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Mar 17, 2008

Rugby Here & There - College

About time for some Collegiate Rugby news updates wouldn't you say? Have a score, idea or thoughts? Express it in the comments!

  • Texas A&M Ireland Rugby Tour Log

    Click here for Match 1, Match 2 and the wrap up of the tour here.

  • Airforce Zoomies lose to Glendale Lady Raptors 39-5

    The Glendale Raptors Rugby Football Club, under head coach Mark Bullock, throttled the Air Force Academy Zoomies Rugby Football Club, 56-11 at Infinity Park pitch March 8.

    The Glendale Women's Raptors team, under head coach Wendy Cook, defeated the Air Force women soundly, 39-5.

    It was the second contest of the year at Infinity Park. On March 1, the Raptors beat the Seattle Rugby Club, 32-29, while the Women Raptors downed the Boulder Babes 33-5.

    March 15, the Women Raptors will host the CU Women's Rugby team at noon and the Men's Raptors will play the Queen City Rugby Football Club at 2 p.m.

    **NOTE: All of the matches played at Infinity Stadium are available for live viewing and/or downloading. Check it out!

  • Illinois Women's Rugby Spring Break Tour '08

    Found the Illinois Women's Rugby Blog this morning and was excited to hear that they went on a Spring Break tour as well. Post the updates and I will post them here as well!

  • Women's rugby (West Chester) down the Tar Heels (North Carolina)

    Part two of the 07-08 women's rugby campaign started off right where the girls left off in the fall, with a win in front of their home crowd Saturday afternoon over North Carolina University. Although the Tar Heels only ended up a try and conversion away in the 24-17 contest, the Rams took their victory in dominating fashion.

    West Chester jumped out to an early lead in the competition with a score from Beverly Schmitz, but the conversion by Whitney Hartshore was unsuccessful, making the score 5-0. The Tar Heels came back later with a try and missed conversion, tying the score up at five.

    West Chester broke the tie late in the first half with two crucial trys. The first came from Junior Erin Furlong, which was her first career try. Click here for the rest of the article.

  • Lady Ruggers to spend break in U.K. (Penn State)

    Lady Rugger Amanda Mesa will be traveling to a place she's never been during spring break -- Europe.

    For the annual Penn State women's rugby trip, Mesa and her teammates will travel to England to play five matches and have a different rugby experience from anything they would have in the United States.

    "We will be getting immersed in the rugby culture over there," said Mesa, a freshman.

    "It will definitely help give us an edge."

    Penn State will play five matches against English universities and club teams.

    Coach Peter Steinberg said the trip will provide his team with a great team-building experience.

    "Some of the best memories of the players' careers are made on the spring break trip," Steinberg said. Click here for the rest of the article.

  • Latest Goffon Rugby Rankings (D1):

    1 Brown (1) 12-1
    2 Navy (2) 15-1 Swept through VWIT
    3 Texas A&M (3) 9-0 12-0 over Navan, Ire.
    4 Penn State (4) 6-0 17-0 over Worcester, Eng.
    5 Stanford (5) 10-3 Champagne Classic
    6 Chico St. (6) 18-3 Champagne Classic
    7 Cornell (7) 13-3
    8 Army (8) 10-5
    9 Virginia (9) 12-2
    10 Clemson (15) 10-3 58-19 over Indiana (10)
    11 BYU (16) 8-0-1 65-0 over Colorado (14)
    12 Indiana (10) 13-3 Lost 58-19 to Clemson (15)
    13 Vassar (11) 9-3
    14 Air Force (12) 8-4-1 Lost to Glendale club
    15 UC Davis (13) 4-2
    16 Colorado (14) 9-6-1 Lost 65-0 to BYU, 33-19 to Utah Valley
    17 W. Chester (22) 6-2
    18 N. Carolina (16) 9-3
    20 Oregon (15) 9-2 37-0 over Oregon State
    19 California (19) 10-5
    21 N.Iowa (17) 6-1
    22 Florida (21) 9-2
    23 E. Illinois (23) 7-2
    24 UCLA (24) 4-2
    25 UCSD (25) 4-1

  • Latest Goffon Rugby Rankings (D1):

