Your Scrumhalf Connection

from USA U20′s blog:

The U20 WNT lost a fiercely contested NACRA final to the Canada U20′s by a score of 3-6. It was a great game and both sides had good chances to score throughout the game. The USA took the lead 3-0 on a penalty by Bui Baravilala but Canada came back with two penalties of their own. The USA finished the stronger and in the dying minutes drove into the Canadian 22 forcing Canada into giving up a penalty. Chelsea Garber’s kick slid by the far post and the ref blew the whistle for the end of the game.

Jozy Gessner was awarded the USA MVP trophy.

Really was a great game and everyone back at home should be proud of the team. We’re off to dinner. I will write a full report later tonight.

from USA U20 Blog:

Nssau, Bahamas. The U20 Women’s National Team beat the Caribbean Select Side 30-7 on six tries from Jozy Gessner (2), Bex Seibach (2), Katie Humphreys and Alycia Washington.

With temperatures in the mid 90’s at game time the weather was always going to be a factor. In the same fashion as the first game, the USA came out of the gate fast and were prepared to play a creative, expansive game. Unfortunately a lack of composure and fatigue from the heat turned from creative to error strewn as the U20’s squandered several opportunities to get on the scoreboard early. Territorially the U20‘s dominated the first half but failed to convert pressure into points and were especially careless in the opposition twenty-two. With passes not going to hand, silly penalties and two players dropping the ball in the act of scoring they went into half time with a slim 10-7 lead on two well taken tries from Bex Seibach and Jozy Gessner,

The second half saw the U20’s come together as some personal changes created a different chemistry on the field. A shoulder high tackle from Rachel Ryan that was possibly more spectacular than dangerous brought out yellow card but the team was settled at that point and continues to dominate large passages of the game. Tries from Katie Humphreys and Alycia Washington were well deserved rewards for a pair of locks who had run hard all day. Bex Seibach and Jozy Gessner both notched up second scores as the U20’s calmed the nerves to run out 30-7 winners.

Head Coach Bryn Chivers was clearly disappointed with the quality of the game but not the outcome, “It was an ugly win but a win is a win. The team chemistry of Sunday was missing today and it turned into a game where you just grind out the win and move on.”
Chivers was happy with the play of some of the individuals and pointed out second rows Katie Humphreys of Kent, Washington and also to UConn’s Alycia Washington as players worth mentioning. “I thought both the locks did well today and they were still running hard at the end of the game. It’s rare for a big lock to put in an MVP like performance in ninety degree heat and yet both of them got out there and played eighty minutes of team rugby and both deserved a try apiece”.

The win puts the U20 WNT at the top of the NACRA standings at the end of pool play and they face the Canada U20’s in the final on Friday. The game kicks off at 5.00 PM at the Winton Rugby Center in Nassau, Bahamas

USA U20 WNT 30 Caribbean Select Side 7
Tries. Jozy Gessner (2), Bex Seibach (2), Katie Humphreys, Alycia Washington.

1 Wendy Sherman Colorado State (Replaced by Ryan) (Replaced by Sager)
2 Katie Hathaway Norwich
3 Brittany Rose Unnatached
4 Katie Humphreys Kent, WA
5 Alycia Washington U Conn
6 Amee Svatos Canby, OR
7 Katie Johnson Hopkins, MN (Replaced by Anderson)
8 Candace Barley Lee Univeristy (Replaced by Lewis)
9 Jozy Gesssner Colorado State.
10 Hannah Lockwood Oregon State
11 Rebecca Seibach Women’s Cougar Rugby
12 Bui Baravilala Aliamanu, Hawaii
13 Star Bolinger Women’s Cougar Rugby
14 Brittany O’Brien U of Rhode Island (Replaced by McKnight)
15 Chelsea Garber Brown

16 Rachel Ryan U of Wyoming
17 McKenzie Lewis Mesa State
18 Kelly Sager Penn State
19 Kiki McKnight U of Centaral Florida
20 Anne Marie Bowlus U of California – Santa Cruz
21 Holly Zoeller U of North Carolina
22 Hailey Anderson Summit, CO

USA U20’s 85 Cayman Senior Women 0

Team looked very crisp and the crowd were entertained by the quality of the play from the U20’s. Too many highlights……….but a nice try from sixteen year old scrumhalf Haley “Peach” Anderson got the most celebration from her teammates.

USA U20 Team for the game against Cayman

1 Kelly Sager Penn State
2 Rachel Ryan U of Wyoming
3 Andee Samborski Livingstone, MI
4 Alycia Washington U Conn
5 Brittany Rose Unattached
6 McKenzie Lewis Mesa State
7 Katie Johnson Hopkins, MN
8 Candace Barley Lee University
9 Hailey Anderson Summit, CO
10 Hannah Lockwood Oregon State
11 Holly Zoeller U of North Carolina
12 Bui Baravilala Aliamanu, Hawaii
13 Kiki McNight U of Central Florida
14 Anne Marie Bowlus U of California – Santa Cruz
15 Chelsea Garber Brown

16 Mileka Grager (injured) Washington State
17 Wendy Sherman Colorado State
18 Katie Hathaway Norwich
19 Katie Humphreys Kent, WA
20 Amee Svatos Canby, OR
21 Brittany O’Brien U of Rhode Island
22 Jozy Gesssner Colorado State.

