3/22 Ruggerroast 2008

RuggerRoast 2008 was a small tournament hosted by a small club located in Dan River, VA - The Dan River Silverbacks. In the past many would have considered RuggerRoast to be a major tournament and Dan River to be a major rugby club, but in recent years Dan River's economy struggled and so did the rugby team. The club is currently in a rebuilding phase, and the right people seem to be in place to grow the club. Dan River are in the unique position that they are one of 4 clubs in North Carolina that own their own pitch (Raleigh Rugby, Charlotte Rugby, Cape Fear, Dan River) There is actually a major rugby dedicated rugby facility in Dan River, VA known as Angler park. The MBA World Champs and North Carolina Rugby Union tournaments are held at this facility. So, Dan River has an advantage most rugby clubs in America do not have - facilities. Hopefully Dan River will capitalize on this and continue to invest and grow their rugby club.

The teams participating in this tournament were Dan River, Southern Pines, Blacksburg, and Roanoke. None of these teams brought their first side, instead opting to each bring a team built up largely of their second side. I was charged with refereeing Dan River v. Blacksburg and Blacksburg v. Roanoke (final). In the lead up to this tournament, I received some refereeing advice from a former B-panel referee in regards to watching the offsides line. He recommended that instead of positioning myself in the pocket, that I position myself in front of the attack, and move as it came to me, rather than following the play. This method proved to be very effective policing the offside lines, but did cause me to miss some blatant hands in the ruck (knocking out of scrumhalves' hand). I have since gone back to positioning myself in the pocket as I have gained more experience in determining if a player is offside, but still position myself in front of play when near the try line.

In the first game of the morning Dan River played Blacksburg. Dan River competed well for about the first 15 minutes, scoring a try, but faded away for the rest of the game as Blacksburg piled on the score. Dan River managed a try in the last 20 minutes through their captain...and second row..... off of a really funny looking chip and chase. Final score Blacksburg 60 - 14 Dan River.

In the final Blacksburg out-played Roanoke, but not as much as they did Dan River. Roanoke seemed more interested in trying to influence my calls than play rugby. Their captain was very disrespectful - I probably should have reached for my pocket, but being the inexperienced referee I am - I did not. I allowed play to go on as this captain kept talking to me, and while I'm sure I was not being a biased referee, it sure did seem that the more this Roanoke captain talked to me - the more penalties against him I called. So, Blacksburg ran out 27-7 winners, clinching the tournament championship.

At the post-tournament social I feasted with some of my NC State buddies who were playing for Southern Pines on a massive amount of superb Dan River made wings. At this social I also met some of the Blacksburg guys for some constructive criticism - this included making my advantage calls much clearer and stressing to players that they need to tell me they want the penalty and not the advantage.