Last weekend I woke up dark and early at 5 am to get my stuff together and bike down to a teammate's house and catch a ride to Treasure Island to set up the field at 7am for a 9am kickoff. The next day I had to get up at 7 to catch a bus to get to Alameda for the Berkeley u19 game against Alameda. Then I had to way up at 4 am on Friday to drive a teammate to the airport. Tonight I'm probably staying out late to pick up said teammates....
but who the shit cares!? Cause the kids won!!! Um let me clarify now that I'm affiliated/covering three teams. UC Santa Cruz won a seed in Pac Coast Playoffs, knocking out PNRFU 2 Western Washington in the challenge match that just ended. The game was close and ugly with UCSC playing a match right after their finals week which didn't afford for great attendance during practice nor the greatest level of focus. Their play was riddled with penalties but Santa Cruz still pulled it through with two tries scored by inside center Jen Neely and a conversion. This squeaked them just ahead of Western Washington who...uh..scored an unconverted try and two penalty kicks and scuffed a third in the dying minute which would have given them the match (also it could have been a converted try and a penalty kick and one missed pk...I got my info from a very exhausted forward just minutes after the final whistle..I'll call coach and get more of an official score). So it looks like the final was 12-11 or 12-10...either way UCSC has clawed it's way back into the national running.
The downside of course is that Washington State beat Western Washington 29-0 in the previous week and that's who UCSC will be facing at Pac Coast Playoffs Friday, April 3rd, at Stanford. The good news is it'll be practically a home match and a couple of our starters who were unable to make the last minute match up to Washington will be there and two weeks should be long enough for the team to heal up, rest up, and bring the A-game that they're capable of playing. Not only will it most likely be warmer weather, but there will be firmer turf, and a sizable crowd of fans to help bolster the side.
The Pac Coast Playoffs are scheduled for Friday and Saturday to accommodate for BYU who, along with Chico, won their respective challenge matches to make it into the D1 PCRFU playoffs. Chico State beating Oregon 19-7 and BYU beating Davis 20-0. Dunno what that matchup means because I just don't have time to really cover D1 women's collegiate rugby =p
All Blues beat the Glendale Raptors 37-10 with a good number of Berkeley's tries coming near the end of the match...more details when I actually get to talk to my teammates instead of regurgitating a goff article. The match was apparently broadcast live on www.rugbyzone.com but I missed the live streaming...stupid standard time crap. But it's still available to download if you're a member/pay whatever fee that I can't afford. There should be another b-side match tomorrow but I doubt it's being broadcast. This pretty much ends ABs spring season...*sigh* practices are going to be cut to one a week which is a bummer but it's not like I can practice anyhoo...I'm just a wee bit sad that it was so short.
Hopefully I can get insurance before the U-23 Grizzly Camp in April...
What else...um the Berkeley u19 lost to Alameda last Saturday 6-7 tries to 0. They played 13 a side with Alameda lending a player. The girls had a lot of fun and there were no major injuries, which is great news. Scrums were uncontested and play consisted mostly of Alameda keeping it tight and offloading out of contact. Our lineouts were looking alright, they kind of cheated by throwing the ball in crooked to their first lifter but the ref let it go. Berkeley was dominated in almost every aspect of the game but never gave up and kept tackling their hearts out. We tried to work on problem areas at practice but on the second day the rucks were looking worse then before...so hopefully they'll sharpen up their focus before Saturday. We worked with our scrumhalf on passing from the ground (she was taking a couple of slow steps with the ball and was getting stuffed by their flankers). We also worked on our forward support lines which really improved as well. Eh their next game is tomorrow at Treasure Island against Mother Lode (who beat Alameda) kickoff is at 2 and I'll be there for sure.
Now my pinkie hurts from typing so much about rugby...man I wish it was from playing!
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