dresses!! And the music is quite hilarious....



And here is the USA 7's Facebook profile again...he is working really hard to make rugby a force in the world. Help him out!

It's amazing how a quick 15 minute walk can change the atmosphere. Jake had been restless all night and after getting some relaxation time of my own I decided he needed a walk. So we started out and its pretty chilly out tonight, but it was absolutely beautiful! The sky was nice and clear and the cold was just right. It's funny to think that it is snowing most places and I wore short sleeves to work today!

Anyways, the walk was very good, helped to clear the mind. School is really weighing on me lately. I am failing one of my classes (oops) and barely clinging on with the others. I am doing my assignments, but when rugby was in full swing I fell behind a little bit...hence the dilligence of late.

I have a huge huge huge paper due in two weeks and I am trying to be a good student and work on it now...but I also have bills to pay and working sometimes becomes more important! So its kind of nice that rugby is done for awhile. A few of the Valks and I are playing for the University of Texas this weekend (OH CRAP I just remembered I'm going to have to wear BURNT ORANGE...damnit) and YES we will be taking DA BUS on its first rugby road trip. That should be fun.

Just a random peek into my life. Have a great night!

Ohhh yes we went camping!!! It was amazing!!!

Meg, Shalay, Heidi, Shannon, Dudley, Jake and I went up early to start the celebration on Thursday night. We camped at Lake Bastrop South Shore...it was BEAUTIFUL.

The picture to the right is about 6pm, after we had handily setup camp in about 45 minutes. At this point I was drinking wine and beer...and probably had already had WAY to much to drink. (Those that received late night phone calls...was it even 9pm yet?...can attest.) Not to brag, but Shannon and I finished off an 18 pack ourselves, we can be dangerous ruggers!

So we got camp all setup in this amazing amazing spot...and then the park host came around and told us it was a 50amp spot reserved for RV campers. He said it was cool if we stayed the night but we would have to choose another spot the next morning. Bummer because the site was RIGHT on the water and was super chill.

Sleeping that night in my tent with Jake was heaven! It was perfect weather with just a sheet for a covering and the sounds of nature surrounding us. We fell asleep adjacent to the water (my tent was literally 3 feet from the shore) and awoke to the many little duckies fishing for their breakfast. It was so very liberating.

So Friday morning we cooked up yummy eggs, bacon and potatoes and started the journey to choose a camp site. On the way to the administrative office we looked at all the sites and had a couple picked out in our minds, the perfect one we wanted was RESERVED...when it was supposed to be first-come-first-serve basis. Whatever though!

So we picked out 3 campsites (we had over 10 ruggers coming later that night!!!) and setup camp again. Shannon and I found the perfect spot for our tents away from the fire and very secluded. I jokingly called it the "love bungalow" but as everyone knows we are two single gals with no one to share the love with....but I insisted on calling it that anyways!

Setting up camp took awhile because we decided to carry our tents form campsite to campsite instead of breaking them down and packing them up. So we literally picked up all the tents and carried them down the road...we are smart!

Later that evening around 4pm we started getting a little antsy because we knew we had 10 more people coming to camp with us. They finally started showing up around 6pm. So we threw the firewood on and starting making dinner. I was in charge of dinner and had decided to do HOBO Dinners as they are my favorite meal EVER!

HOBO Dinners are so freakin' easy and YUMMY. Basically you get a bunch of tin foil and make your dinner in that. We had beef/chicken, carrots, butternut squash, zucchini, yellow squash, potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower and onions. You just chop up all the stuff and throw it in the tinfoil pack, wrap it a couple of times and throw on the ready-made coals. They take about 20 minutes a side and are absolutely fabulous if I do say so. I love love love to make them camping.

And then we commenced for more drinking, the Thursday night crew had diligently been drinking water and Gatorade all day so we could be hydrated for another night of drinking. The campfire that night was a little less rowdy as most people had just come from a day of camping and just wanted to chill out. I think we went to bed around midnight. It was a little more chilly Friday night, so Jake and I cuddled all night long. Like having a hot water bottle all night long!

