Your Scrumhalf Connection

Welcome to another Guest Blog from Monty…this blog post is an interview with a few of the recent USA 7s Eagles at USA Sevens.

Monty Nyriws

It may not be easy being green, but it’s certainly not any easier being red, white and blue… the red, white and blue women’s rugby seven’s team, that is. Everyone who knows anything about rugby in the USA knows about the struggle the sport is facing gaining notice among Americans. And as we all know, very few Americans know anything at all about rugby. Even worse off is women’s rugby. In some ways, these ladies have to put up with much more than the men do. Unlike the men’s team, when the women go to a tournament they have to…

• sleep four to a room
• buy their own shoes
• bring their own kit bag WITH USA Rugby Logo
• bring their own water bottle
• bring their own notebook and 2 pens, 2 pencils and a permanent marker
• press their own khaki pants
• wear jeans with no holes, tears, or patches!
• and launder their team gear on a rotating duty basis…What is this, the Army where you have to do KP duty?

Now consider that the women’s 7s team (like the men) are going to represent our country in the 2016 Olympics. Isn’t it about time that we start promoting both men and women rugby 7s teams, and mounting a serious effort to educate the American public and generate fans for the sport?

At the recent Las Vegas 7s tournament, the USA women played very well against their international opponents, winning all their games in the preliminaries, and losing by only two tries in the finals against China. Women’s rugby may not be as fast and as tough as the men’s version, but once you begin to get to know them, as I started to do at the sevens tournament in Las Vegas, you have to be impressed with how they play — with soul and inspiration.

CJ Hildreth

After the match I was lucky enough to sit down with two members of the team: Lauren Hoeck, and CJ Hildreth. I tell you, if you see these women charging after you on the pitch, you just want to get out of the way. But off the pitch when you see them smile, you just want to melt! Below are excerpts from this interview.

[See Blogger's Note at the end of this article]

Las Vegas, Sunday, Feb 14, 2010
Interview with Lauren Hoeck and CJ Hildreth

YourScrumHalfConnection: So Lauren, you’re the team captain?
Lauren: I’m the co-captain, with Jo Ward. CJ is the hooker, #2, she’s a stud!

YSC: You guys are all studs. I’m so impressed with all of you… By the way, I’m not comfortable calling women “guys”… You know they call men ruggers “boys,” so maybe we should call you “boys” as well?
Lauren: (smiles) How about ladies?

Lauren Hoeck

CJ: Yes, ladies.
YSC: Great! So, ladies, you did very well on Friday.
Lauren: Yes, we did.
CJ: We went 4-0. We beat China that day.

YSC: Well, now you have to beat China in Hong Kong.
CJ: That would be a great comeback.
Lauren: Is Hong Kong official yet?
CJ: No, it depends on funding. We’re working on it…

YSC: So what do you think of Coach Ric Suggit so far?
Lauren: All around he is really fun, knowledgeable… I really learned a lot.
CJ: Relaxed, at the same time.
YSC: Do you have to teach him anything about managing the women’s 7s team?
CJ: He’s managed women’s 15s and 7s in Canada before. He’s also coached basketball, so he’s done it all.
Lauren: He knows when to delegate and what he needs to do, and he keeps it really simple.
CJ: He’s worked with women and he’s worked with men… he has an incredible coaching awareness.
YSC: So you like his style?
CJ: He treats us with a lot of respect…
Lauren: I’ve never met a coach in any sport I’ve played like him… he has a really different style.
YSC: In what way?
Lauren: More of a management style, I’d say. He’s trusting of us. He figures that you’ve gotten this far, so you know how to run your life… you know how to manage your health and your well-being, so he doesn’t really interfere.
CJ: He just respects you as an adult and as an elite athlete. He trusts that you’re here for a reason.

YSC: What are you most excited about this year?
Lauren: The fresh start. I feel like the team has bonded really well, and I feel like we have a good base. Ric said that he just has more and more to offer. So he seems very knowledgeable and I’m excited to pick his brain as we go along.
CJ: It’s true, the part we saw this weekend was phenomenal, and I think there’s more for him to reveal.
YSC: You ladies must have been pretty good athletes in other sports.
Lauren: How about just calling us “you guys?” (laughing)
YSC: OK, what made you “guys” decide to take up rugby?
Lauren: I got tricked into it by a co-worker. It was during our interview, she talked about rugby a little bit and then I watched some. And then she asked me if I wanted to play. She’s a 15s prop… she’s a 225 pound woman! So I was a little bit like “no I’m not playing.” Then I went out for a practice and it was unbelievably addicting.
YSC: Ric mentioned that one of the important things to him is the building of younger players, the culture of rugby, so that there’s a new stream of players coming up. Do you “guys” get involved with that in your communities?
Lauren: Yes, we play for Nova, and there’s a U-19 team that a couple of our players coach. We go to their fund-raising… we try to support them as much as we can. It’s very developed at this point.

