Another WANTED request has hit my inbox this morning:
One of our New York club alumni (Nic Denyer) has been developing an idea for a business, news, social and travel website exclusively for rugby and ex rugby players..
To that, he is conducting a brief survey @ www.rugbybiz.com/survey.php
If you could complete the survey and pass the link on to as many Rugby folks you know who played or plays rugby we would appreciate it....
If you are interested, please complete the survey...have a WANTED request? Leave your info in the comments, email me or Facebook me.
See other Wanted Ads:
Touring Rugby Sides to Visit South West England
Rugby Field Usage vs Other Sports
Rugby Recipes
from USA Rugby:
After careful consideration and review of members’ 2008 feedback, USA Rugby has officially announced the schedule and locations for a majority of its 2009 National Championship events.
The 2009 season will again feature the official partnership between USA Rugby and the Army National Guard, an alliance that includes the title sponsorship of a number of USA Rugby Championship events.
The championship season will kick off with the USA Rugby National Guard Collegiate Playoffs on April 17-19. The Men’s Division I collegiate playoffs will be held in two locations this year, both located on college campuses, something that Dan Payne, USA Rugby’s Director of Competition, strongly encouraged.
“By splitting the pools we were able to minimize travel for five or six of the eight teams in each pool. Furthermore, I feel it’s important that we continue to play these games on college campuses, where possible,” Payne said.
Pools A and C will compete in Berkeley, Calif., and Pools B and D at Life University in Atlanta. The Women’s Division I playoffs and the Men’s and Women’s Division II playoffs will be held at the Seminole Soccer Complex in Sanford, Fla.
The nation’s top men’s and women’s college squads will once again take the field at Steuber Rugby Stadium in Stanford, Calif., for the USA Rugby National Guard Collegiate Championships on May 1-2. This event is set to be hosted by Stanford University in both 2009 and 2010.
Having played host to all 40 of the countries best men’s club teams in 2008, the Austin RFC will host the Western Region of the Division I, II and III Men’s Club Playoffs again this year. Columbia, S.C. has relinquished its title as host of a National Championships event, as it has been chosen to hold the Eastern Region Division I, II and III Men’s Club Playoffs.
Following the final approval by the USA Rugby Youth Committee, the date of the USA Rugby National Guard Boy’s High School, and Boy’s and Girl’s U-19 Championships has settled on May 15-17. The Pittsburgh Harlequins will host the event at Founders Field.
USA Rugby will continue its close relationship with the top-notch facility, Infinity Park, in Glendale, Colo. Infinity Park opened its gates in 2007 and is the first municipal U.S. rugby stadium. The city of Glendale is set to host both the Men’s Club Championships on May 30-31 and the Men’s Collegiate All-Star Championships on June 12-14.
The Women’s All-Star Championships will be held on May 29-31 in Little Rock, Ark., while the Women’s Under-23 All-Star Championships will be held on June 12-14 in Pittsburgh’s Founder’s Field.
On August 15-16, San Francisco Golden Gate will once again host the USA Rugby Men’s Sevens Championships at Treasure Island in San Francisco. The Men's and Women's All-Star Sevens Championship is set for August 29-30, but the site is yet to be determined.
The Women’s Division I Club Playoffs and Championships are also without a finalized venue, but are scheduled for October 24-25 and November 6-8, respectively.
For more information on the National Championship Series, please visit www.usarugby.org/goto/Championships or contact Dan Payne.
April 17-19
USA Rugby National Guard Collegiate Playoffs
Division I Men’s (Pools A and C) – Berkeley, Calif. @ Witter Rugby Field
Division I Men’s (Pools B and D) – Atlanta, Ga. @ Life University
Division I Women’s – Sanford, Fla. @ Seminole Soccer Complex
Division II Men’s and Women’s – Sanford, Fla. @ Seminole Soccer Complex
May 1-2
USA Rugby National Guard Collegiate Championships
Palo Alto, Calif. @ Steuber Rugby Stadium
May 15-17
USA Rugby National Guard High School/ U-19 Championships
Pittsburgh, Pa. @ Founders Field
May 16-17
USA Rugby Men’s Club Playoffs
Division I, II and III Men’s (Eastern Division) – Columbia, S.C.
