Your Scrumhalf Connection

by Kirstin Hartos

SAN DIEGO, California (January 25, 2010) – The San Diego Surfers Rugby Club proudly presents the 27th Annual Champagne Classic rugby tournament. The Champagne Classic is the West Coast’s premier women’s rugby tournament, and will be held on March 6 & 7, 2010 at NTC Park. The 2009 National Champion Surfers will host up to 20 women’s teams from all over the United States and Canada, competing in multiple divisions. This year’s tournament marks an exciting change in location to the newly renovated facilities at NTC Park and Liberty Station in Point Loma, adjacent to the tournament hotel and social. Teams already registered for the tournament include:

Club

• Belmont Shore
• Berkeley All Blues
• Boulder Babes
• Canadian Caribou
• Canadian Kodiaks
• Coast Classic
• Dirty Chickens
• NorCal Triple Threat
• San Diego Surfers
• San Luis Obispo Beaches
• Santa Monica
• Stanford
• Tempe

Collegiate

• Claremont
• Rugby Canada U18
• Blackdoodles
• University of California – San Diego
• Utah State University
• Utah Valley University

For more information or to register online, go to www.sdsurfersrugby.com/champagne_classic.html.

Registration fees:
• $450/club and $350/collegiate through February 5th; click here to register online:
http://www.active.com/framed/event_detail.cfm?CHECKSSO=0&EVENT_ID=1802532

Prizes:
Team prizes are awarded to Champagne Bracket 1st and 2nd place, Chablis 1st place and Collegiate 1st place.
MVP prizes awarded for Club-Tight 5, Club-Middle, Club-Backs and Collegiate overall.

More about the Champagne Classic – The Champagne Classic is the Surfers’ biggest annual event and also serves as the club’s primary fundraiser. As a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, the Surfers are always looking for sponsors and donations from local businesses and individuals to help cover our operating expenses (including equipment, uniforms, travel expenses, field rental, etc.). Anyone interested in advertising in the tournament program, making a tax-deductible donation to or sponsoring the Surfers should visit our website at www.sdsurfersrugby.com or e-mail the Surfers at SDSurferRugby@gmail.com.

About the San Diego Surfers – The San Diego Surfers are the only women’s rugby club in San Diego, and originated as “Ombush” (part of OMBAC) in 1975. The club changed its name to the Rio Grande Surfers in 1980. In 1997, the club applied for non-profit status and officially changed its name to the San Diego Surfers. In 2009, the Surfers won the USA Rugby Division I National Championship in 2009, and finished 3rd at the National Invitational 7s Tournament. The Surfers have previously finished 10th (2008) and 12th (2007) at the USA Rugby National Championships. For more information about the San Diego Surfers or the Champagne Classic Tournament, visit www.sdsurfersrugby.com.

Directions to NTC Park (2335-2455 Cushing Road, San Diego, CA 92106) – From I-5 South, or I-8 West, exit Rosecrans St. and continue onto Rosecrans St. Turn left at Roosevelt Rd., then turn right at Cushing Rd. The park will be on the left.

from Arizona State University Women’s Rugby Blog:

The Sun Devils were once again routed by theUCLA Bruins for the second time this season in a 72-0 loss.

That is fourth straight loss for the Sun Devils this season, who are now 0-4 overall and at the bottom of the conference standings, while UCLA at 5-0 is leading the way. The 72-0 margin of defeat is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, in the history of ASU Women’s Rugby, according to head coach Barry Carter.  For the season, an embarrassing 219 points have been scored against ASU.

Before the match assistant coach Simon Dunlop told the team the three keys to the game were “intensity, trust and belief.”

“You have to believe you can score and you have to believe you can win,” Dunlop said.

Early on it looked as though the Sun Devils believed they could win and came out blazing in the first 10 minutes.  The Sun Devils were on the offensive and hitting the Bruins hard. However, ASU was unable to sustain the intensity, and by the end of the first half it was 20-0.

At the end of first half and throughout the second, the Devils watched the action and walked way too much. This lead to very poor support for the ball carrier when the Devils were on offense, which then lead to quite a few turnovers.

ASU has shown improvement and flashes of great rugby throughout the season, but has been unable to piece together 80 minutes of consistent tackling, aggressiveness, intensity and offensive efficiency.

The frustration is definitely mounting for the Sun Devils, who will look for their first win of the season when they travel to UCSB to play the Gauchos this Saturday. Overall, the general feeling of discontent was summarized by fly-half Theresa Gillmore.

“I’m just so tired of losing,” Gillmore said after the match.

For the most up to date news about the women’s Collegiate game, hover over Competitions on the Navigation bar and then choose the division you would like news on. Or view the D1 and D2 Collegiate rankings themselves.

I have been receiving a few emails asking if I would put the rankings for Collegiate rugby as well so I have created a standings page for Collegiate D1 and D2.

For the most up to date news about the women’s Collegiate game, hover over Competitions on the Navigation bar and then choose the division you would like news on. Or view the D1 and D2 Collegiate rankings themselves.

For the most up to date news about the women’s Collegiate game, hover over Competitions on the Navigation bar and then choose the division you would like news on. Or view the D1 and D2 Collegiate rankings themselves.

By RugbyMag.com staff:

All was quiet on the Northern Californian front last Saturday, except for Cal Women, which defeated Nevada-Reno 26-19 to stay undefeated in DI.

“It didn’t feel that way for the whole game,” Cal coach Ellen Owens said of the close score. “We scored all of our points in the first half, which made for a very long second half.”

Hooker Ana Robles and wings Cameo Motley (2) and NHa Vu took care of the tries, while eightman Jennifer Sever slotted three conversions. But the Bears had a difficult time adjusting to the referee, who wasn’t calling many penalties at the breakdown and which resulted in a lot of bodies on the floor and slow ball.

“That gives the defenses time to reset and get ready to go,” Owens explained. “It was difficult for us to figure out how to get the ball to the backs quicker, especially since their defense came up so quickly.

“The breakdown didn’t seem to obstruct Reno’s game plan,” Owens continued. “They attacked the fringe, gained advantage off loose ball and capitalized on all of our mistakes. They were very opportunistic.”

Fortunately for Cal, the team was able to maintain a lot of possession and hold off Reno’s late surge.

Cal has two of its toughest games against Stanford and UC Davis finishing out the league season. With the top two Northern California seeds getting a bye into Pacific Coast playoffs, the next two matches will determine how difficult the post-season will be.

For the most up to date news about the women’s Collegiate game, hover over Competitions on the Navigation bar and then choose the division you would like news on. Or view the D1 and D2 Collegiate rankings themselves.

Join the Eastern Illinois women’s rugby squad during their undefeated 2009 season which ended in a 26 game winning streak.

By Jay Grabiec