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 IRB.com:

Japan scored with seconds left on the clock to break Hong Kong hearts and deny the East Asian Games hosts the gold medal in the men’s Rugby Sevens competition with a 26-24 victory in a thrilling final on Sunday.

The top seeds had gone through the opening day undefeated, but suffered a surprise 14-12 loss to China before overwhelming Guam 41-7 in their final round robin match at the Hong Kong Stadium.

Hong Kong had to work hard for their place in the final, nearly coming unstuck against second seeds Korea when they let a 21-0 half time advantage disappear and were fortunate the clock ran out with the Koreans trailing by just two points.

The hosts then battled past China 21-7 to keep alive hopes of winning the first ever Rugby Sevens gold medal as a competitive sport at the East Asian Games and the chance to avenge a 17-7 loss to Japan in the round robin stages.

In the gold medal match before a crowd of 11,000, Japan jumped out to an early lead with an individual try from Yusaku Kuwazuru, only for Rowan Varty to level the match at 5-5 minutes later with his own effort in the corner.

Try at the death

This early exchange of tries set the tone for the match with the scores seesawing back and forth until literally the last second when the gold medal was finally decided in Japan’s favour.

Masahiro Tsuiki edged Japan ahead again with a try under the posts, but once again Varty hit back with his second try of the match to send the sides in locked at 12-12 at half time.

The second half continued in the same vein with both sides testing each other’s defence but unable to find a way through the line until Manase Folau broke through to give Japan the lead for the third time in the match.

On two minutes remained on the clock when Adam Raby dotted down in the corner to bring Hong Kong to within two points, before Anthony Haynes crashed over to seemingly snatch victory for the hosts.

A vocal home crowd thought the gold medal was in the bag, but Japan refused to accept defeat and with just three seconds left on the clock Masahiro Tsuiki broke free to touch down, leaving Yamamoto Hidefumi an easy conversion to seal the win.

Positives for Hong Kong

“My heart was pounding as the game was so tight, but I’m very happy,” said Japan coach Wataru Murata. “Hong Kong is the home team and had great crowd support, but our team is very disciplined. We have a lot of Japanese pride and that was the difference in those final five seconds.”

Hong Kong’s Mark Wright added: “We are gutted by the loss of course but the guys played exceptional rugby throughout the tournament, especially in the final. We’re disappointed not to win, but we are very pleased with the silver. Back at the Asian Games in 2006, we were playing for fifth place and here we are not just playing for gold but leading with just seconds left. We will take a lot from this.”

His coach Dai Rees echoed this sentiment: “Credit to the guys, they played exceptionally well. Five of our players were making their debut playing inside the Hong Kong Stadium and we were leading against a team almost primarily full of professionals.

“It has been a great experience for the team and we are extremely thankful for the brilliant support we have gotten from the crowd. The reaction really proves that Rugby Sevens is a great competition for multi-sport Games.”

The battle for the bronze medal also went right down to the wire, Korea knocking on what seemed to be the winning try in the in-goal area, before getting a reprieve and charging over from the resulting scrum to lead 14-12. China still had a chance to snatch the medal but were held up with just seconds remaining.

China take women’s honours

The women’s event was far more clear cut with China showcasing once again why they are the region’s best side in the Sevens game, adding East Asian Games gold to their Asian Sevens title and Bowl success at the first Women’s Rugby World Cup Sevens earlier this year.

China had cruised through the opening day, winning all three matches with a record of scored 114 points and conceded none. In the semi final they edged past a plucky Hong Kong side 20-5 to set up a meeting with Japan, the 19-7 conquerors of the improving Guam outfit.

The favourites produced another clinical performance in the final and, despite a tremendous effort from the Japanese women, China ran out comfortable 34-12 winners to claim the gold medal. Hong Kong joined them on the podium after beating Guam 15-0 to win the bronze medal.

International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge was on hand to present the gold medals to the winning teams, reinforcing the status of Rugby Sevens as the newest Olympic Games sport with its inclusion into the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro alongside golf.

Less than two months after Rugby Sevens was included in the 2016 Olympic Games, this weekend in Hong Kong will see the sport make its debut in the East Asian Games as a competition sport with both a men’s and women’s event.

The first ever multi-sports Games to be held in Hong Kong, the East Asian Games is open to nine countries and territories in the region, including the hosts, China, Chinese Taipei, Guam, Japan, Korea, DPR Korea, Macau and Mongolia.

The Rugby Sevens competitions at the Hong Kong Stadium across Saturday and Sunday promise to be a cracker as the teams participating represent the elite men’s and women’s nations in Asian Sevens.

Three of the top five women’s teams in Asia will battle for the gold medal, while five of the six men’s sides occupied the top five spots in the final standings of the inaugural Asian Rugby Sevens Series in Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, China and Chinese Taipei.

