10/25 - 10/26 North Carolina Rugby Union Tournament

The North Carolina Rugby Union Tournament, or "State Tournament" was played on 10/25-10/26 in Danville, VA.

The tournament was unfortunately not played last year due to weather issues. The most recent champions were NC State and over the many years of the tournament there has really only been 3 collegiate teams competing for the title: UNC, NC State, and ECU. Most teams in the union regularly compete in the tournament, but UNC, NC State, or ECU have always been in the finals.

ECU won the tournament with ease, winning the final 52-14 versus Division 1 side UNC Chapel Hill. ECU are a division 2 side poised to make another run at the Division 2 national championship (after making to to the elite 8 last year). It should be noted, however, that the finals of South D2 last year were Wake Forest and ECU - two teams from the same matrix. In the South playoffs both teams had easy runs over their opponents. On the contrary, both Wake and ECU had no easy games in their matrix having to play NC State and AHO in games won and lost by less than 10 points. Per these results it is evident that the North Carolina Div 2 Matrix is significantly stronger than all others.

Aside from the ECU games at the NCRU all of the games were very tight. UNC beat NC State for the second time this fall by a very tight margin, 8-3 on 10/25 and 12-8 on 9/20. Division 3 sides Guilford and Elon also showed how they have improved by playing close games with AHO and Wake Forest.

I unfortunately did not get to witness the games on Saturday (played in miserable weather anyway) because I was sitting the Fundamentals of Engineering Exam - 8 hours, 180 multiple choice questions of hell.

I made my way up to Danville, VA early sunday morning with the hopes of getting a game - I was rewarded upon my arrival - last place playoff UNC Charlotte vs. B-side motley (primarily ECU).
In this game I learned why all the referee manuals tell you to carry two whistles. The lanyard I purchased for my whistle let my whistle go straight into a pile of mud. Don't buy this lanyard: When the whistle hit the dirt I quickly retrieved it, apparently missing an obstruction in the process. When I attempted to blow the whistle to stop play it came out sounding more like a soft girly fart. The soft girly fart sound, however, was still effective at getting attention at which point I requested another whistle from my assistant referee. So, lesson learned here: always have a second whistle in your pocket so you can seamlessly continue the game and go find it at the next opportunity.

This match was also my first opportunity to use those tools learned at rucktoberfest in a men's game. I felt I successfully varied my positions at the breakdown but still need some more practice because I typically found myself turning around the long way. If the breakdown is on my right and the halfback goes left I found myself turning to my right all the way around instead of simply turning left and going.

Also the lineout position at the back when in the 22 was great, especially considering I had an assitant referee to watch the front for me. The new kickoff route worked really well for getting me in the right position.

I felt in this game I also began to recognize certain scrum infringements which I feel I have struggled with so far. It was clear if my props were not coming in straight or if they were pushing incorrectly (up or down) or if there was some pulling going on (leaning back on feet). This part my game still needs work.

I thought my whistle variations had improved - I was sure to have a long harsh blast for a penalty and a short chirp for a knockon, etc. but teams were still confused if I was calling a penalty or scrum. I don't know if this was because of my whistles being confusing or the teams being B sides. Oh well.

Overall the state tournament was good. It was great to see everyone together one last time as this is definetly my last mass runout with SERRS for a while.

Next week: Ed and Sandy Lee Cup, VRU Championship.

My Injury (8/02/2007)

I don't like to talk about my injury, but Danny Cipriani's injury was remarkably similar to mine. The words he uses to describe the experience of the injury are almost identical. His scar is the same, the screws, the plate, the whole works. If you like gory stuff I have pictures of my dislocated ankle before it was straightened....but I won't post those on the blog,

In the first portion of this video he describes the injury and his physiotherapy. Once I start working after graduation I will be able to afford physiotherapy and hopefully remove myself of this horrible limp. I just wish I could physio full time like danny cip did.

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Uploaded by waspo10

Rucktoberfest

Rucktoberfest is a tournament hosted in Boone, NC by the Gentleman of AHO Rugby Club (Appalachian State University). It's always on one of the first weekends in October and always highlighted by the beautiful mountain colors and monstrous 40-50 kegger street rugby party on Saturday night.

Rucktoberfest has in the past been a highlight of every team's fall season, but this year attendance had fallen off due to scheduling conflicts with university Fall Breaks. AHO's homecoming weekend was the first weekend of October, so it could not be held that weekend - thus conflicting with many University fall breaks which usually fall on the second or third weekends in October.

