OK, please allow me to get this off of my chest.
Do we really need to have bonus points in Rugby World Cup pool play?
Really?
It's really that important for you that your team (should you be lucky enough to be a fan of one of the Rugby Universe Power Teams) rack up 50 or more points on their opposition?
We all know what this is. It's another subtle way for the Rugby Powers That Be to keep a lock on advancing to the quarterfinals and beyond at the RWC. I just finished checking out the South Africa v. Fiji match, where the Springboks, in classy fashion, dropped a 49-3 win over the Islanders. We all know the Springboks are one of the powers in this year's world cup - as the defending champs it's expected of them. Do we really need to be giving them, or the All Blacks or England, additional points for running up the score?
What if, just follow me here, what if one of the minnow teams beat one of the Rugby Powers at the World Cup in a close game, and then were kept out of advancing to the next stage because other teams in the World Cup gained bonus points by running the score up? That would be, for lack of a better word - bullshit.
Yes, the Rugby Powers that Be are the top teams in the world - we all know that. There's no need to give them extra points because they are able to run up the score. There just isn't.
The Rugby World Cup continues to charge on, a couple of weeks into the extravaganza that happens every four years. The United States National Team has a lot of pride on the line if they want to show improvement over their 2007 World Cup nightmare, where they lost every match. They are two games in, and surprisingly the Eagles have shown more than just a strong heart and a desire for “a good showing.”
Ireland 22, USA 10
It’s hard to tell which narrative is more true in this game – was the U.S. that inspired, able to hold #8 Ireland to a 12-point victory, or was the Irish play really that off, not able to score more than 22 points against a nation that is still (as I’m sure many rugby nations are truly thrilled with) just a small moon in the great Rugby Universe.
(“That’s not a moon… it’s a space station.”)
As is usually the case, it’s a little bit of both.
The Eagles, led by captain Todd Clever on the openside flank, anchored a pesky defense against Ireland in the first half, holding Ireland to a 10-0 lead at halftime despite the fact that Ireland’s forwards dominated the U.S. at each set peace. Clever was a one-man swarm around the ball in the first half, stuffing Ireland’s rucks and backing up U.S. runners on the rare occasions they had the ball.
But this was the case where a team that had more time training together would eventually prevail – Ireland’s pace, fitness and training as a unit eventually ground down the U.S. pack, who fought this losing battle almost completely inside their own side of the pitch in the second half, and the three Irish tries came out of forward play.
USA 13, Russia 6
This tenacious US defense continued when they faced Russia. In their most recent game, the Eagles squeaked away their third victory ever in the Rugby World Cup with a 13-6 win over the mighty Russian Bears – the lowest scoring World Cup match since Australia’s 12-6 win over England in the ’91 finals, and a far sight from New Zealand’s 145-17 victory over Japan in the ‘95 World Cup.
“Delighted with the win and the performance of the team. We retained our intensity and work rate from the Ireland game. We knew Russia would play to the very end, and we prepared for that eventuality. We had Russian under pressure on numerous occasions, but they defended really well and made us work for every score we got,” said Eagles Head Coach, Eddie O’Sullivan.
The only try of the game came from Eagles’ scrumhalf Mike Petri, off of a pass from first five Roland Suniula and who crossed the try line 20-minutes into the game, carrying a Russian tackler on his back.
This was an important game for both sides, not just because it was seen as the only game that either team might win, but also because the two teams are ranked right next to each other in the IRB World Rankings – with the USA ranked 18th and Russia 19th. In recent matches where the US was ranked just above their opponent, such as Georgia and Tonga, the US came out on the losing side, then flipping places with their opponent.
The Eagles now have to prepare for their toughest match of the tournament, their Sept. 23 showdown with Australia in Wellington. A game that the United States is not likely to be competitive in, while Australia is expected to rest some of their starters.
Well, it's official. Fijian lock Leone Nakarawa has been granted entry into New Zealand for the Rugby World Cup. Why is this an important development in the 2011 Rugby World Cup? Sit back and let me tell you.
At first glance, people might be asking why they should care about the admission of one particular player onto New Zealand soil for the sport’s ultimate competition.
Was he suspended for using steroids?
For dirty and illegal play?
No.
Nakarawa was not going to be allowed entry to New Zealand because he was a member of the Fijian military. Until he resigned, he was not expected to be allowed into New Zealand, World Cup or no. This development probably just accelerated his resignation, which was expected in time due to interest in his mad game by European teams.
For those who might not remember, the military overthrew the governing powers in Fiji about 5 years ago, and since the 2006 military coup in Fiji, New Zealand had banned all Fijian citizens involved in the coup from entering the country. As a member of the military and a member of the Rugby World Cup team, Nakarawa found himself caught in the middle of the argument. So to qualify to play in New Zealand, he had to resign from the military.