Division I, II and III Men’s (Western Division) – Austin, Texas @ Burr Field
May 29-31
USA Rugby Women’s Club All-Star Championships
Little Rock, Ark.
May 30-31
USA Rugby Men’s Club Championships
Glendale, Colo. @ Infinity Park
June 12-14
USA Rugby Men’s Collegiate All-Star Championships
Glendale, Colo. @ Infinity Park
USA Rugby Women’s Under-23 All-Star Championships
Pittsburgh, Pa. @ Founders Field
August 15-16
USA Rugby Men’s Club Sevens Championships
San Francisco, Calif. @ Treasure Island
August 29-30
USA Rugby All-Star Sevens Championships
Site TBD
October 24-25
USA Rugby Women’s Club Playoffs
Site TBD
November 6-8
USA Rugby Women’s Club Championships
Site TBD
Gerry and I met through the Ruckosphere and then finally met in person in Austin in April 2008. I had the pleasure of meeting his children too, in fact his daughter won the October Free Rugby Raffle! He has attended a few games for the Austin Valkyries and has sent me some amazing photos! Thanks for all the blog love and for writing this blog post!
IMHO, rugby is dysfunctional. Ever since my first experience with the sport, I have known that it is for and by a different breed of people. I was just out of high school, in incredible shape, had a very competitive mentality, and was jonesing some serious good times. And rugby did not disappoint. I played my first sevens tournament with the local rugby club, which just happened to have two of my older brothers involved. We spent a typical hot windy Saturday in San Angelo, Texas; running up and down the field passing that ball back and forth. I was a soccer player so the kicking duties fell on me. I converted nine out of ten and sprained my ankle so bad that it warranted a trip to the emergency room. The nurse was impressed with the twelve pack splint we had crudely fashioned, and took little time in getting me cleared for departure. So, we headed back out to the lake shore for the after game festivities. Speaking as a nineteen year old young man, that was the most fun I'd had in a long time. But aside from the experiences of the social atmosphere, rugby provides each player with strategy, skill, fitness and mental challenges which are inherently fun for people to attempt to overcome. So, to say that rugby players put the fun is dysfunctional is an understatement.
The game of rugby, is a thinking game. It is played by two teams of equal amounts of players, either fifteen, seven or some number in between those two. The object is to use your teammates in a way to overcome the others defense in order to score more points than the opponent. This can be done in many ways, including: running at the defense, kicking over and behind the defense, passing skillfully amongst the members of the team in order to create chances to breach the defense or applying enough pressure on the defense in order to force the opponents to give up critical penalties and therefore chances at points by kicking through the upright posts. When a player sees and identifies an opportunity in the game to score, and makes the correct choice of actions to exploit that opportunity thereby helping his team score, that player is usually gettng high fives and accolades from her team. Loosely translated, she is having FUN! And although the right decisions can be made to create opportunities, execution at the time those opportunities arise is what makes those attempts successful.
The game of rugby is a skillful game. A lot like soccer, rugby is a ball possession game. When one team has possession of the ball, they can do innumerable things with it, including: pass it, kick it into touch, up and under it, dummy it, banger it, squib kick it, miss pass it, maul it, ruck it, drop kick it for points, etc. Each of these actions is in itself a skill which can be executed well or poorly. These skills vary in degree of difficulty and the lucky player who manages to execute a chip kick in the run of play for a score is a grinning player indeed. Yes, correct execution of any skill in order to help your team is not only exciting but FUN. Whether or not a player is in shape enough at the eightieth minute to correctly execute that skill is a fitness thing, and playing rugby unfit is no fun.
The game of rugby is a running game. Fitness is not only optimal, but critical to the success of the player and therefore the team. With games being eighty minutes long, with no timeouts or huddles; rugby takes a lot of conditioning in order to be competitive. A fit player will find herself around the ball a lot. She will find herself able to provide not only support for her teammates, but also explosiveness for herself when she gets the ball. Rugby is a very physical game too. The tackling, rucking and mauling are hard on the body. Getting your face stepped on is no fun, but stepping on someone else's face is very fun....in comparison (not that you should enjoy tap dancing on someone else's head - hee hee). The fitter a player is, the more likely they will be prepared to have a positive impact on the game for their team; and let's admit it, when you carry your team to victory on your back (along with a few defenders) it makes you smile handsomely! But being fit takes work and work is best accomplished with a good attitude.