    1 Norwich (1) 15-0
    2 Shippensburg (2) 11-1
    3 UNH (3) 7-2
    4 UC Santa Cruz (4) 4-2 Showdown with Sac State ppd.
    5 Minnesota-Duluth (5) 12-2
    6 Texas Tech (10) 7-4 68-0 over Rice, 62-0 over Texas State
    7 Brockport (6) 7-1
    8 UW-Milwaukee (7) 15-1
    9 Bowling Green (8) 10-2
    10 Grand Valley St. (9) 6-5
    11 Siena (11) 6-1
    12 Wane St. Neb. (12) 6-0
    13 Colorado State (13) 3-1 Lost 29-0 to DI Air Force
    14 Mary Wash. (18) 9-4-1 27-0 over Longwood
    15 Coll. of Charleston (14) 3-0
    16 Georgetown (15) 5-2
    17 Slippery Rock (16) 4-1
    18 Sacramento S. (17) 4-1 Ppd v. UC Santa Cruz
    19 Rutgers (18) 5-3
    20 Western Wash. (Unr.) 4-4 41-10 over Washington State

Texas A&M Ireland Travel Log - Wrapping it Up

The Aggies are safely back in College Station, TX this morning. The tour was a semi-success as they had 2 formidable wins and on forfeit. Evidently the last match of the tour was canceled due to St. Patrick's Day. I am sure the team was incredibly disappointed with the game cancellation, but still to have traveled in Ireland, what a dream!

If you are a Facebook goer, check out a few of their profiles for some great pictures, I borrowed this one from Becca's album of the Ireland tour. Looks like it was a muddy game and Lenae's face is priceless.

The Aggies aren't stopping here though, this weekend they play the Austin Valkyries in College Station at 10am. Then the weekend after that they will be at the Western Collegiate Tournament in Ft. Worth, TX.

American Rugby News Followup

Noticed today that American Rugby News finally fielded a question about the lack of Women's Rugby on their website. Interesting that my email in January never made the Editor's Page...

However, the response on the website is of course much cleaner and nicer than the response I received on email. And I did receive a pretty nasty response to my blog post and it just proved the point I was trying to make. I was asked not to post it and I won't...but just for the record, I was not running my mouth and I am not trying to make enemies as you claim. I am simply asking that you look outside the box and be the tip of the hat that makes change happen. Can you imagine directing ALL the women rugby players to your site because you offer AMAZING coverage of women's rugby? Only means more money and advertising (as you are so concerned with) will come.

Here is the excerpt from the Editor's Page, thanks to David Scrymgeour for writing!:

I thoroughly enjoy your website and podcast, and enjoy the timeliness in reporting and game coverage. I am up to date on collegiate activities for the first time since I was a player in college.

However, I do find one portion a little lacking - the coverage of women's rugby at the club and collegiate level. I realize that you already cover a significant amount, but please, the women deserve as much respect as the men! Even just posting the scores and ranking leading up to the Round of 16 would be a great service.

David Scrymgeour
Albuquerque, New Mexico

ARN replies: Our coverage of the women’s game is primarily focused on the women’s national team and the women’s college national championship. Since our launch in 2005, we have been tracking our readers’ preferences in terms of content and the reality is that the majority of our readers are more interested in the men’s game.

That probably has a lot to do with the fact that our core demographic is male 18-34, 35-54, but it would be tardy business practice for us to ignore that fact. The other variable of which we are very much aware is that advertisers are not drawn to the women’s game to the same degree that they are to men’s rugby. There are several reasons for that; suffice it to say that in the eyes of advertisers/sponsors the product is not as good.

And as advertising and sponsorships are how we stay afloat, again it would be bad business practice for us not to recognize that fact.

One other point of note, ARN is not alone on this. International rugby news and information sites such as Scrum and Rugby Heaven for example do not carry much, if any, women’s content for exactly the same reasons.

Mar 14, 2008

U-20 Women's National Team Elite Camp - Whitney Wayland

Whitney Wayland from the University of Oklahoma was asked to attend the U-20 Women's National Team Elite Camp in Cocoa Beach, FL the weekend February 28 - March 2, 2008. Here is her guest blog about the event:

Try Out Report

So my tryouts(for those of you who don't know) went well. The camp was held February 28-March 2 in Cocoa Beach Florida at the Cocoa Beach Expo Center. The coaches(who never lie, at least not to us) told us that the level of experience at the camp was higher than at any other camp and that they've never had so many talented athletes in one camp before. They said no one was there that shouldn't be and we were all playing on the same level.

I won't know anything about the camp until after Easter, but I accomplished what I went there for: I learned so much. I learned counter rucks, different passes, new plays and how to be a better all around player. We went to the beach on Saturday night, rather than have practice, and it was beautiful. I have never been to the ocean before and it felt good, until the salt water washed into my grass burns on my legs. I got a wonderful tan, with a slight sunburn, made new friends and a hyper extended elbow to add to my hyper extended knee(acquired the Sunday before while playing booger).