Tries: Chelsea Garber (3), Bui Baravilala (2), Katie Johnson (2), Kiki McNight (2), Ann Marie Bowlus, Candace Barley, Haley Anderson, Wendy Sherman, Katie Hathaway.

Conversions: Chelsea Garber (5), Bui Barivilala (5)

USA U-20 Women’s National Team Announces 2010 Squad

BOULDER, Colo. – Following the U20 Women’s National Team Camp held at the University of California – Santa Barbara the U20 WNT Head Coach Bryn Chivers has officially announced the 2010 squad. The squad is comprised of 24 players from 22 high school, college, and club programs from across the country including the program’s first ever player from Hawaii. With only ten returning players, the squad is very different from the one that lost 12-13 to the Canada U20s in January.

Chivers wasn’t happy with the team’s performance against the Canada U20s, feeling that squad had underperformed in the one point loss. “It was just a little lackluster. We had very good players but the chemistry of the squad was off and they didn’t play well together.” This prompted a shake up that saw a whole new group of players invited to the U20 Elite Camp and resulted in the U20’s going 2-0 against their opposition at the U23 National All-Star Championships.
The rebuilt squad has five new forwards including Western Washington’s Mileka Grager and UConn’s Alycia Washington. The nine new backs include All-American center Star Bolinger from BYU, Akalaini Baravilala from the Aliamanu Rugby Club in Hawaii, and wings Holly Zoeller and Bex Siebach from North Carolina and BYU respectively.

This new squad is very exciting to watch” said Chivers. “We have the experience of players like Jozy Gessner, Katie Johnson, and Candace Barley who are in their fourth and fifth years in the program, but we also have a large group of new players who bring a fierce energy to the squad”.

The U20s will represent the USA in the North American and Caribbean Rugby Association (NACRA) Championships, August 15-21 in Nassau, Bahamas. The tournament will feature the senior women’s national teams from Cayman and Bahamas, a Caribbean Select Side and the U20 sides from the USA and Canada.

This will be the first time the U20 WNT has played any of the Caribbean sides and Chivers recognizes that the team is stepping into the unknown. “We have no idea what to expect from this tournament. A Caribbean Select Side of senior players presents a different challenge for this young squad and we could get beat by their size and experience or come away with a win. The thing we do know is that the Caribbean senior sides will provide us with strong opposition in preparation for the game against the Canada U20s”. The Junior Eagles will open against Cayman on Sunday, August 15th.
USA U20 Schedule

Sun Aug 15th: USA U20 WNT v Cayman (5.00 p.m)

Tue Aug 17th: USA U20 WNT v Caribbean Select Side (3.00 p.m.)

Fri Aug 20th: USA U20 WNT v Canada U20’s (5.00 p.m.)

2010 USA U20 Women’s National Team

Hailey Anderson Summit, Colorado
Akalaini Baravilala Aliamanu, Hawaii
Candace Barley Lee University
Star Bollinger Women Cougar Rugby
Ann Marie Bowlus UC Santa Cruz
Chelsea Garber Brown
Jozy Gessner Colorado State
Mileka Grager Washington State
Katie Hathaway Norwich
Katie Humphreys Kent, Washington
Katie Johnson Hopkins, Minnesota
Mackenzie Lewis Mesa State
Hannah Lockwood Oregon State
Kyandrea McKnight U of Central Florida
Brittany O’Brien U of Rhode Island
Brittany Rose Unattached
Rachael Ryan U of Wyoming
Kelly Sager Penn State
Andee Samborski Livingston, Michigan
Wendy Sherman Colorado State
Rebekah Siebach Women Cougar Rugby
Amee Svatos Canby, Oregon
Alycia Washington U of Connecticut
Holly Zoeller U of North Carolina

This is an exciting and busy summer for Women’s High Performance rugby in the USA! The Women’s National Team will compete in the CanAm inVictoria, Canada in June and the Women’s Rugby World Cup in London in August and September.

The Women’s 7s Team will hold tryout camps in Californiain July.  The athletes who represented the USA in the Women’s International Invitational 7s in Las Vegas in February will return to camp, along with a broad cross-section of athletes new to the 7s program.

The Women’s Collegiate All-American Touring Side, selected from schools across the country, will compete in the Women’s National All-Star Championship in Blaine,MN, on May 28-30.  Finally, the Women’s Under 20 Team will compete in the U23 National All-Star Championship at UCSB on June 11-13, will hold an Open Tryout Camp at Marquette University in Milwaukee, WI, on July 29 – Aug 1, and will compete in the IRB’s NACRA Championship in Nassau, Bahamas, from August 14-23.