While I can imagine the pressure Nakarawa was under during his decision to quit the military, and I know this might have given New Zealand a black eye to the Fijian citizens, or those who are backing the military government, I can’t help but be impressed by the continuing stand by the Kiwis, who are firm in their decision to not let anyone connected to the military government into New Zealand.
For Fiji, this is the latest in a continuing story. From an athletic standpoint, they’ve become almost a pariah state for the rest of the Commonwealth countries, who suspended Fiji’s status in 2008, thus causing them to miss the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India. And until the military government decides to step down (which is a core requirement by many of the nations and organizations involved in the boycott), we’ll continue to see the hand of geopolitical affairs influence one of the premier Olympic Rugby teams in our sport.
This past weekend NBC hosted four hours of the USA Rugby Collegiate Sevens Championship over Saturday and Sunday. Throughout that time the commentators discussed the history of rugby in the U.S. and in the Olympic games, taking pains to point out that the U.S. are the back-to-back and current gold medal holders in Olympic Rugby. There was plenty of talk of the U.S. defending the medals in Rio in 2016, and how the team needs to be looking for players now to compete in 2016.
During the broadcast this weekend, an unsettling idea kept creeping into my head. With all of the talk of the USA at the Olympics, there was a presumption that the U.S. will qualify for the Olympics.
I'm sure most of you are thinking,
"The U.S.? Not Qualify? What blasphemy is this?"
right now. But let's take a look at the situation:
Read the rest of this post »
The USA Rugby Men's Division I championship match is going on right now on the USA Rugby Ustream channel. Glendale's up on Olympic Club 13-12 with just under 30 min to go.
It was a day of duality in much of the American Corner of the Rugby Universe. To blatantly steal a line from Dickens - it was the best of times. It was the worst of times.
The High Notes
The Collegiate Sevens Championship on NBC appeared to be a success (and props to GoDaddy for providing much needed advertising revenue for the two hour block of network time). Over 10,000 rugby fans packed the stadium at PPL Park in Philadelphia and were witness to a day of fantastic rugby. The handful of matches shown live were outstanding, and while my favorite match of the day was the Army-Navy grudge match (won by the Army Black Knights 19-15 - Go Army! Beat Navy!) the University of California lived up to their billing and played a strong match against Penn State in Pool A, overpowering the Nittany Lions 26-7.
Cal may be considered the favorites going into tomorrow's championship matches, but they'll face a tenacious Utah team in the morning's quarterfinal match and then will have to face off with the winner of the Army-Texas game in the semifinals. My money's on Cal and Army moving on to face each other and while I'd love to see Army continue on from there, Cal is still the measuring stick for collegiate rugby in the U.S. They were undefeated this season, going 29-0, and until someone actually does beat them, you have to pick Cal to go all the way and compliment their 15s championship.
(And once again, the biggest lesson to learn from watch Cal play is for a lot of other universities to realize that while they aren't going to beat the Golden Bears on the 15s field, if they focus their efforts year-round towards Sevens, they might have a chance at stealing the Collegiate Sevens Championship title away from them.)
Meanwhile in the Men's Club Championship tournaments in Glendale, Colorado, the Tampa Bay Krewe held off a spirited attack by the Old Aztecs from San Diego in a back-and-forth match to move on to the Division II Men's Club championships tomorrow. The Krewe will square off against New Orleans, who dominated Fresno 38-17 in their semifinal match on Saturday.
In Division III, Metropolis out of Minneapolis, Minnesota jumped to an early lead against the South Bay Rhinos and used that lead to fight off a second half Rhino rally to win 24-19. They'll face Syracuse, who dominated the Dallas Athletic Rugby Club and were able to keep the Texans off kilter for much of the game as they sped to an easy 25-5 win.
The hometown Glendale Eagles easily handled the Boston Irish RFC 51-10 in the Men's Club Division I semifinals, while Olympic Club hammered their way past Palmer Chiropractic University, 41-29 in the second semifinal match of the day. The two teams will meet on Sunday in Glendale.
And from the WTF?! Files
Unfortunately, the good cheer for domestic rugby was tempered by the loss the USA National Team suffered at the hands of the English Saxons (the England National Team's B-side), an 87-8 beating in the first round of the Churchill Cup held in England this year. U.S. coach Eddie O'Sullivan decided against fielding a team with more experienced international players on Saturday, opting instead to give more American domestic players an opportunity to test their skills against a seasoned Saxons team, many of whom are playing to earn a spot on the English national team for this fall's Rugby World Cup.