A prop figured I was having trouble tackling a back(just because when I touched her I didn't knock her backwards) and decided to plow us both over, even though she was on my team. Her shoulder hit my elbow and bent my arm backwards. Needless to say, its really, really sore. I have bruises, dirty laundry, a sense of pride and a better understanding about Rugby after this weekend. We practiced almost 10 hours a day, with three practices a day. Up at 7 and down at 11. That's a lot of rugby we had to cram into 4 days.

On another note, the weather back at home(Oklahoma) apparently didn't get Florida's weather's memo(so nice and pleasant in Florida) and was storming with tornadoes, both warnings and watches. Instead of 5 hours in the air, I spent 8. I can barely stand a car ride to the city, which is only an hour away from home. I was about to die. I had a lot of opportunity to study for my midterms(two on Monday), and very little to sleep. It's nice being in Oklahoma but I can't wait to go on another rugby trip or to take the hour long drive back home.

Thanks Whitney for your update, I always enjoy peeking into to others rugby experiences...if you want to share your rugby experiences, email me.

Texas A&M Ireland Travel Log - Match 2

Not much information coming in today from Ireland, but I did manage to get a quick score of the game they played against Athlone. Final score was Texas A&M 99 - Athlone 0.

I also tried to find more information on the team Athlone, but didn't find anything worthwhile on the web. Looks like the next stop on the Ireland Tour for Texas A&M will be a match on Saturday vs V'S Top Limerick Club. A little searching on Google and I found Shannon RFC, but not sure if this is who they are playing.

Can't tell if they are playing a Top Limerick Rugby team or if that is the team name...who knows.

Good luck ladies!

Women’s 2008 Elite Player Squad

USA Rugby Announces 2008 Men’s and Women’s Elite Player Squads

BOULDER, Colo. – Following careful consideration from the National Team selectors and High Performance Managers, USA Rugby has officially announced the 2008 Men’s and Women’s Elite Player Squads (EPS).

The Elite Player Squad serves as the primary selection vehicle for USA Rugby Senior National Teams throughout the year. All athletes named to the EPS will be closely monitored by National Team coaches and selectors, as well as four High Performance (HP) managers, who will act as the main points of contact for players in their respective regions. Each player will follow an agreed HP plan designed to boost conditioning, nutrition and skills and supported by regular fitness testing and assessments.

USA Rugby High Performance programs will now focus on building stronger, more competitive squads for upcoming major international events such as the Men and Women’s Rugby World Cup Sevens qualifiers in 2008, the Rugby World Cup Sevens in 2009, the Women’s Rugby World Cup 2010, and the Men’s Rugby World Cup qualification 2010 and finals in 2011.

“As the competitive season gains momentum it is important that our National coaches and High Performance staff keep a close eye on all of the Elite Players,” said USA Rugby CEO and President of Rugby Operations Nigel Melville. “These initial squads are a starting off point - players will be added on account of their performances and when necessary, players will be released from the squads if their performance is not thought to be at the level required.”

For more information on the Men’s and Women’s National teams, please visit www.usarugby.org/goto/National_Teams.

Kirsten Ahrendt (Keystone)
Kristin Baja (New York)
Stacey Bennett (NOVA)
Libby Berg (Minnesota Valkyries)
Emilie Bydwell (Brown Univ.)
Jamie Burke (Berkeley All-Blues)
Lisa Butts (Berkeley All-Blues)
Kate Daley (Penn State)
Amy Daniels (Beantown)
Mel Denham (Beantown)
Liz Dilley (Washington)
Lisa Dombroski (Philadelphia)
Farrah Douglas (Chicago North Shore)
Katy Dowty (Beantown)
Ashley English (Berkeley All-Blues)
Yancy Graf (Beantown)
Blair Groefsema (Berkeley All-Blues)
Tyshawn Henry (New York)
Heather Jennings (Seattle)
Mel Kanuk (Maryland Stingers)
Ashley Kmiecek (Emerald City Mudhens)
Ellie Karvoski (Little Rock)
Phaidra Knight (New York)
Pam Kosanke (Chicago North Shore)
Lynelle Kugler (Glendale Women’s Raptors)
Jamie Lange (Glendale Women’s Raptors)
Kristy Lear (Minnesota Valkyries)
Teena Mastrangelo (Chicago North Shore)
Kim Magrini (Keystone)
Nathalie Marchino (Berkeley All-Blues)
Desiree Markovich (Minnesota Valkyries)
Schmarrah McCarthy (Purdue Univ.)
Kati McCormick (Univ. Wisconsin-Milwaukee)
Vanesha McGee (Philadelphia)
Kelly McMahon (New York)
Melissa McKibben (Kansas City Jazz)
Daniela Mogro (New York)
San Juanita Moreno (ORSU)
Elise Myer (Maryland Stingers)
Kate Pope (Philadelphia)
Jillion Potter (Minnesota Valkyries)
Allison Price (New York)
Christy Ringgenberg (Minnesota Valkyries)
Ines Rodriguez (Keystone)
Lauren Rosso (Penn State)
Jen Sinkler (Philadelphia)
Melissa Smit (Stanford)
Jen Starkey (NOVA)
Lo Stender (Las Vegas)
Lindsey Stephenson (Orlando Women)
Donna Thomas (Kansas City Jazz)
Jessica Travers (UIC)
Jossy Tseng (Stanford)
Shaina Turley (San Diego Surfers)
Kitt Wagner (Beantown)
Mari Wallace (Berkeley All-Blues)
JoAnne Ward (Albany)
Jessica Watkins (Stanford)
Kelly White (Belmont Shore)
Whitman, Heidi (Austin Valkyries)
Rose Whitmore (Berkeley All-Blues)
Kristin Zdanczewicz (Minnesota Valkyries)