The tournament, while certainly competitive, had a distinct social atmosphere as it is understood that all teams are going to consume copious amounts of miller high life (the cheapest keg around) on the saturday night before the championship games played on sunday.
As such teams aren't at their best on sunday because they are still sweating out the booze from the night before.

Men's competitors included Elon, App. State, NC State, College of Charleston, Coastal Carolina, Georgia Tech (motley), UNC Charlotte (who were much improved than in previous seasons), Western Carolina, and the AHO Killer Bs.

Women's included FOUR teams from UVA and teams from JMU, Virginia Tech, NC State, ECU, UNC and App State.

AHO won the men's division on sunday - they stayed mostly sober being the ones serving all the 40-50 kegs of booze at the party. Not taking anything away from them, they certainly played well, but results from the tournament are not an accurate measurement as most teams did not have their full team. UVA won the women's division. I was amazed on sunday morning when all these teams showed up to play at 9 am after that night of boozing - congratulations.

Now, from a referees perspective:

SERRS (the referee organization) decided to use this event as a "coaching" event. Many of the younger referees (including myself) were invited, along wi th many of the old wise heads of the referee society to providing "coaching." We were all to be watched at every game by a different coach and given feedback on our performance.

My first game was 9 AM on Saturday - first round of the day. Elon v. UNC Charlotte. I have a feeling that UNC Charlotte chose to play their b-side for this game - I am not totally sure why - but I dont think it was their first team from the looks of the p layers. I felt I controlled the tackle well in this game - I did not have to blow my whistle too much because I stamped my image of the tackle / ruck into the players minds with the first couple rucks blown up for "in the side" and offsides on the fringe. Elon were clearly the better team, generally able to put UNCC on the backfoot of each break down with their forwards while their backs also had the pace to back themselves on the outside. As I said earlier, I dont know why it wasnt the UNCC first side, who I've not doubt couldve competed better with their matrix opponent (Elon). A refereeing highlight for the game: I called balking for the first time ever - I dont think I have ever seen that called in an American rugby game.

Following the game I received my "coaching" which was excellent - it really gave me a different perspective on many of my on field habits:

1. I was told that my positioning on the field was too static. I like to check the tackle, check that ball is won and available, then I move back to the pocket to get an overview of the field and avoid the path of the ball / player. Now this is a common position for a referee - but my problem was this is where I went ALL THE TIME. I need to vary up my position, sometimes get on the defensive side, and sometimes beside the ruck to clear up the offside line and get a view of the field. This knowledge of posiitoning, of course, is also dependent on how the team are playing the ball - if they are running consistent phases off the side of the ruck then a position 5 meters from the open side of the ruck is reasonable, etc. It's also very important that referee position is varied such that the players cant predict where you will be and what they can away with you not seeing due to position.
   
2. Careful with my non infringement signals. I had a t endency to put my hands up to indicate I wanted players to move back to get onside. The problem was, I would keep my hands up and take them down any time I felt like - the problem with this being that the players might think that when I drop my arms it means the ball is out and they can advance, which I did not intend. A picture of the pocket and signal issues is below:
   
   
3. As game went on my penalty signal became less straight - straighten my arm out.
4. Change my kickoff positioning to standing 10 meters out from the kicker to the touchline then as they start to move for the kick to begin my run such that when the ball is in the air I am at full pace to a management position for the return.

My next game was a women's game: JMU v Virginia Tech. I was impressed with the women's skill level for this game. It proved to be a very tight game, final score being JMU 8 - 7 VT. This was a good game as I got to work on varying my position, trying new restart lines, and being more careful with what I do with my hands at a slower pace than a men's game. This game was also being played right beside the NC State tent, where all the nc state players were taking a break following their win against Coastal Carolina. I am still involved with the NC State Rugby Club, I regularly train with them and help individually coach some of the younger players - I was the President of the club in 2007-2008. During this game I got CHEERED - my nc state buddies were all jeering me on from the sideline yelling "Yeah good call larry! call that knock on! GO LARRY - you're the best referee ever!" and for most of the game continued cheering every time I blew my whistle for an infringement. I was sufficiently embarassed.