The game of rugby is a psychological game. It is not only in the best interest of the player to have a strong body, but a strong sense of self as well. Can you picture yourself trampling the weak opponents? Can you picture yourself sliding on your belly into the try zone to score the winning points? Can you pick yourself up off the ground after getting run over and take it right back at the opponent even though they lead by twenty points? Mental resolve is the basis for all the other parts of rugby. If you do not have the mental resolve to train hard during the off season, then you have already conceded the season to your opponents. And anyone afraid of a little hard work is probably a quitter anyway, and how many happy quitters do you know? How many people do you know who have given their all and come up short and are still grinning ear to ear because they at least gave it their best shot and the opponent has to commend her for at least stepping on her face real well? A player with a good attitude will play just for the sake of playing, winning be damned, losing be damned, let's just play. But besides the tactical, technical, physical and emotional challenges rugby gives us to overcome; there are the intangibles in the rugby world.
The game of rugby is it's own lifestyle. People live for rugby. People die for rugby. Rugby players eat their dead. Rugby players celebrate the loss of their "scoring cherry" by running naked like a zulu warrior. Nothing is sacred in rugby but rugby itself. People claim magnificently that they are rugby whores. Rugby players will make friends with anyone on the sideline and always have a spare beer for another rugger. Some will even share their mates with another rugger. Rugby players do things like boat races, dead man lifts, stair surfing, prom dress games, spatula branding, human pyramids at three in the freaking morning in the neighbors yard, slip and slide try practice, choir practice - oh yeah baby - and rugby players sing!! Many a rugger has bought me a beer after the game because I impressed them with my will to smack them for cheating during the game. Rugby players are like that, and I love it!! IT. IS. FUN. And face it, it it weren't fun, nobody would be coming back to play it. And yes that weekend in San Angelo, I zulued...on one leg...naked...on the lake shore....by firelight...drunk......enjoying the time of my life because it was FUN!
from my inbox:
West Senior All Star Tryouts Mar 14-15, 2009 - Norman, OK
This e-mail is because camp is now open to all West players with 2 seasons of experience. Please talk to your teammates and encourage them to contact me to participate. If you would prefer to send me their e-mail, I will be happy to invite them. Tom would like to have ~60 players trying out in Norman and more participants are needed to accomplish that goal. Please get the word out and let's have a great turnout!Camp Schedule:
The interviews will be 5-10 minutes in length, we'd like to have them done on Saturday. They are simply to let the staff meet with each player to know them better.
Please remember the $50 fee- cash or a check payable to WRFU.
SATURDAY:
7:45 am to 8:45 am – Team meeting to address objectives and expectations. OU Rugby Clubhouse. There will be Q & A from players.
8:45 am to 9:00 am – Team travels to the OU track
9:00 am to 11:00 am – Monitored Progress Testing (Fitness)
11:00 am to 1:00 pm – Break/ Lunch (on your own)/ Interview process begins
1:00 pm to 4:00 pm – Basic Fundamentals Training (Soccer field next to OU pitch)
4:00 pm to 6:00 pm - Continued interview process
6:30 pm to 8:30 pm – Team dinner
SUNDAY:
8:30 am- The trainer will be at the OU pitch to tape those who need it. Please bring your own tape.
9:00 am- 10 am- warm up for Intersquad Scrimmage
10 am- noon- Scrimmage
Final Announcements, done by 1:00 pm.
West All-Stars Match Schedule:
Mar. 14 & 15: Try Out Camp in Norman, OK
Apr. 18 & 19: Training & Match vs. Pacific All Stars in Glendale, CO
Apr. 25 & 26: Training & Match vs. South All Stars in Atlanta, GA
May 16 & 17: Training & Match vs. SoCal All Stars in St. Louis, MO
May 28-31: Training & NASC in Little Rock, AR
Let me know if you have any questions.
Thanks, See you soon!
Susan
Ok, so I don't do this everyday, but I can't think of anything else catchy for it...so Rugger Photo of the Day is the winner!
From the album: World Cup 2009(3)
Feel free to send me your Rugger Photo of the Day and I will post it!
I have been doing this search on Google lately where I enter a phrase into the box and then hit the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button and Google sends me on a journey to a cool site. I have been posting links to it on Facebook and everyone seems to be enjoying it, so I thought I would experiment with putting it here as well.
