Good news for the men and there have been rumblings from Nigel Melville that some games at the Women’s Rugby World Cup could televised as well.

from USA Rugby:

Networks Partner with International Rugby Board for Rights to Rugby World Cup in 2011 and 2015

All World Cup Matches to Air across Universal Sports’ Media Platforms

NEW YORK CITY — June 17, 2010 – Universal Sports Network, NBC Sports, and the International Rugby Board (IRB) today announced a partnership that will bring to U.S. audiences unprecedented national television and digital media coverage of the 2011 and 2015 Rugby World Cup tournaments.

The announcement was made by Universal Sports CEO David Sternberg and Mike Miller, CEO and Secretary General, International Rugby Board. The official launch was supported by USA Rugby CEO Nigel Melville and the local New York rugby community in the build-up to the Churchill Cup finals set for Saturday, June 19 at Red Bull Arena.

“This is a huge step in the right direction for USA Rugby,” Melville said. “A major broadcast partner will create a number of new opportunities for the sport, raising rugby’s profile in America, as well as allowing supporters to follow the Eagles on their road to the 2011 Rugby World Cup.”

Universal Sports, the preeminent destination for Olympic-related sports programming, and NBC Sports will provide full, multi-platform coverage of all 48 matches during the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand and the 2015 World Cup in England. Two matches in each tournament, including the Finals in 2011 and 2015, will air either live or on a same-day delay on NBC Sports. Live and delayed match video will also be accessible at www.universalsports.com, and on Universal Sports’ mobile platforms. Universal Sports’ and NBC Sports’ match coverage will feature a studio pre-game show, halftime and post-game shows, as well as several other production enhancements, and will be offered in high definition.

“This is a very significant rights acquisition for Universal Sports, especially given the growing popularity of rugby around the world and in America,” said Sternberg. “We are delighted to be partnering with the IRB for the Rugby World Cup and other top events, and we look forward to showcasing global rugby, at its highest level, for our audiences across all of our platforms—television, online and mobile.”

“Today’s announcement represents a significant milestone in the development of Rugby in the United States,” said Miller. “NBC and Universal Sports are globally renowned for quality broadcast delivery of major sports events in the United States and their considerable experience and passion for sport will deliver the widespread platform for Rugby World Cup to truly capture the hearts and minds of American sports fans.”

The Rugby World Cup is one of the largest and most avidly watched sporting events in the world, drawing an estimated 4.2 billion viewers worldwide during the last championship in France in 2007. The competition next year begins on September 9, 2011, when host New Zealand meets Tonga in Auckland. The tournament field consists of 20 different nations, likely including the United States, who will compete over the course of a month for the coveted Webb Ellis Cup. New Zealand and Australia jointly hosted the first edition of the Rugby World Cup in 1987 while South Africa is the defending champion from 2007.

The agreement extends Universal Sports’ focus on rugby, which will debut at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Since the beginning of June, the network has really built up their rugby coverage. They have teamed up with USA Rugby and televised the U.S. College Sevens Invitational and the six-country Churchill Cup tournament. The final two matches of the Churchill Cup, featuring both the U.S. national team and the England Saxons, will air live from Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey, this Saturday, June 19 beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET.

ABOUT UNIVERSAL SPORTS: Universal Sports, a partnership between NBC Sports and InterMedia Partners, LP, serves as the preeminent multiplatform destination for Olympic-related sports programming on television and online. Universal Sports is available in more than 63 million homes, including all of the nation’s top 10 DMAs: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Dallas-Fort Worth and Washington, D.C. Recent expansion includes launches in Boston, Atlanta, Houston, Miami, Denver, Portland, and Jacksonville. Go to UniversalSports.com for a complete list of TV markets. Major world championship and Olympic qualifying events found on Universal Sports range from track and field, skiing, swimming, gymnastics, marathons and cycling, to volleyball, rowing, triathlon, fencing, speed skating and martial arts. UniversalSports.com delivers an immersive experience via live and on-demand competition coverage, interaction with top athletes through blogs and in-depth access to Olympic sports news and information year round. For more information on the availability of the Universal Sports 24-hour television channel, please visit UniversalSports.com.

ABOUT IRB & RUGBY WORLD CUP: Rugby World Cup is the world’s third largest single sports event and the 2011 tournament in New Zealand will be broadcast to a potential audience of over 4 billion in 200 countries. All tournament surpluses generated by commercial revenues underwrite a range of major funding initiatives aimed at increasing global growth and stimulating participation. In total the IRB will invest over £153 million during the period 2009-2012.

