|
Written by Pat Clifton
Wednesday, 28 September 2011 15:40 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
Raptors Get Richer |
|
Clubs -
Men's DI Clubs
|
|
As if Glendale needed the help. The Raptors opened their DI season with a 77-3 drubbing of the Denver Highlanders. That was without Ryan Chapman, the Raptor-turned-Utah Warrior No. 8 who’s exploded onto the national scene in the last several months.
Chapman’s stay in Salt Lake City is almost over, as he’s accepted a promotion that’ll land him back in the Denver area and in the blue and white horizontal stripes of Glendale.
“With a kid on the way and a family, I’ve got to do what’s best for my career, for the most part. Unfortunately, I don’t get paid to play rugby,” said Chapman.
“I accepted a promotion to come out here, and I kind of fell into the Utah Warriors thing, which was a huge development for my rugby career. 12 months ago when I got out to Utah, nobody knew who I was. That’s certainly not the case anymore a year later, but I’m getting promoted again to go back. Money certainly talks, so I’ve got to keep doing what the job wants me to do.”
27, Chapman has just broken into Eagles consideration. He was named to the 50-man pre World Cup pool after attending the domestic Eagles camp in the spring. When the roster was shaved to 36, his name was not on it. Then when the USA Selects played Glendale at Infinity Park as part of their World Cup preparation, Chapman made enough of an impression to be invited back into the fold. He was let go in the final cut.
It appears Chapman, a big, mobile athlete, has firmly planted himself on the Eagles' radar. Moving to a club outside of the Super League means his game film may not be immediately available for the USA coaching staff, but moving to Glendale means he’ll be a lot closer for in-person evaluation and instruction.
It also means he gets to enjoy the professional setup at Infinity Park.
“If I was in a position and I wasn’t working and I just wanted to be playing for a class club, I’d have a much harder decision on my hands, because the Utah Warriors is obviously a sweet organization that’s been very good to me,” he said.
“But Glendale is where I played all my club rugby basically, except for this last year, so I’ll fit right back in going there. Having a chiropractor and having ice tubs and hot tubs and stuff like, just getting back to Glendale for that purpose alone would be nice.”
The Raptors play their second league game Saturday against the Kansas City Blues. Chapman won’t likely start as he won’t have made training this week, but he’ll bring his boots on his trip back to look for housing. He expects to be back in Denver full time within a couple of weeks.
|
|
|
|
|
Written by RUGBYMag Staff
Wednesday, 28 September 2011 11:08 |
|
|
|
|
|
St Louis Rams Host Rugby Day Sunday |
|
Off The Field -
People
|
|
 In cooperation with the St. Louis Rams NFL Football Club, the Missouri Rugby Union will host Rugby Day at Rams Park on October 2, 2011. A block of 500 discounted seats to Rams v. Washington Redskins game at the Edward Jones Dome is available for sale through MRFU.
As a part of the promotional package, the Rams are allowing the MRFU to use the field to play three rugby sevens matches. The three matches played will decide the MRFU divisional 7's champions: Senior Men – Bombers vs. Ramblers; Collegiate Men—Lindenwood University vs. St. Louis University; and High School Boys—DeSmet vs. St. Louis University High. Any interested spectators will have the opportunity to move down to the 50 yard line to watch the matches.
Those tickets, ordinarily priced at $45 are available for $35 through the MRFU. In addition to the excitement of watching rugby on the turf ... $5 of every ticket sold will be used to benefit youth rugby in the MRFU.
In a statement released today, the MRFU said "this will be a great event for the rugby community. Rugby is enjoying increasing visibility with Sevens matches televised this summer and Rugby World Cup action underway now. The MRFU believes that bringing the most viewer-friendly variant directly into an NFL stadium has potential to generate interest among spectators and potential players, and at the same time we're providing a unique opportunity for rugby players to use a top-level venue for competition."
For more information about tickets, contact MRFU President Bryce Krug at
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
The Missouri Rugby Football Union is the main organizing body for Rugby in the St. Louis area. Established in 1933, it is the oldest of the 34 territorial unions that comprise USA Rugby and is one of the oldest sports organizations in the St. Louis area. Approximately 950 players are registered with Missouri Rugby, and they compete as part of our 11 Men’s Clubs, 1 Women’s Club, 7 Collegiate Clubs, 12 High School Boys Clubs, and 2 High School Girls Club. Our men, women, and collegiate play both fall and spring seasons while our high school clubs play primarily in the spring. Each April the MRFU hosts the Gateway Ruggerfest Tournament, and 2012 will mark the 64th consecutive year for this annual event that brings as many as 80 teams to St. Louis for high-level competition.
|
|
|
|
Written by Jackie Finlan
Tuesday, 27 September 2011 13:40 |
|
|
|
|
|
AIC Stuns Stonehill in RNE Opener |
|
Colleges -
Women's College
|
|
Rugby Northeast (RNE) celebrated its inaugural games this weekend, and the women’s bracket wasn’t without its surprises.
Perusing the RNE lineup of teams, a follower of women's DII rugby would probably only recognize Stonehill College among the lineup of small New England schools. Stonehill advanced to the semifinals of last year’s DII national championship and has been a regional powerhouse for years. But now that same fan should know American International College (AIC), which defeated Stonehill 32-5 in the teams’ league opener. Prior to that loss, Stonehill had not been defeated in regular season in years.