Search Term: rugby world cup
Official RWC 2011 Site - Home 11:17am
Source: www.rugbyworldcup.co...
(I am doing a daily random rugby word search on Google's "I'm Feeling Lucky" search and posting the first entry that comes up!)
(I am doing a daily random rugby word search on Google's "I'm Feeling Lucky" search and posting the first entry that comes up!)
| USA Rugby has finally released their structure for the Premiership, D1 and D2 Women's Rugby. There were musings that this was coming for some time, for more on that read this post. Whew, now teams just need to sort out there TU seasons and formats...the West (now dubbed Central) has been cranking on this for some time already. Hopefully we can get it squared away and get to playing our fall seasons. Good luck to everyone for the changes and thanks to USA Rugby for working so hard on this! | ||||
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Welcome to another edition of Rugby Video Monday! I started posting videos every Monday last year early in 2008 and we are still going...thanks for all your submissions and links! This weeks video is a bonus as there are 2 videos of the Texas Rugby Union U23 Team playing against themselves and then the Austin Valkyries.
I will post more on the LAU Tournament from last weekend in a few days, but I wanted to post these videos:
TRU U23 Inter-squad scrimmage:
Texas Rugby Union (TRU) U23 Scrimmage from Scrumhalf Connection on Vimeo.
TRU U23 vs Austin Valkyries:
TRU (Texas Rugby Union) Under 23 team vs Austin Valkyries from Scrumhalf Connection on Vimeo.
View the videos here and here if you are using a RSS reader...
Other Rugby Video Mondays:
3/2/2009: Are you Ready for Rugby?
2/23/2009: USA 7s Women's National Team Training Video from Drew Fautley
2/16/2009: 2009 Six Nations Video (Women)
2/9/2009: Texas A&M vs Chico State Highlights
Please keep sending me your favorite videos: scrumhalfconnection@gmail.com! Make sure to check out my Vimeo Channel or my Youtube channel...and you can subscribe to both if you like, but keep in mind that all new videos will be on Vimeo only as they are recorded in High Definition.
The U.S. Women's Sevens Team beat France 19-0 in the Cup Quarterfinals, only to be stopped short in the semi's by New Zealand, falling to the Black Ferns 14-12 in the inaugural women's event at the 2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens in Dubai.
"I don't know one player out there who didn't give it everything they had," U.S. Women's Coach Julie McCoy said following the loss. "I know the fans will be disappointed, but I'm not. We all did our best in preparation for this moment and it just goes to show that with hard work, dedication and support, we can be competitive."
Saying the USA Women's side was competitive during these last two days may be a bit of an understatement. The Eagles rolled through the first day's pool play with a loss to England, but definitive wins against Russia and Japan, outscoring those two opponents 50-0.
The squad earned its way into the Cup Quarterfinals today and faced a tough French side first, reiterating they were ready to take on the best the world had to offer. The Eagles held France scoreless, playing seamless defense and at half the score was tied at 0.
"We made a couple tweaks to our defense after that first match against England," U.S. scoring leader Jessica Watkins said. "As we got more confident, we got more comfortable playing together and vice versa."
The U.S. Team also made a few tweaks to its offensive game during halftime and came out prepared to win the kicking game that France was using to gain the advantage. The tweaks worked and within the first minute Christy Ringgenberg was able to break away and touch one down. Her conversion missed, but the U.S. had the opening it needed. Watkins outpaced the French opposition to score the next two tries for the Americans and the whistle blew with the U.S. ahead, 19-0.
"One good kick deserves another," McCoy said after the game. "Ringgenberg did a good job leading our adjustment and backing them off. We like to think of the team as a steering wheel and as long as we have all hands on the wheel, we can get where we want to be – in the finals."
The first stop for the U.S., however was the semifinals where it met New Zealand. The U.S. had scrimmaged New Zealand earlier in the week and in fact hosted the New Zealand Maori women's side in San Diego prior to leaving for the Rugby World Cup, so they knew a fair amount about the New Zealand players. But, within the first two minutes, the U.S. found itself down early after a try by Huriana Manuel put New Zealand up by seven.
The U.S. responded three minutes later, as Ringgenberg saw some space and dished to forward Amy Daniels who was able to touch it down for the try. Ringgenberg missed the conversion, however and the teams broke for half with the scoreboard at 7-5, New Zealand.