ABOUT USA RUGBY: USA RUGBY, founded in 1975, is the national governing body for rugby and is a member of the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) and the International Rugby Board (IRB). The organization is responsible for the development of boys, girls, high school, collegiate and club rugby programs, as well as the nation’s rugby coaches, referees, administrators and all of its national teams that represent the U.S. in international competitions. As part of this development, USA Rugby hosts a number of courses, clinics, National Championship events and international matches throughout the year. For more information, please visit www.usarugby.org.

CONTACT INFO:

Universal Sports
Kevin Endsley
kendsley@universalsports.com
818-661-4188

Greg Hughes
Ghughes5425@gmail.com

NBC Sports
Adam Freifeld
Adam.freifeld@nbcuni.com

IRB
Dominic Rumbles
Dominic.Rumbles@irb.com

USA Rugby
Sara Wright
swright@usarugby.org

This is a great instructional rucking video from Dan Payne that was sent to me by Paul Simko. Dan reviews several issues that teams run in to including various rucking techniques and ways to combat them. Great video!

To view more YSC videos hover over the heading ‘Videos’ on the navigation bar up top and choose Rugby Video Monday.

Please continue sending in your videos and I will keep posting them! Send them to wendy@scrumhalfconnection.com.

Assistant Coach (15s)
UCLA Women’s Rugby is now accepting applications for the position of Assistant Coach beginning September 2010. Our ideal candidate has club or collegiate level coaching experience, is able to commit to 2+ weekly practices and games, and is able to lead practices in the Head Coach’s absence. The ideal candidate will also have knowledge of the game that complements that of today’s dynamic, fluid, and mobile game.

The great tradition of women’s rugby at UCLA began in 1975; the collegiate side was founded in 2005. UCLAWR fields both a competitive A-side and a developmental B-side that train in the fall during pre-season and compete in the winter during the regular season. Practice and home games will be held at the UCLA campus (a parking permit will be provided), but away games require travel to UCSD, UCSB, and ASU. We are proud three-time Division I SCRFU league champions and are looking for our 4th title this season. We also recently finished in the Elite 8 in USA Rugby’s National Collegiate Playoffs and rank amongst RugbyMag’s top 10 teams in the nation. We boast several U23 players and players who have become members of the Collegiate All-Americans and USA National Team pool.

Please send your rugby resume and a brief statement of coaching philosophy to Cassandra Tong, Club President, at ctong5@ucla.edu. Email ctong5@ucla.edu or visit http://www.studentgroups.ucla.edu/womensrugby/ for more information.

from International Rugby Suite by Sione A Mokofisi:

They fell off the top of women’s Rugby World Rankings; the U.S. Women Eagles national team can regain their former glory by kicking butts again.

How will the U.S. Women Eagles Rugby National Team reclaim their former world superiority in this summer’s World Cup 2010 being held in England?

The USA Rugby national office (Boulder, CO) should have better strategies to reverse the Women Eagles last two dismal showings in 2002 and 2006. Their so-called “high-performance goals” for the England campaign this summer are not convincing enough:

• Placed in the top four at the 2010 WRC.
• Placed as finalists at the 2014 WRC.

They should be expected to win the next two World Cups. Self-fulfilling prophecies are usually the best motivation tools with high-calibre championship teams like the U.S. Women Eagles. When expectations are raised to higher levels of expected performance, great teams have achieved great feats. If they go in expected to do mediocre performance, they will be awed by their opponents as the superior competitor.

U.S. Women Eagles’ History of World Dominance
Their superior performance in the inaugural Rugby World Cup 1991 looked as if the Americans were teaching the rest of the world a sport “Made in USA.” They went 4-0, and nearly shutting out all their opponents, 79-6, combined (Rugby Magazine, 2004) except England:

USA-7, defeated Netherlands-0.
USA-46, defeated USSR-0.
USA-7, defeated New Zealand-0.
USA-19, defeated England-6.
These Yankees continued their international prowess on the rugby “pitch” to include WC 1994 and 1998′s title matches. But the two title-game heart-broken losses may have had demoralizing effects on the entire American women’s rugby program. The evidence showed in WC 1998. It began a 12-year decline manifested in the 7th and 5th place finishes in the 2002 and 2006 World Cups, respectively (Rugby World Cup Womens database, 2010):

1994 – England – 38, defeated USA – 23.
1998 – New Zealand – 46, defeated USA – 12.
2002 – (7th place) USA-23, defeated Spain-0.
2006 – (5th place) USA-24, defeated Scotland-0.