YSC: Typical interview question: What’s one thing you’d like your fans to know about you?
Lauren: CJ is a pro skateboarder. She was here (in Las Vegas) two weeks ago for a tournament.
YSC: You mean like extreme sports skating?
CJ: Yeah, I won the women’s open.
YSC: Very cool!
Lauren: She does that to pay for her rugby (all laughing).
YSC: And you, Lauren?
Lauren: Oh man… I can’t compete with a pro skateboarder. Just give us another question…!
YSC: OK, what’s one thing you DON’T want your fans to know about you?
Lauren: Well why would we say that? (all laughing…)
CJ: Well what we want our fans to know is like a group thing, which is that we need to start traveling internationally on a regular basis, and that’s dependent on support and fans and funding, and a system, like we said, of building from the youth upward. So it’s not just the players in the core, but it’s the whole culture of rugby. We truly are depended on the fans, because that’s part of the funding, and we are dependent on our sponsors, without whom we don’t exist.

YSC: Right… So what about promoting the image of women’s rugby in particular. What has to be done in this country to get that going?
Laura: In general, once the men’s side gets bigger, then it will trickle down to the women’s side. Until that becomes a big part of American sports, we won’t be there. It’s just like basketball. Once the men’s team got to a certain level the women started catching up.
CJ: Or like soccer, that’s probably a more recent example.
Laura: Exactly. It’s just going to take a while. The men’s side needs a lot of support, too. They’ve got more than we do but they still don’t compare to other American sports.
CJ: There are a lot of IRB-approved 7s tournaments throughout the world, and only a small percentage include women’s competitions in conjunction with them right now. So ideally every single IRB tournament would have men’s and women’s divisions.
Laura: Yeah, we’re not IRB-approved yet.
CJ: When we were first included in the World Cup last year, that was huge for us, and the Olympics will be huge as well.
YSC: When I talked to Ric he said his goal was a gold medal in the Olympics! What do you think about that?
Laura: Sounds good to me!
CJ: Nothing less!
Laura: I think it’s not unreasonable… we got third at the World Cup, and we’re picking up steam as we go.

YSC: Do either of you expect to be playing on the Olympic team?
Laura: We certainly hope so! I know Ric is looking at high schools now so he’s going to get a lot of athletes from there. But he’ll need some leaders in six years! Hopefully that will be us!
YSC: How about the possibility of an exhibition tournament at the 2012 Olympics in London…?
Lauren: I would imagine so. The game basically started in England, so they have all the basic infrastructure there, so it makes sense. They haven’t officially announced it yet.
CJ: We’re used to being non-official (smiles)
Lauren: (laughs) We don’t mind!
YSC: You don’t mind being non-official as long as you get to go!
Lauren: Yeah, we can still tell everybody that we’re going to the Olympics!

—————
Monty’s note: Sometime after the interview, it was made known that the women would NOT be attending the Hong Kong Sevens tournament in March, due to lack of funding. When I inquired as to what kind of funding was required, I was shocked to learn how little was required. (It’s such a minuscule amount, I’m embarrassed to even mention it here.) Now tell me… is there not one brand-name company in this country that would care to sponsor an Olympic-bound US rugby team?

Come on, rugby fans! The women need our help. As coach Ric Suggit pointed out, if the women don’t start participating in more elite-level international tournaments, how can they expect to do well in 6 years? If anyone out there has connections with People In High Places, now’s the time to call in those favors. Those of you who blog about rugby… we have to do more to promote the team and get them into the hearts and minds of Americans, and to get them the financial support and sponsorship they need.

[Monty Nyriws is a rugby newbie whose temperature is easily raised when people are not treated fairly]

Copyright (c) 2010 YourScrumhalfConnection.com and cuestaPhoto.com. All rights reserved.

from Women’s Six Nations:

Sarah Gill struck two second-half penalties to earn Scotland a 6-6 draw against Italy – but their wait for a first away victory in the women’s Championship goes on.

Six points from the boot of Italian fly-half Valentina Schiavon had put Italy on course for their maiden win of this year’s competition but Scotland improved after the break to snatch a draw.

But the result came at a price with Watsonians hooker Sarah-Louise Walker along with wingers Lynsey Douglas and Victoria Blakeworth all departing the field with injuries.

Both teams had chances to go for the win late on, but neither side could grasp the opportunities that came their way to leave Scotland boss Gary Parker a frustrated figure.

Schiavon gave her side the lead with a penalty on 11 minutes before doubling the advantage with another kick just four minutes before halftime to put Italy 6-0 ahead.

Walker and Douglas had already departed the fray at this point and Parker’s decision to replace scrum-half Louise Dalgliesh with Gill during the interval paid dividends.

