Your Scrumhalf Connection - Women's Rugby Blog

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