U.S. Women’s Rugby Declining Years
It was apparent other nations’ women’s programs improved each year while the U.S. was declining. New Zealand, for example. Losses in 1991 and 1994 made them stronger. Meanwhile, the Americans’ game may have grown stagnant, and predictable. It took heavyweights like England four years, and New Zealand eight years to figure out how to defeat the Yankees. Other rugby heavyweights like Australia, France, and South Africa in the men’s game have joined the ranks of bullies who are beating up on the Americans in the women’s game.

Perhaps those weak opponents in the early years contributed to the Americans’ losing their dominant strengths. For example in 1994: Beating Sweden, 111-0; Japan, 121-0; Ireland, 76-0; and Wales 56-15. Those cake-walks may have caused complacency and lack of respect for their opponents. England avenged their 1991 loss by winning, 38-23, in the 1994 championship match.

Conclusion: USA Rugby Takes Women’s Program for Granted

The USA Rugby Boulder office rationalized that the decline was due to, “…other rugby powerhouses that have made a commitment to support the women’s game.”

Is this verification that the U.S. Women Eagles were totally neglected? Did USA Rugby fail to increase funding and training to keep the ladies at their 1991, 1994, and 1998 successes level? Perhaps USA Rugby took the women’s program early successes for granted while concentrating most of its efforts on the men’s program?

Apparently, USA Rugby gambled and lost: The Men Eagles are still a Tier 3 international side while the Women Eagles’ – despite their disappointing showing in 2002 and 2006 – are still a Tier #1 squad feared by their opponents. To succeed in this summer World Cup 2010, the Americans must rediscover their early mojos from the early 1990s.

They must be prepared to pull themselves out of their 12-year hibernation, and play like angry, and hungry bears. They must play like angry champions who have been cooped up in training camp for too long, and kick some butts!

Women’s Rugby World Cup 2010: August 16 – September 6.
Hosted by Surrey Sports Park, Surrey University, England.

USA Women Eagles Pool Matches:
August 20, USA vs. Kazakhstan
August 24, USA vs. Ireland
August 28, USA vs. England.

REFERENCES
Ed F. Hagerty, “2004 Directory-Yearbook,” (April, 2004). Rugby Magazine, Vol. 30. No. 3. New York City, NY: The Rugby Press.

Rugby World Cup Womens database retrieved July 12, 2010. http://www.rwcwomens.com/history/index.html.

USA Rugby, “National Teams.” Retrieved July 11, 2010, from USA Rugby database http://www.usarugby.org.

Philadelphia Women’s Rugby Football Club (PWRFC) is happy to announce that Bob Weir will be the new Head Coach as of Fall 2010. Weir replaces Lisa Rosen, who has recently accepted the position as Head Coach for the Glendale Raptors Women’s Rugby team in Glendale, CO. During the search for a new head coach, PWRFC found that there were few people that matched Lisa’s passion for and knowledge of the game. The club had spoken to Weir several times in the past few seasons about getting involved, and is happy the time is now right for him to join the organization.

PWRFC Vice President Emily Tunney said, “Bob has the ability to inspire the players; he knows the game and really seemed to click with the team during a guest coaching session this spring.” Lisa Rosen says of Weir “I couldn’t be happier that Bob decided to take the reins. We’ve worked together for several years in the coach development program, and he is absolutley the most qualified coach in the area. He’s a very creative coach that I’ve gone to when I’ve needed ideas, and he has a gift for interacting with players. The team will undoubtedly take big steps forward under his leadership.” Weir represents longtime ties to the EPRU and is one of the most experienced coaches in the area. He has been involved in area rugby since the early 1970s and is a student of the game. Since the early 2000s he has been working within USA Rugby to develop coaches in the United States. Weir is an International Rugby Board (IRB) Coach Educator licensee, a Coach Development Course Leader for the USA Rugby Coaching Development Program and a graduate of USA Rugby’s first Advanced Coaching Course. Most recently, he was the Head Coach for the DII Wilmington Men RFC, as well as the U-19 Wilmington Colts and the Delaware U-19 Boys Select Side; he has also coached the Philadelphia-Whitemarsh Super League squad and the Middletown High School Boys.

Congrats to Philly and thanks for submitting your WANTED Ad for a coach to YSC!