“We just are not that good at the moment,” Stonehill coach Derek Jenesky said. “We were beaten in every phase of the game, especially coaching. We were not prepared and that falls on me. They were a good, physical, mentally tough team who whipped us in front of a lot of our fans.”
Stonehill tried valiantly to turn the ball over, but AIC retained the majority of possession and favorable territory. The pack proved instrumental in the win and pushed over two of the six AIC tries.
Former Sacramento Amazons standout Adrianne Rubiaco led the backline and put Christina Gedeon and Bethany Montague into space for some rumbling runs through the defense. In the end, Jessica Davis led her side with three tries, Kim Shepherd logged two, and Sakina Feurtado tacked on an additional five-pointer. Maggie Pratt handled the extras.
“Two league losses would most likely mean the championship game is out of reach, so every game from here on out is a playoff game,” Jenesky said. “In that regards it is exciting for us. We have played ourselves into a corner but I am confident we will rally as a team and be in the championship hunt in the end. Our post season starts next week at Merrimack.”
In other news, St. Michael’s College put up 61 points to Merrimack’s 7. Lyndsey Moore, Deidre McNamare, Juliette Gaudier-Jabaut each scored three tries apiece for St. Michael’s, and all three are tied for second place on the points scored leader board.
Providence College downed UMass Lowell 29-22 in a thrilling match.
| Team |
GP |
W |
L |
PF |
PA |
Diff |
| St. Michael’s |
1 |
1 |
0 |
61 |
7 |
54 |
| AIC |
1 |
1 |
0 |
32 |
5 |
27 |
| Providence |
1 |
1 |
0 |
29 |
22 |
7 |
| Bentley |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| UMASS Lowell |
1 |
0 |
1 |
22 |
29 |
-7 |
| Stonehill |
1 |
0 |
1 |
5 |
32 |
-27 |
| Merrimack |
1 |
0 |
1 |
7 |
61 |
-54 |
|
|
|
|
|
Written by Alex Goff
Tuesday, 27 September 2011 14:18 |
|
|
|
|
|
USA Player Evaluations |
|
RUGBYmag Premier -
Exclusive News
|
|
Alex Goff checks in with every player on the World Cup squad.
|
|
|
|
Written by Jackie Finlan
Tuesday, 27 September 2011 10:45 |
|
|
|
|
|
Brown Topples Big Green |
|
Colleges -
Women's College
|
|
The teams that were supposed to win in the opening weekend of the women’s Ivy League did – Princeton defeated an undermanned Yale 60-0, Radcliffe shut out Columbia 34-0, and Brown beat Dartmouth 41-12.
The closest match – or rather, the one where both sides scored points – occurred in Hanover, VT. Brown is the favorite to win the league, and if they do that, they’ll have the second seed overall to the Northeast championships. The second- and third-place Ivy League finishers will take the third and fifth seeds to the NRU championships, respectively. So the fight for the remaining two seeds to regionals should shake out nicely between Dartmouth, Princeton and Radcliffe.
“We played well, although we struggled to click at certain parts,” Brown coach Kerri Heffernan said. “We lost a lot of seniors and in doing so lost a lot of experience. We have some good leadership now, but there’s this transition period when they struggle to assume the reins.”
Flyhalf Chelsea Garber did well to pick apart Dartmouth’s defense.
“Chelsea Garber is a thoughtful playmaker, and her kicking has improved greatly this year,” Dartmouth coach Deb Archambault said. “She had the best display of tactical kicking in women's college rugby that I've seen in a long while.”
Garber took advantage of Dartmouth’s back three’s positioning issues, which put wing Shakeela Faulkner into space for numerous tries. Dartmouth center Ashley Afranie-Sakyi had several explosive breakaways, but Brown did well to move the ball away from her and communicated on defense in attempts to minimize her effect. Afranie-Sakyi along with center Sabrina Amaro anchor a very young, inexperienced backline.
Brown’s backline is a little ahead of its forwards in terms of development.
“We’ve had to reshuffle our game plan, which is fun and interesting,” Heffernan said. “We have an experienced, mature backline, and our forwards are undersized. So I’ve had to think about how forwards play in a game. They did well against Dartmouth, but it’s just a different style of coaching than before.”
“We came into this match with the attitude that it would be a learning game for them, and that is exactly what it was,” Archambault said. “With this game under our belts and with this game film, we now have what we need to move ahead quickly. While I wish we could have been more prepared for this first match, I am excited to work with the team this week.”
Brown takes on Yale next weekend, while Dartmouth hosts Columbia. The game of the weekend will certainly be the third: Princeton v Radcliffe.
| Women Ivy League Standings |
|
W |
L |
T |
Pf |
Pa |
Pd |
BT |
BL |
Pts |
| Princeton |
1 |
0 |
0 |
60 |
0 |
60 |
1 |
0 |
5 |
| Radcliffe |
1 |
0 |
0 |
34 |
0 |
34 |
1 |
0 |
5 |
| Brown |
1 |
0 |
0 |
41 |
12 |
29 |
1 |
0 |
5 |
| Dartmouth |
0 |
1 |
0 |
12 |
41 |
-29 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Columbia |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
34 |
-34 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Yale |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
60 |
-60 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Page 1095 of 1445 |