“We’ve been working hard for a year now to align all the Women’s National Team programs, as a major step toward re-defining the High Performance athlete identification and development pathway.  The number of venues this summer offers significant opportunities for athletes to participate in HP camps and competitions at all levels.  The Head Coaches of all the WHP programs are working together to identify talent and the doors are wide open for new faces to been seen and prospective athletes to make positive impressions.”  Alex Williams, Women’s High Performance Manager

7s Tryout Camps

Hosted by the University of California, Santa Barbara, the Women’s National Sevens Team will hold a series of tryout camps this summer.  Head Coach Ric Suggitt will hold three sessions in July:

Session 1- July 8-11
Session 2 – July 11-14
Session 3 – July 15-18

Each camp will serve three main goals:  the development of key sevens skills and knowledge, an understanding of the fitness requirements for success in international sevens, and the assessment of each athlete’s potential to compete for the WNT Sevens program.

Each session will include approximately 30 athletes.  The majority of the spots will be filled by invitation; however, Coach Suggitt has left a number of spots in each session open to interested athletes.

“We have observed National Championships and video to identify a large list of athletes in establishing a player base and depth chart. Combined with the initial group inLas Vegas, the Women’s Seven pool appears very promising moving forward to Rio 2016.” Suggitt says.

The open spots in each camp will be filled through an application process.  Athletes may nominate themselves or be nominated by their coach.  To apply, please email Coach Ric Suggitt at rsuggitt@usarugby.org and include ALL of the following information:

(A) Player name
(B) Player age & birthdate
(C) Player email address
(D) Player phone number
(E) Player school or club
(F) Name of school or club coach
(G) Coach contact numbers
(H) What specific strengths qualify you/your athlete for attendance at the WNT Sevens Tryout Camps?

U20 Tryout Camp

Any interested female athlete between the ages of 13 and 19 is encouraged to attend the camp, which will include instruction by Coach Chivers, Assistant Coach and former Eagle Danielle Miller, Assistant Coach Kurt Weaver, and a number of additional territorial, collegiate and high school coaches.

All athletes attending the camp will receive field and classroom sessions, position-specific coaching, individual feedback and evaluation, and the opportunity to interact with National team coaches and athletes.

“We want to provide players with as many pathways to the U20 WNT as possible,” said Chivers. “Not every player is going to get viewed through the National Championships or representative level play and this open camp will give a lot more players the opportunity to work with the U20 WNT Coaches. “The previous camps have yielded some great U20 WNT players and I am looking forward to another crop of young and talented athletes attending the camp this year.”

For more information, including registration instructions, please download the brochure and registration form, or contact U-20 WNT Manager Jeff Noe atJeff.Noe@constellation.com

U20 National Team FLIGHT Camp Details

What: The USA Rugby U20 WNT player development open camp.

Why: This is an open camp designed to give young players of all skill levels an opportunity to receive coaching from the USA Rugby U20 Women’s National Team Coaching Staff. Campers will receive;

• Six field sessions and two classroom sessions
• Position specific coaching
• Individual player evaluation and feedback
• Opportunity to interact with USA National team players and coaches

When: July 29-Aug 1, 2010 (Athletes should arrive by 4 PM July 29 and may depart after 1 PM on the 1st.)

Where: Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI …more

from USA Rugby:

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The women of the Northeast Rugby Union (NRU) won the Under-23 National All-Star Championship on Sunday at the University of California – Santa Barbara.

In the Tier 1 title game, NRU defeated the Midwest Thunderbirds 25-12. NRU scored within moments of the starting whistle in an attempt to put the Thunderbirds away early. A quick try in reply from the outstanding Thunderbird wing, Tyra McGrady, was not enough to stop the clinical NRU side, whose dangerous backline tormented the Midwest all day.

NRU scrumhalf, Alyssa Baccarella, contributed heavily to her side’s victory and her precise passing game allowed the Northeast to attack the Thunderbird defense effectively and often. For Baccarella’s efforts, she earned the title of the tournament’s Most Valuable Player by National Team selectors.

The Tier 2 final between the Pacific Coast Grizzlies and the USA Under-20s was so closely fought that two overtime periods were necessary to determine a winner. The Grizzlies gave the Eagles a physical game, but the national side squeaked out a win in the closing seconds of overtime as Eagle captain Katie Johnson crossed the line for a try. The game was a promotion match, so the Under-20s will move up to Tier 1 for next year’s competition.

In the Tier 1 consolation match, the West defeated the Mid-Atlantic (MARFU) women 37-18. The West will remain in Tier 1 next year, but MARFU will drop to Tier 2.

The SoCal Griffins took on the South in the Tier 2 consolation match, shutting out the Southern women 16-0.