Controversy?

Ykno...ever since goff merged with rugby magazine into erugby news...well they've pretty much refused to give DII collegiate women's rugby any press. To add insult to injury they've covered DII mens and DIII mens club far more thoroughly in years past. I dunno, I'm pretty pissed off that I payed forty frickin bucks for my entire division to be ignored. Ok so we got a paragraph this year. I don't care if UCSC gets nill press (despite being last years champs and having made the final game again this year), but do you think they could've mentioned anything about Elite 8s, or predictions, or SOMETHING to acknowledge the countless DII collegiate womens teams across the nation have set their soul for glory and put in the hard hours for the sport that they love? This has been stewing around in my heart for a while now but I've been waiting...and as the days tick by I realize it isn't going to happen. That one little paragraph tacked onto the numerous coverage of the various tournaments. That was all that I was expecting.

For forty bucks I could buy a lot of things. 80 tacos, a REAL jersey, two pairs of rugby shorts (one black one white in case I ever work up the courage to try out for a select side), a match ball...so many things that would foster my rugby career (er besides the tacos)...why am I wasting it on a news source that tells me that my division doesn't matter?

IF someone from erugby reads this I hope they don't get the wrong idea. I'd LOVE to keep my subscription, it's great to have rugby media in the US, I just wish they'd give us the same amount of coverage as they did before the merge!

I report on DII Women's Collegiate Rugby News and I'm damn proud of it!

In the first round of games we defeated the College of Charleston in a pretty solid match 49-0. This wasn't their first time representing the South and they had very threatening backs. Their fly-half could cut back all day long and played fabulously with ball in hand. Charleston were swift poachers and always threatened our ball at rucks. One of our rookies got a yellow for high tackles, we've tried to teach her to get em lower but its definitely one of those cases that will just take time. We felt bad though because their fly-half had to change jerseys twice because we shredded both in attempt to tackle her crisp lines. One of our players managed to have godawful luck and break her metacarpal in her first 30 seconds of play. The ref for the match, Katy from DC was terrific and its not just because she had zero tolerance for feeding in the scrums. All refs at the tournament were impeccable in their vigilance, striving for a good free flowing game.

(usa rugby's records are down probably because of the hubbub over the Belmont vs Austin game so I can't give exact scores for other teams matches but I'll post those results later)

U of Arizona Wildcats lost to Bowdoin Maine by about three trys. What I did see of the game, Bowdoin managed to get it out to their 14 who put on the jets and beat everyone around the corner.





In the other bracket Norwich defeated Western Oregon in the only game that wasn't a shutout in the first round. And I can't say that I saw that much of the game thanks to my teammates insistance on taking a long lunch.

Lastly Iowa St beat Mary Washington (whom I managed not to see ALL tournament...don't quite know how that was accomplished) handily 63-0.

Round Two saw us defeat Bowdoin 49-0 in a much tighter match then the score would reflect. Their backs were very technically sound and would have been much harder to deal with if our forwards hadn't stepped up their pressure and effectively smothered their backs with tackles at every opportunity. Their forwards were also quick to poach and damn solid in the scrums (I might have been winning the scrums but we certainly couldn't wheel them). Gotta say I was pretty happy with my lineouts all tournament thought, I think that was the most ball I've EVER won in the lineout, all my games combined. I'd also like to mention that Bowdoin is pretty much the cleanest, most polite, and classy team I've ever had the pleasure of playing (or watching for that matter). I mean, not a cruel word, explicative, or anything for that matter. One of the funnest games I've played in a while that's for sure. I did get in a bit of trouble for being offsides twice in a row of a lineout (I'm lucky the ref didn't ping me for talking back) but frankly I was a bit mentally frazzled after smashing into their big replacement tighthead for the second time in a row. It should also be noted that Bowdoin is one of the only varsity teams in the nation and definitely deserve it.

Iowa defeated Norwich University in a tight match 20-19, apparently Iowa State was ahead in the first half and Norwich came back and almost got the win but the time ran out. (granted this is just what the field crew told me)

In the consolation matches U of Arizona defeated the C of Charleston by two points and Western Oregon beat Mary Wash by a bit.

Overall, Nationals was an interesting experience, and one very different from last year. It was the same fields and we stayed at the same motel but went with thirty people(which sounds impressive till you subtract two coaches, four ex-players, and two injured). Needless to say there were a lot more rooms and we had to take a VERY indirect flight to keep prices down (San Jose to LAX to Kansas City to Orlando, Orlando to New Mexico to San Francisco; can you say jet lag?). The fields were great and the weather was much improved from last years. Less humid, less hot, same old sulfur water. The one thing that they could improve the situation is to have the porta potties be closer to the field and changed daily! On the second day it was RANK!

Right, in other news the D1 final four is a big ol' surprise. Stanford (duh), Penn State (duh), UC Davis (!?!??! Y'all rock!), and New Mexico (!??!?! Goff has ranked them high for quite a while but I've never seen them in the fours before). I'm kinda bummed that Navy didn't make the finals but yea...grats Davis! They're always happy to play a scrimmage against us and we're glad to see em make it so far! They play against Stanford on the 4th of May and you can bet your ass I'll be up their cheering for em.

Lastly, I can only state how grateful I am to Belmont Shore for exposing me to a higher level of rugby and helping me realize the steps necessary to take my game to the next level.