That signaled the end my day - from here we retreated back to the hotel for the referee themed dinner "Appalachian couture / chic" and then out to the social - I wont go into the social debauchery too much. Plenty of humorous referee mistakes were brought up at dinner such as one referee dressing like candy cane / barber pole to officiate. I wish I had a picture. Also - # 5 Texas beat #1 Oklahoma, did you hear?

...................

I arrived at the hotel about 3ish that night in a champagned of beer stupor to pass the hell out. I proceeded to wake up so clearly a 7 am, presumably still drunk to grab some breakfast and head to the pitches to pick up a 9 am game. Upon my arrival at the pitch I was assigned the AHO v. ECU Women's game. This game was at the closest pitch to the ref tent and while refereeing the game I could'nt help but notice that there seemed to be more referees on the sideline than rugby players or fans. As such I felt I was having "coaching" barked at me throughout the game - most of which actually turned out to be useful - which is the opposite of most things barked at you from the sideline when you're a rugby referee. I was told to vary my positioning at the lineout more and to ensure that I am on the inside of the lineout for lineouts within the 22 m line. Following the game I recieved a few more pointers from the coaches.

1. Watch for the cavalry charge. Prior to the game this law had confused me and I could not recognize the infringement. In this game I allowed one to occur and try to subsequently be scored. A cavalry charge is essentially when the players on a tap kick infringement (penalty or free kick) begin their charge before the ball has been tap kicked. The law was created because of concussions becoming increasingly common off tap kicks.
2. My breakdown positioning was well varied - I corrected myself from yesterday - a "compliment."
3. Also, when doing women's games - run the D line a bit more often as the women's running lines are typically different from men's games.
4. I still had a bit of trouble with my penalty signal - even receiving a question from a player about it. Guess I was tired - as the game wears on I swear my whistle variations get worse as do my initial signals.
5. The kickoffs were vastly improved - the advice of getting the run in before the kick was great for getting the right position.
   

Also, following this game I was criticized for my wearing of the USA Eagles CCC jersey. Sure it's tight, whatever - at least I didn't look like a candy cane - I think it looks good (see header photo).
Following this I had my first real "assistant" referee experience for the semifinal between NC State and App State. It was a good game but some reason state gave up numerous opportunities to take a pot at goal to win the game. App State won by a try or two.

Overall, it was a highly successful and enjoyable tournament. I was able to take A LOT of knowledge from this experience and meet many referees - even some from texas and new england on exchange.

Now there is a sad point to this tournament: this is likely to be my last mass run out with SERRS as I am moving to New England in December following my graduation from university. It has been great to start my refereeing career here as there are many great referees in SERRS and so much knowledge to be absorbed from them. It was also great to referee with a New England referee at this tournament as I was provided with knowledge of my future New England rugby union and referee society.

10/ 4 Cape Fear @ Triad

Cape Fear is unfortunately struggling with numbers this fall season. This game actually ended up being Cape Fear/ Camp Lejeune / Triad vs. Triad. It was, however, played in great spirit as Triad in an effort to make it a good game loaned Fear/Lejeune some of its better players.

I did not have a lot of trouble with this game. I was close to giving some Fear players cards for consistently coming in the side, offside, and hands in but I couldn't bring myself to do it because....they had no subs. As the game wore on I had two talks with the fear captain and when the players became tired they stopped doing it.

The game was bit of a try fest - but I don't know if this was more due to skillful runners or just plain lazy defense. Final Score Triad 43 - 33 Cape Fear.

I found myself talking quite a lot in this game which is unusual, but considering the social level of play I felt it was reasonable to communicate my interpretations of the law including when you are tackled and must release to continue and the transition from tackle to ruck.

Following the game many of the Triad players provided me some very positive feedback, telling me the talking I did during the game was very helpful considering the level. I think it is, however, that I don't talk so much that it becomes coaching.

10/3 NCSU Alumni Game

On 10/3 NCSU's B-side played an alumni side comprised of players of average age 40ish. The club has written a match report here.

The alumni attempted their typical shenanigans of trying to play more than 15 players, wheeling every scrum, and trying to cheat anyway they possibly could. It is, however, an alumni game - the alumni always win. The B-side boys put a friendly fight but could not get a score on the board despite my attempts at penalizing the alumni at every opportunity towards the end of the game.

Not a lot to discuss here, it was all played in good spirit.