Saturday morning came early as most of the campers were up around 8am...and we had breakfast going so we could get them out of bed faster! This morning we did pancakes, blueberry pancakes and chocolate chip pancakes. Yum Yum! From then everyone did their own separate activities, some read on the shore, some read around the fire, fishing, hiking, walks, sleeping...everyone just kinda chilled out.

Around 1pm we started to all get hungry so I broke out the HOBO dinner leftovers and we made a few packs in the coals. Everyone just kinda chilled out until dark and then we ate again! I love camping cause you are constantly eating!

Oh yeah and Jake showed off his swimming skills all Saturday afternoon. He chased a tennis ball, frisbee, sticks, rocks...anything we could find to throw in the water. Here is my favorite shot of him getting out of the water. And a cute shot of just his head looking for the frisbee. At one point the frisbee was almost submerged and he stuck his head UNDERWATER to find it...what a great dog! I love him so so so much.

So that night we were sitting around the campfire and you could tell we were all hitting a wall from being up so early the morning before. So a few of the girls decided we should drink more and play drinking games. So Traci taught us the vegetable game. Basically you choose a vegetable and then you say someone another person's vegetable and they choose another and so forth. The catch was you had to keep your teeth covered, so your trying to say Shrimp Shrimp with your teeth covered. It was very fun! Then we changed it to the meat game where you had to choose a meat...and it was even more fun!

The whole experience was so much fun and a blast!! I love my mates and we are totally going camping again! Sorry for the abrupt ending...I'm tired of writing....

Peace ya'all.

New Layout this morning...

LIKE:
the bold colors
have always loved maroon
love the wide format

DISLIKE:
white on black is always hard to read
intensity of the blog...

Let me know what ya think.

And this is the best rugby video I have found on youtube yet...

A few fun websites I wanted to pass along to my 27 faithful readers. Why 27? It seemed like a good number! My page hits are going up and up and up...and its all very exciting. Feel free to leave comments!!

Anyways the websites are:

http://austin.craigslist.org/ - Craigslist is an amazing tool for free stuff, a place to sell your stuff, personals, job searches and more....just find your city and get started!

Best of Craigslist - A collection of the best postings on Craigslist.org. They range from sexual, to disastrous to downright disgusting, but they help pass the time at work! Beware they are somewhat out of line and ridiculous, but fun at the same time!

Digg.com - My big brother just told me about this today, pretty fun sight with lots of random blogs...you basically "vote" for your fave and then you "digg it." Get it?

http://www.globalrichlist.com/index.php - If you ever feel down about how much money you make, check out this site. And you can make a quick donation if you feel so inclined!

Just a few sites to help you pass the time at school, work, home or whatever you may be doing.

Peace.

So a few of my teammates really really really love 7's...and so they decided to start Winter 7's here in Austin. I think part of us just can't let go of 15's and do have a great passion for 7's.

There is even talk of having a small tournament and trying to get some teams to come down and hang out with us. This is totally social and meant to be a buffer until 15's starts sometime in early 2007.

2007. Now that is pretty scary...I remember when I was younger and I would think about reaching the 2000's...wow. I thought it would be like the Jetsons...wouldn't that be awesome?

And I know the picture has snow in it...and it probably hasn't snowed in Austin for years. But it is Winter 7's after all! Just because it could possibly be 60 degrees in Austin.... :)

An awesome USA 7's Promo Video was just released on Youtube. Check it out!



Also they have created a group on Facebook. Click here to access it!
The regular website for the event is http://www.usasevens.com/

Texas A&M met Eastern Illinois in Little Rock, AR (in conjuction with the Little Rock Tournament) this weekend to have a repeat game from last year. Unlike last year however the weather was clear...last year the battle was rainy and muddy as the whole state was being rained upon. The game was hard to tell as EIU only beat A&M by 22 points. I watched the game from the sidelines and cheered silently for A&M. They played well but were defeated.

This year would be different though! The game was tough as EIU had great tackling and great communication, but A&M stuck to it and blasted them with rolling mauls...which they scored off of twice. A&M recovered kicks expertly and was able to capitalize and gain field possession through their speedy back triangle. Spectators said that A&M had spectacular lineouts and fooled EIU over and over again with their crisp forward and back plays.

Great job ladies!!!

Some of the Valkyries will see you next weekend at the A&M Alumni Match and the Round Robin with HARC/Rice.