Congratulations to all the players listed and congratulations for the players that are in the Women's National Pool as well. The Elite Player Squad (EPS) was selected from the USA Rugby Women's National Team Player Pool. The pool is designed to supplement the EPS and a player may become an EPS member at anytime.

I think it is perfect that KTrain posted a couple of days about rugby lists. Check out her post here. "Play the game, love the game, because you never know when it will be your last game. Then you never worry about lists."

Mar 12, 2008

Texas A&M Ireland Travel Log - Match 1

Texas A&M Ireland Travel Log - Match 1

We traveled north to Navan last night for our first match of the tour vs Navan WRFC. The weather was unlike anything we've seen in Texas for a long time. 40 degrees, raining, and 40-50 mph winds. The Aggies played with a lot of courage under those conditions. Despite the wet and cold we showed some impressive ball movement, but struggled to finish down close until Brea Hughes broke through 15 minutes in to score under the posts. Score 5 - 0 Ags.

It wasn't until 61 minutes into the the game that another score came. Becca Barron broke up the middle and went in from 40 meters out. Hillary Wells made the conversion to put the Aggies up 12 - 0. It was a struggle of defenses and weather the rest of the match, and the final whistle blew with the score remaining 12 - 0. The Navan WRFC gave a us a very warm reception in the club house after everyone thawed out. The club President presented the team with their club crest to show their appreciation.

I was very pleased with our performance, especially given the conditions. However, we will have to improve in a few areas if we expect to continue our success against a much stronger Young Munster later this week.

Thanks for your support and let me know if you need anything,

GIG 'EM!!!
Will

Mar 11, 2008

Texas A&M Ireland Travel Log

The Texas A&M Aggies are in Ireland for a Rugby Spring Break Tour. Check here for updates, pictures and more!

TEXAS A&M WOMEN’S R.F.C. TOUR ITINERARY - IRELAND MARCH 2008
(subject to change)

Monday 10th March 2008
Arrive Dublin Airport.
Training Session with Top International Coach.
Bus transfer to Dublin Hostel.
Evening Free for all.

Tuesday 11th March 2008
Local Tour of Dublin City.
Tour of Croke Park & Museum
Tour of Guinness Storehouse & Dublin’s Book of Kells.
1st Match of Tour V'S Dublin Rugby Club.
Attend Festivities with host club.
Evening Free for all.

Wednesday 12th March 2008
Bus Transfer to Hostel in Galway City.
Local Tour of Galway City.
Training Session with Top International Coach.
Evening Free for all.

Thursday 13th March 2008
2nd Match of Tour V'S Top Galway Club.
Attend Festivities with host Club.
Evening Free for all.
Friday 14th March 2008
Bus Transfer to Hostel in Limerick City.
Visit the Cliffs of Moher.
Guided Tour of Bunratty Castle.
Evening Free for all.

Saturday 15th March 2008
3rd Match of Tour V'S Top Limerick Club.
Attend Festivities with host Club.
Evening Free for all.

Sunday 16th March 2008
Transfer to Dublin Airport for Flight home.

Here is the first team update from Will Riddle, the Texas A&M Coach:

After a 13 hour delay in London we finally arrived in Dublin last night around 8:30 pm local. A lot of our luggage, however, did not. Despite our best efforts to carry on everything we need to play rugby, the airline made several girls check their kit bags. Those of course were lost as well. We're hopeful we'll get everything back before noon today. Plenty of time to get ready for a 5:00pm departure for our first match with Navan WRFC in Naas, Ireland.