With the inception of the Asian Rugby Football Union’s new Sevens Series in 2009, the men’s teams enter the East Asian Games with more match seasoning and more head to head experience than at any time in the 42-year history of ARFU.

IOC President to present medal

Adding to the excitement, the organisers of the East Asian Games have announced that Jacques Rogge, President of the International Olympic Committee, will attend the Rugby Sevens competition and present the gold medal to the winning men’s team.

Japan are the favourites to claim that gold medal after winning the Asian Rugby Sevens Series with a runners up finish in Shanghai and victory in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia in the two ranking events in the Series’ first year. They also won the Sri Lanka Sevens event last month.

Korea and Hong Kong will be the biggest threats to Japan’s gold medal hopes having finished second and third in the Asian Rugby Sevens Series standings, the Koreans beating Japan in the Shanghai final and the East Asian Games hosts reaching the final in Kota Kinabalu.

The Koreans have been reaping the benefits of a cohesive squad that features many of its key 15-a-side national team stars like hard-charging number 8 Han Hun Kyu, who promises to be a fan favourite with his impressive pace for a big man.

Golden incentive for Hong Kong

Hong Kong used the Asian Rugby Sevens Series, the World Games in Chinese Taipei and the Singapore Cricket Club Sevens to identify promising young players in their quest to claim a first ever East Asian Games gold medal in a team sport and have beaten their rivals in the Series.

“We are entering the competition in better shape than any tournament we have played in this year. There is a real belief we can medal and do something special for Hong Kong by winning a team gold,” said Hong Kong coach Dai Rees.

Captain Jeff Wong added: “Our preparation went well. The team has been training hard and we are hopeful for a gold. If we manage to play like we train we won’t be far off.

“If we bring gold home, I think rugby will become even more popular in Hong Kong and a lot more young kids and students will take up the sport. I can promise that we will do our very best.”

China and Chinese Taipei are also threats to make the medal rostrum on their day and both teams enter the competition with veteran sides. China will be led by the inspirational Zhang Zhiqiang, a local favourite from his many Hong Kong Sevens appearances, while Chinese Taipei – the best performing Asian team at the World Games in July – will be captained by long-time skipper Wang Kuo Feng.

China favourite in women’s event

In both the men’s and women’s competitions, the teams from the island of Guam, known locally as “the Rock”, can be counted on to punch above their weight and the other participants will overlook them at their peril.

China will undoubtedly start as clear favourites in the women’s tournament, having caught the eye in Dubai at the inaugural Women’s Rugby World Cup Sevens event en route to winning the Bowl final in March and then stormed to the Asian Women’s Sevens title with an unbeaten record in the 2009 event in Thailand.

Guam will have benefitted from four matches they played against China in the Shanghai Sevens, while Japan and Hong Kong will have their own aspirations of success in the women’s competition.

The Rugby Sevens action gets underway at 10:00 local time on Saturday and for more information, including live results, visit the official East Asian Games website at www.2009eastasiangames.hk.

This weekend is the Emirates Airline Dubai Rugby Sevens Tournament in Dubai! Last year the tournament was hugely successful and so this year it is expected to be just as phenomenal. The women’s bracket is available on the Emirates site but is buried behind all of the men’s stuff so I have laid it out below. I was also able to gather a few rosters, but not that many.

Along with Rugby Ecosse and Wooden Spoon Women, the up and coming USA Eagles are also being considered among the favourites to take the women’s title.  As a prequel, yesterday the USA scrimmaged the Arabian Gulf team and the scrimmage was fought hard with USA taking a W home.

I am still searching to see if any of the matches will be available to watch on the web but have only heard that ESPN360.com will show some of the men’s semi-finals and finals. Let me know if you hear of any way to watch the matches! I would encourage you to follow me on Twitter and Facebook as I will be posting updates as soon as I find them.

Make sure to check out Structure Fire as a few players are writing blogs on the USA Women’s team experience in Dubai!

USA
Sadie Anderson
Ida Bernstein
Tess Kohanski
Jenny Lui
Christiane Pheil
Ines Rodriguez
Lauren Rosso
Lauren Shaughnessy
Jossy Tseng
Shaina Turley
JoAnn Ward
Alison Worman

Tuks Ladies
Ilse van Staden
Pulane Motluong (Capt)
Onicca Moaga
Jennifer Modiba
Annelize Moore
Marlien Cronje
Lala Vazi
Veronica Malantswane
Mapule Moremi
Mariska Loots
Kerry Townley
Cindy Cant

Arabian Gulf
B. Johnson (Hurricanes)
H. Myers (Hurricanes)
L. Bell (Hurricanes)
N. Haradine (Hurricanes)
J. Thompson (Hurricanes)
Y. Smith (Hurricanes)
S. Bootham (AD Harlequins)
E. Uren (AD Harlequins)
J. Matheson (AD Harlequins)
K. Davey (AD Harlequins)
S. Adrendt (Kuwait)
S. Lowe (Toa)