New Zealand again was the first to score in the second half, with just a minute and a half off the clock. The U.S. fought hard to keep New Zealand at bay throughout the remainder of the match, and finally, in the last minute of play, scored their final try to come within two points with just 30 seconds remaining.
The U.S. would try as it might, but it was too late by the time they made their last push down the field. At about midfield the ball was knocked out of bounds and the game came to an anticlimactic end.
"I think it just goes to show that we are that kind of team that go all in, all the time," the USA's Ines Rodriguez said. "We played our hearts out till the end and we have to be proud of ourselves for that."
New Zealand would go on to play Australia in an outstanding final that would come down to extra time sudden death on Saturday night. In the end, Australia's Shirley Matcham scored the decisive try to clinch a dramatic victory over their Down Under neighbors and Australia would become the first ever Women's Rugby World Cup Sevens champions.
For more information on the Women's U.S. Sevens Team, please visit www.usarugby.org/goto/womens_sevens or contact Sara John at sjohn@usarugby.org. For more information on the RWC Sevens, please visit www.rwcsevens.com.
USA 19, France 0
Tries: Watkins (2), Ringgenberg
Conversions: Ringgenberg (2)
New Zealand 14, USA 12
NZ Tries: Porter, Manuel
Conversions: Winiata (2)
USA Tries: Ringgenberg, Daniels
Conversions: Ringgenberg
USA Team Lineup:
1. Amy Daniels, Boston, Mass. (Beantown)
2. Teena Mastrangelo, Chicago, Ill. (Chicago Northshore)
3. Ellie Karvoski, Little Rock, Ark., (Little Rock)
4. Ines Rodriguez, Philadelphia, Pa. (Keystone)
5. Christy Ringgenberg, Minneapolis, Minn. (Minnesota Valkyries)
6. Jen Starkey, Washington, DC (NOVA)
7. Jess Watkins, Palo Alto, CA (Stanford)
8. Pam Kosanke, Chicago, Ill (Chicago Northshore)
9. Jen Sinkler, Philadelphia, Pa. (Keystone)
10. Kelly White, Belmont, Calif. (Belmont Shore)
11. Alison Price, New York, NY (New York)
12. Lauren Hoeck, Washington, DC (NOVA)
Friday's Fixtures
1. Australia 50, China 12
2. Netherlands 17, France 14
3. Canada 52 Thailand 7
4. Spain 19, Brazil 0
5. New Zealand 50, Uganda 0
6. South Africa 17, Italy 5
7. England 17, United States 0
8. Russia 31, Japan 10
9. France 14, Australia 10
10. China 31, Netherlands 12
11. Brazil 12, Thailand 10
12. Spain 12, Canada 0
13. New Zealand 45, Italy 0
14. South Africa 26, Uganda 0
15. England 29, Russia 0
16. United States 38, Japan 0
17. Australia 36, Netherlands 0
18. France 19, - China 5
19. Spain 19, Thailand 12
20. Canada 38, Brazil 0
21. Italy 12, Uganda 7
22. New Zealand 22, South Africa 0
23. United States 12, Russia 0
24. England 47, Japan 0
Saturday's Fixtures
25. China 21, Japan 5 - Bowl Quarterfinals
26. Italy 17, Thailand 0 - Bowl Quarterfinals
27. Brazil 12, Uganda 7 - Bowl Quarterfinals
28 Russia 12, Netherlands 5 - Bowl Quarterfinals
29. United States 19, France 0 - Cup Quarterfinals
30. New Zealand 33, Canada 12 - Cup Quarterfinals
31. South Africa 15, Spain 7 - Cup Quarterfinals
32. Australia 17, England 10 - Cup Quarterfinals
33. China 18, Italy 0 - Bowl Semifinals
34. Brazil 17, Russia 12 - Bowl Semifinals
35. Canada 19, France 12 – Plate Semifinals
36. England 12, Spain 7 – Plate Semifinals
37. New Zealand 14, USA 12 - Cup Semifinals
38. Australia 19, South Africa 10 - Cup Semifinals
39. China 10, Brazil 7 – Bowl Finals
40. England 12, Canada 0 – Plate Finals
41. Australia 15, New Zealand 10 – Cup Finals
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