2/14/2009 Raleigh B v. Fort Bragg

I went down for Raleigh, NC last weekend for a visit. When my older brother realized I was in town, and he had no referee assigned for his club's game, he asked me to officiate - mainly so he didn't have to do it. At any rate, I was happy to get a run in, considering my next game will be Mid-March (St. Paddy's Day in Savannah).

Fort Bragg is a D3 men's club, Raleigh is the 2007 D2 National Champion and is in the D1 playoffs this year - a mismatch as I'm sure you can imagine. The final scoreline, 67-5, was certainly not flattering to Fort Bragg, but considering the quality of opposition and how I have seen Bragg play in the past, I thought they did well as they blooded a few new players (front rowers) and had a numbers of other players waiting on the sideline aching to get into the mix.

A few notes on my performance in the game:

• My fitness is not where I thought it was.

I found myself much farther behind play than I used to be, maybe Crossfit (which I recently joined) is not doing what I thought it would for my running fitness, or maybe my rehabbing ankle had not been on a proper run for awhile. Maybe I was letting my thoughts slow me down as it had been awhile since my last game so I was debating my decisions more with myself....cant be sure, the reason I was behind is probably a combination of all three and the only solution is to referee more games (and maybe run more).

• Scrummage Infringement recognition improved.

This maybe have been due to the inexperience of the Bragg front rowers, but I spotted Raleigh coming in early a number of times, foot up, but no non straight feeds (I warned the halfback). I even had the halfbacks kick the ball back into the scrum twice...NUTS!

• One dangerous tackle

I had an upending tackle in the first minutes of the game and I responded with a loud intimidating whistle and chat with the offending captain (no card). No more foul play / high tackles for the rest of the game. I guess I showed where I stood pretty well....

• Halfback unhappy with my positioning

While refereeing the breakdown, I first take a position close to the ruck (behind, mobile) to find the ball, see that is won and usually retreat to the saddle and check the offsides. The Raleigh halfback, however, complained I was always blocking his line of sight to his flyhalf in my first position - effecting the game since he can't get vision before he passes the ball the second time he looks. I can see where the player is coming from, but the main thing I conclude from this criticism is that I was not varying my position enough. Or he was just a moaner.

• For the first time as a referee, I got knocked over this game - in a swinging tackle, it swung in a direction I did not expect, right by the goal line. Fortunately I regained my feet and was in position for the try a few seconds later. I figured I would be hearing a lot about my stumble after the game, but the only person who seemed to notice was my girlfriend (#1 fan).
• My brother scored a try.

12/06/2008 Toys for Tots Tournament, Charleston, SC

The week before this tournament was my last week of University before graduation, requiring the presentation of my senior projects and other such matter. In an unexpected event my team won 2nd place in the senior design competition for our tape measure and tool used to manufacture it (pictured). We were to win several hundred dollars but were also required to attend the awards ceremony. The awards were set to be given the night before this tournament in Raleigh (4 plus hours from Charleston, SC where the rugby tournament was located). I was the leader of the senior design team, obliged to attend.

Friday night also happened to be the "Hillsborough Hike," the traditional drinking challenge for graduating seniors from nc state - drinking a beer at every establishment along hillsborough street, which I was also obliged to partake in.

In sum, it was a challenge to wake up that saturday morning and cruise the 4 plus hour drive to charleston to referee my first game at 11 AM. As I arrived (at 11 am, on time) I discovered the teams (Citadel Women and Charleston Women) had already taken the field, fully kitted up and ready to go, waiting for me. So I rushed to the field, loaded up with my whistle and scorecard ready to go, sat down to tie my boots and SNAP - my left shoe lace split. Referees cannot be late, my boots are too small anyway, I took the field and started the game, one shoe totally untied. I remedied the problem at half time with my spare shoe laces. 

I refereed the following games:

Charleston Hurricanes v. Citadel Women

Columbia v. Citadel Men

Citadel B v. College of Charleston B

The most interesting event of the day was in the Columbia v. Citadel game, a "cavalry charge." 

First of all, the field was poorly lined, some white lines and some blue lines - used for soccer, track and field, and now rugby. As a player the try line was particularly confusing, there was a very faint white line about 2 meters beyond the actual try line (blue) - throughout the day I had a number of different players score to the white line instead of the actual try line.

At any rate, Citadel was awarded a penalty 5-10 meters out for hands in the ruck. They formed up for a tap and go in a "flying wedge" formation. The players began their run before the quick tap so I prepared to call the cavalry charge.....only for the scrumhalf (taking the quick tap) to pass to his flyhalf and not to any of the players running in the "wedge." The Columbia captain however, immediately protested, all of his players stopped playing, the citadel flyhalf then cut back inside through the wedge OVER THE TRYLINE.....but he was trying to reach the fake one, he was stopped and formed a "maul" (though a maul cannot exist in-goal) (the columbia captain still whining about the cavalry charge). A citadel player then dropped the ball to ground behind him, one his scrumhalf came up behind him and picked the ball up from the ground in the tryzone...I awarded the try....

In sum, maybe I should have stopped play when the flyhalf stepped back inside to the "wedge" of player congestion for accidental offsides...scrum to columbia....but columbia should really just respond to my whistle and not what infringements they think they see.....

I thought this day was an improvement over the some of the previous weekends when taking into to consideration my interpretation of offsides and positioning (still primarily in the saddle), but the Columbia coach said I was missing a lot of offsides from the position....but on the same token, I dont think it's really worth calling those truly marginal offsides calls...it's mainly important the players are just respecting a line around their last foot....