9/27 NCSU, UNCP @ Fort Bragg

3 30 Minute periods were played on this day with a sudden death overtime in Bragg v NCSU. The scores were as follows:

Fort Bragg 10 - 0 UNCP
NCSU 19 - 7 UNCP
Fort Bragg 7 - 0 NCSU

A match report for NCSU's games has been prepared by their coach, Jeremy Goodwin, at http://www.ncstaterugby.com/2008/10/match-summary-for-927-unc-pembroke-and-ft-bragg/

UNCP are a brand new rugby team - just started playing last Spring. For many of their players on the field that day it was their first ever game of rugby. Thus, I was responsible for teaching many of these players how to properly scrummage. Props were'not coming in straight, sometimes head too low, and the second rows didnt seem to want to properly to their prop through his legs. In the first game I had to reset A LOT of scrums, but hopefully the new UNCP players learned from the experience.

For a brand new team UNCP showed up very well, contesting lineouts (even if they were jumping too early), and managing to score a try against NCSU. Overall every game was pretty sloppy and slow, but the breakdowns were much easier to manage than last weekends Raleigh NOVA game.

Many of the Fort Bragg players were smart at avoiding my vision and getting away with hands in the ruck on a number of occasions. Bragg was also smart by infringing against NCSU on whatever scrum side I was not. One side boring in, another side pulling the scrum around to win the wheel. After this game I feel I need to work on my scrummage, as I find it hard to spot the infringements on the front row - including foot up, and the "pull."

Fort Bragg put food and beverage on for the teams and overall it was a good day of rugby. Great for a brand new team to get a run out against a legitimate university side and learn tricks from a bunch of old ruggers (Bragg).

9/20 B Side: Raleigh Vipers vs. NOVA

After winning the Division 2 National Championship in 2007 the Raleigh Rugby Club elected to move up to division 1. Raleigh now competes in the MARFU Division 1 competition which includes a couple current and former Super League clubs (Charlotte, Washington). In their first foray into Division 1 Raleigh has defeated Pittsburgh Harlequins 47-0 and narrowly lost to Charlotte (Super League Playoff competitors) 25-27. Their opponent on this day was NOVA - a club that has historically been a top performer but has fallen off in 15s over the past few years. their sevens side, however, is still very strong.

Raleigh won the A-side game 22-0 in what turned out to be a very scrappy affiair. About 10 minutes into the game a very controversial try was scored. NOVA hesitantly took a quick throw in near their try line. The lineout had not formed yet and most players were the vicinity of the line of touch but no distinct two players had marked the line. The quick throw in went to a NOVA player in his try zone from where he tried to clear but Raleigh's scrumhalf managed to charge the kick / knock the ball from the NOVA player's hands and dive on the ball for the . NOVA, however, were adamant that the ball had been knocked from his hands - meaning a knock forward against Raleigh. In the midst of the confusion over whether the lineout was formed and all the players standing around the referee clear up what had happened - neither could I or the other assistant referee - so the try stood. From that point the game got scrappier and scrappier as the NOVA boys were upset with the refereeing and Raleigh continued to push the limits of the law at the breakdowns. Raleigh rounded out their score with a few more tries to 22-0.

I was in charge of officiating the B -game. NOVA came down to raleigh with only 25 players or so, so many of the NOVA A players were in the game, as were many non-training Raleigh Rugby players. Raleigh's strategy at the breakdown continued in this game. Apparently Raleigh have decided to be as agressive in the breakdown as possible - coming in the side, putting hands in, etc. I called A LOT of penalties in this game for infringements at the breakdown - if I had given a yellow card early it may have prevented this. I told the players a short-time into the second half that the next breakdown penalty I see - hands in, coming in the side, etc. is a card. This cleaned it up, but I think it was definetly the wrong way of doing things. It is important that the players are responsible for their actions - not the referee. I needed to tell the captains to tell the team to sort it out so I dont have to - taking the onus off of me and onto the captain's shoulders. I also had some issues in the game with offside around the fringes - but I just thought the Raleigh scrumhalf was slow pulling it out and the NOVA players were legitimately onside.

Overall, the game was a tough one to control with NOVA being so unhappy with their loss and controversial try, and Raleigh being so aggressive at the breakdown - this resulted in me making a couple bad calls and an overall bad game. The main lesson learned from this game was to stamp my authority early and give the card when I dont like how the breakdown is working. I have still yet to give a yellow card for repeated infringements - I have only given yellow cards for high tackles, punches, etc.