The Eagles didn't have an answer to Saxons winger Miles Benjamin, who scored a hat trick of tries in Saturday's match - starting off with a quick strike in the fourth minute, running almost untouched from 30-40 meters out, as a response to the American's jumping to a 3-0 lead.
The American's lack of playing time as a team, coupled with the international inexperience of some of the newer players, was clearly seen as the match progressed, as the Saxons faster backline and punishing forward play caused the Eagles to repeatedly fall into defensive mistakes.
"It was a very big ask of our team to go against the fully professional England Saxons side, and a lot of our problems were of our own making," said O'Sullivan.
The world ranked #16 Eagles will try to regroup in time for their second match of the Churchill Cup, a full test match against #17 ranked Tonga. As this is a full test match, with ranking points at stake (unlike the Saxons match), it's expected that the Eagles will field a much more experienced side loaded with players with more international match play experience. A loss to Tonga could see the U.S. National Team and Tonga switch places in the IRB World Rankings, as the two teams are only separated by .34 points.
Hey peeps! After a more-or-less enforced break for the last few months (thanks grad school! Grrr) I'm back in the saddle to talk/debate/discuss/run smack at the latest goings on in the Rugby Universe!
So what better way to start that off by pointing out that this weekend is the U.S. Collegiate Sevens Championship held in Philadelphia and aired on NBCon both Saturday and Sunday from 2-4 p.m. Mountain time (4-6 out on the East Coast) with additional viewings before and after this time on Universal Sports and Versus. On the heels of the TV success of the USA Sevens World Series tournament in Vegas this is another great move for USA Rugby and the USA Sevens team to get people interested in rugby before this fall's Rugby World Cup in NZ.
And with a roster of teams including Arizona, Army, Notre Dame, Ohio State (rumor has it that these players did not sell memorabilia for tattoos and cars, unlike the football team), BYU, Texas and others the question has to be asked - will anyone be able to keep the University of California juggernaut from claiming the sevens title as they did in the College Premier Division 15s championship last weekend?
If you need even more rugby this weekend, USA Rugby will be livestreaming the Men's Division I, II and III tournament live from Glendale, Colorado on their Usteam channel starting at 7 a.m. on Saturday.
Where in the blue hell did Italy come from this morning?? The long suffering red-headed stepchild of the Six Nations surprised the skeptics... OK, they surprised pretty much everyone in the Rugby Universe today by racking up what can be considered the nation's biggest win ever by beating defending Grand Slam champions France in a sqeaker, 22-21 today in Rome.
This win is the Azzuri's first ever victory against Team Frog in their 11 Six Nations matchups, and their second win in 32 games against France.
With today's win, Italy hopes to shake off their recent dismal play in international matches, having lost 9 of their previous 10, their only bright spot a victory over Fiji during last autumn's friendly test run.
Let me get this right, there’s a concern that Wales 19-13 victory over Ireland in today’s Six Nations match is somehow tainted because at one point in the match the ball throw into the game wasn’t the same ball that went out of bounds a few seconds earlier? This is a controversy?
According to ESPN Scrum’s Huw Baines:
The scrum-half and Wales skipper Matthew Rees impishly conspired to craft a score from a quick lineout but, thanks to a handily-positioned ball boy, the ball thrown into play was not the one dispatched out on the full seconds earlier...
“A handily-position ball boy?” Baines makes it sound like there was a vast conspiracy, complete with secret messages being passed from pitch to sideline, a plan (by Ireland apparently) to kick the ball out of bounds at that precise location, a second gunman at the grassy knoll, possibly big stacks of cash being handed all around for no reason (because you can’t have a proper conspiracy without big stacks of cash) to steal this game away from Ireland with… the horror, a different rugby ball.
Really?
Let’s break this down. If this is all it’s going to take to taint a first-tier competition rugby match, then this game has a big problem. Rather than let commentators slap asterisks next to matches for no real reason (and that’s what this is), can we all agree to let the officials check out the game balls in advance to agree that each game ball is the same? If the NFL can successfully play a game using more than one match ball, then so can rugby.
Because if there’s one thing that rugby players should never be accused of, it’s having a lack of balls…
The Sri Lanka rugby union is the latest to fall under the watchful eye of the International Rugby Board, as the Rugby Universe's head organization stripped away full nation member status and relegated them to the minors... I mean, associate level status until April 11.
According to the IRB:
The decision, taken by the IRB Council after a comprehensive review of the membership status of the SLRFU, follows ongoing concerns regarding the governance and management of the Union and its ability to meet IRB requirements to hold an Annual General Meeting and elections in accordance with its constitution by January 31, 2011.
So it looks like something similar to the Fijian rugby problem, but with a team that is much lower profile. It'll be interesting to see what happens to the two nations.
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