so it took longer then a day...but lots of edits and some pics!
Obviously not an ideal lineout...we forgot to teach some of the rookies against stepping too much into the gap
Ye olde standing ruck and forwards milling about in the line of death (don't worry if I was playing I'd be the old fat bat hanging out with the wings too lazy to even walk to the ruck.
Both teams receiving a pep talk from the master
The two teams, our coach, their coach, and the coaches' coach
In totally other news I was flipping through my links skimming for some info (trying to liven up break a bit and I noticed an interesting little factoid). While I'm fairly certain that we were hardly playing Stanford's A side in our little scrimmage against them back in November, their schedule/results say something quite contrary. We were listed as playing their A (which as I said I'm pretty sure that we did not) but it's interesting that we had the second closest score. The only team finished a match closer then us was the Scottsdale Lady Blues (a very respectable DI SoCal women's club) 24-21 with Stanford A coming out ahead. Which all in all is pretty nifty. Their results page is here so check it out for yourself. It's always so difficult navigating the strength of a side especially with D1 teams (with a-sides, mashups, and whatever the hell crawford is) and all of it means diddly squat because pre-season is all about rookie learnin' anyhoo. Oh but while I was looking up info for this I stumbled upon this:
STANFORD Women 27 - UC Santa Cruz 22 Referee: Anna McMahan
On another beautiful day for rugby the UC Santa Cruz women's team met a mixed A/B Stanford side on Stanford's lovely pitch. The game was tied at the half with two tries and one conversion apiece, but Stanford's slightly superior fitness helped them edge ahead by one try in the second half. Both teams played with intensity, and the game was marked by open play and committed defense. Stanford's 8 and 10 stood out, as well as UC Santa Cruz's 1.
At first I was kinda confused because I couldn't remember who was prop that day...yup you guessed it
mwahahahaa...ok so that really puts me in a better mood 'cause I've felt like I've played atrocious this pre-season (and excepting Scrum by the Sea....it's because I HAVE been playing shitty...) but ignoring all the stupid drama, and day to day frustrations...none of it matters.
a) it's pre-season...so woot...now it's time to buckle down and get in shape Season and Post-season is the only shit that matters
b) I was playing out of frickin position (which is useful and had it's reasons but deep down it's demoralizing for hookers to have to play prop...it really is)
c) I love the goddamn sport and so help me I'm going to keep playing till I get better at it and can play it in all its glory
d) after four long years of practice I think I've actually gotten decent at throwing lineouts....imagine that!
So hell yea I'm happy and looking forward to the upcoming season:
Jan 12th we've got our annual camp/scrimmage with UC Berkeley
Jan 19-20 is a stanford tournament
Jan 26 is DII kickoff tournament (whatever the hell that is...I'll check with our coaches)
Feb 2nd our first league game against Santa Clara
Feb 23 against Sac State (always a strong competitor and recently won a round robin match against Davis)
March 1 against San Jose
March 8 against St. Mary's
March 15, our promotional/relegation match against the #6 seed D1 NCRFU team
Nuts schedule eh? I'm glad I'll only be taking 17 creds...incidentally I'm going to be joining the news staff at KZSC....maybe I'll do a feature on norcal women's rugby...maybe on the All Blues and their involvement training collegiate players (with all the camps and sending their senior players out as coaches to local college sides). Or maybe on the folding/merges going on with the rest of the local club sides. etc etc...just ideas.
No comments:
Post a Comment