A 52nd minute penalty brought the Scots back into the game before Murrayfield Wanderers star Gill levelled the scores to set up a tense finale.

In a war of attrition, both teams had kickable penalties to win the match but in the end they had to settle for a share of the spoils.

For a full schedule of all the 2010 Six Nations action, go here. For travel packages to England for the 2010 Women’s Rugby World Cup, go here.

from Women’s Six Nations:

Flanker Maggie Alphonsi and centre Emily Scarratt crossed in the opening stages before full-back Claire Allan and replacement Amy Turner rounded off the victory in the second half in a match marred by terrible conditions at Esher.

Ireland replied through Kate O’Loughlin’s try but it was not enough to stop the English juggernaut who now face trips to Scotland and France as they bid to win their fourth Grand Slam in five years.

The game was just four minutes old, when experienced back-rower Alphonsi, back in the side after sitting out the victory over Italy, was at the back of a maul to power her way over.

And two minutes later they further extended their lead when Heath Fisher won turnover ball before feeding Scaratt whose perfect running line enabled to slash her way through the Irish defence.

Katy McLean kicked her only conversion of the match to give the home side a 12-0 lead but as the half progressed Ireland enjoyed their best spell of the match.

In the wet conditions, the visitors opted to keep the ball in the hands of the forwards and the policy paid dividends as Loughlin found herself at the back of a maul to score the first points of the Championship against England.

It was no surprise with the weather that defences generally held sway for the remainder of the first half but England were able to add to their total midway through the second.

Again a maul was employed to suck in Irish defenders leaving the backs with the space they needed to send Allan over and take England two scores clear.

The final try came with 11 minutes remaining, Ireland were again caught short defensively as Rachel Burford and Scarratt superbly combined to send Turner in to round off the victory.

For a full schedule of all the 2010 Six Nations action, go here. For travel packages to England for the 2010 Women’s Rugby World Cup, go here.

from Women’s Rugby Six Nations:

The Welsh went down 15-3 in Bridgend to undo all of the good work they had done in seeing off Scotland in their previous match.

A Non Evans penalty was all Wales had to show for their efforts and with a defeat to England already on their record they are now out of the running for the title.

Lewis’ side go to Ireland next with a clash with Italy completing their fixtures and Lewis is looking for the right reaction.

“It will be interesting to see how we respond to this when we go to Ireland. I would like to think we can strike back with a victory and a decent performance too,” said Lewis.

“We are off track in terms of our Six Nations ambitions, but I will be happy to accept wherever we finish in this tournament providing we learn the lessons of today’s game.

“It was a poor performance and everyone is understandably disappointed. We need to be beating sides like that if we are where we think we are in the world game.

“I felt that we played most of the rugby in the first half but we failed to capitalise on our scoring opportunities.

“In the second half, we found ourselves pinned in our 22 for long periods during which time we messed up and gifted them a couple of scores.”

For a full schedule of all the 2010 Six Nations action, go here. For travel packages to England for the 2010 Women’s Rugby World Cup, go here.

from Women’s Rugby Six Nations:

Caroline Ladagnous scored the game's opening try for France

France grabbed two second-half tries in their 15-3 victory at Bridgend to inflict Wales’ first home defeat in the Women’s RBS 6 Nations Championship in three years.

Although Non Evans edged Wales in front with a first-half penalty, France were very much in the ascendancy after the interval and tries from Caroline Ladagnous and Sandrine Agricole made it a first defeat on Welsh soil since England won 30-0 in 2007.

Wales entered the game full of confidence following their 28-12 defeat of Scotland while the memory of last-year’s defeat to Les Bleus, which cost them the Grand Slam, was still fresh in the mind.

They got off to a great start through Evans’ sixth minute penalty but after that they struggled to find any rhythm.

Instead the visitors should have gone into halftime with a lead but fly-half Aurelie Bailon had an off day with the boot and could not turn penalties into points.

Even when Laetitia was sent to the bin early in the second half, Wales could not capitalise on their numerical superiority.

Instead France got the game’s first try with 15 minutes remaining. A good passage of play down the left-hand touchline saw lock Hasna Rhamouni break the gameline before hooker Sandra Rabier’s superb offload put flying winger Caroline Ladagnous away.

While France’s first try was superbly worked, their second owed far more to a Wales mix-up.

Captain Mel Berry gathered a kick ahead only to delay her pass to full-back Evans which gave the French chasers the time to charge-down the Cardiff Blues’ kick with Agricole snaffling the loose ball before touching down.

Bailon added the conversion to go with an earlier penalty to round off a great day for the visitors.

For a full schedule of all the 2010 Six Nations action, go here. For travel packages to England for the 2010 Women’s Rugby World Cup, go here.