We got to the Hostel in time for everyone to get out and grab something to eat before bed. We're all up now getting ready to head over and tour the Guinness Storehouse and Croke Park.

I'll let you know how the match went first thing tomorrow morning if at all possible.

Thanks for all your support that made this trip possible.

From Dublin,
Will

Mar 6, 2008

American Rugby News or Men's American Rugby News?

I subscribe to a lot of rugby blogs, news sites and internet sites. Most of them I have in my Google Reader (LOVE IT!), but some of them I visit on a daily basis to keep up to date with the rugby world.

However, I have stopped visiting one site and am sad to say why. American Rugby News (http://americanrugbynews.com/) hasn't had a new story on Women's Rugby since December 15, 2007. There has been so much happening in the world of women's rugby that I was perplexed as to why they didn't have any updates. So on Jan 23, 2007 I emailed the editor of American Rugby News and asked them why they didn't have more stories about women's rugby.

Here is my email to them:

Hello,

I am writing today to ask one simple question. Why is your coverage of women's rugby so dismal?

You haven't had a new story about women's rugby since Dec 15, 2007. More than 30 days and you haven't written one thing about women's rugby. There has been plenty happening if you didn't know:

http://westrugby.blogspot.com/2008/01/san-diego-7s-womens-usa-7s-team-chosen.html
The USA Women's National 7's Team as selected just this morning

http://westrugby.blogspot.com/2008/01/usa-rugby-elite-camps-2008.html
They also held a rockin' camp about a week ago.

Women's rugby teams are working hard in the USA and they deserve your recognition. While I definitely appreciate the coverage of the Round of 16 and accompanying Final Four Tournaments, as well as the great coverage of the Women's National UK Tour 2007, there is plenty of news out there on a daily basis that should be reported.

I am not trying to promote my Women's Rugby blog, but simply ask that we get at least HALF (we deserve equal) the press that the men's youth, collegiate, club and national teams get on your website.

Thank you,
Wendy

I will not be posting the full reply that was emailed back to me. To say the least it was disappointing and showed their true color. I believe this excerpt sums it up pretty good:

"The reason we don't spend a lot of time covering the women's game is because generally speaking there's not as much interest in it...Coupled with that, advertisers aren't exactly banging our door down demanding to sponsor women's rugby."

While I understand business and understand advertising, I don't understand this mentality. What could be the easiest way to boost your readership and sponsorship which equals funding the bottom line...than thinking outside the box? If you could cater to women and quickly become the best source of news for women's rugby, you could corner the market! We all know that Goff thinks he has the market cornerd for rugby in general, but his poor reporting and accuracy is a problem.

So while your news site is biased against women and is so worried about the bottom line, my little blog will keep chugging along as these women rugby players deserve recognition. You have lost one reader that won't be responding to your advertisements or helping your bottom line.

Mar 4, 2008

Rugby Here & There: West U-23 LAU Tournament

West U-23 LAU Tournament - Kansas City, KS

This weekend I had the pleasure of traveling with the Texas Rugby Union (TRU) U-23 Women's Rugby Team to Kansas City, KS for the Local Area Union (LAU) Tournament. (What a mouthful!) I was there as a trainer and a scrumhalf coach, assisting Anna Kunkel the head coach and Traci Schmidtke the forwards coach.

The tournament was hosted by the West U-23 Coaches:
Angie Cranmore, Head Coach
Will Riddle, Backs Coach
Traci Schmidtke, Forwards Coach
Mary Graham, Fowards Coach

The tournament was organized by Chris Franz and was used as a development and selection venue for the upcoming National All Star Championships in June 2008.

Tournament Schedule/Results

Saturday March 1st
9:00am Heart of America vs. Texas Rugby Union 41 - 17
11:00am Eastern Rockies Rugby Football Union vs. Mid West 31 - 5
1:00pm Heart of America vs. Eastern Rockies Rugby Football Union 0 - 15

Sunday March 2nd
10:00am Eastern Rockies Rugby Football Union vs. Texas Rugby Union No score, ERRFU won.
12:00pm Heart of America vs. Mid West 30 - 5

And in case you haven't heard, they have found a venue for NASCs for U-23 and the Senior side as well. Looks like we will be at Founder's Field in Pennsylvania. For a view in your external browser, click here. Or just look here:


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Posted by Your Scrumhalf Connection @ 3:12 PM

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