All throughout the tournament, games with 25 minute halves were played.
Western Suburbs 21 - 0 Vice Presidents XV
Western Suburbs 21 - 0 Vice Presidents XV
The referee for this game failed to show in time (8 AM), so I opted to take the first game of the day for him. Western Suburbs came down from the Potomac area, I believe they are a D2 men's club. The "Vice President's XV" was a team formed of military players...primarily from Fort Bragg (I recognized many of them), it was the social (B) side for the "President's XV," a team similarly comprised of army and marine ruggers.
XROXXs 17 - 14 Drunken Monkeys
Going into this game I thought it was going to be a total slopfest as both teams described themselves as extremely social. The XROXX were the lowest level team entered from the Savannah Rugby Club and the Drunken Monkeys were the lowest entered from Cincinnati. The game, however, turned out to be the most entertaining game I refereed all weekend, for competitiveness and demonstrated skill level. I had a referee coach watching this game and he had some very helpful pointers for controlling players and letting them know how you want the game to go having seen part of my previous game (Presidents, Western Suburbs)
Going into this game I thought it was going to be a total slopfest as both teams described themselves as extremely social. The XROXX were the lowest level team entered from the Savannah Rugby Club and the Drunken Monkeys were the lowest entered from Cincinnati. The game, however, turned out to be the most entertaining game I refereed all weekend, for competitiveness and demonstrated skill level. I had a referee coach watching this game and he had some very helpful pointers for controlling players and letting them know how you want the game to go having seen part of my previous game (Presidents, Western Suburbs)
- Lineouts: Mark the tunnel on the 5, tell the players the gap, how to keep it, and not to cross the line of touch.
- Scrums: Make the players get square, don't let them engage until they do.
- Scrums: Tell scrumhalves that the ball must be put in immediately after engagement, a delay for cadence will not be tolerated. This time tends to only lead to more front row problems than positive play.
University of Northern Florida 22 - 14 Happy Valley (Pennsylvania)
Probably the highest level game I had all weekend. Unfortunately the most significant thing I remember from this match is this incredibly drunk UNF fan questioning every single call I made. Usually I can tune these distractions out, but considering the substantial audience and the volume this guy was managing to achieve, it really got to me. I unfortunately can't recall any significant refereeing developments, but the most interesting moment from the game came when the athletic Happy Valley fullback took it upon himself to sprint (he was quick) from sideline to sideline, trying to get a break, presumably since he had not seen much ball yet and was not yet tired. At any rate, no ruck/maul formed as he moved from one side of the field to the other and he was eventually tackled. While being tackled he tried to offload, only his offload was not good, it was a long stray pass about 10 meters backwards......where the recovering UNF scrumahlf was lurking, the ball landed in his lap, and with about 10 meters on everyone else he turned around and ran about 70 meters for a try, I was lucky to get within the 22 meter line when he scored.NCSU 14 - 0 University of Minnesota
My Alma Mater, NC State University, had attended this tournament. This was one of my personal motivations for flying down to referee the tournametnt as the opportunity for me to go and cause ruckus with many of my old college buddies was hard to pass up. At any rate, NCSU and minnesota had teams cancel games on them in their respective pools, so a scratch match was organized between the two. Unfortunately no referee was assigned....I had just finished the UNF game on the field beside theirs, and volunteered to do the game. Unfortunately, the Minnesota team turned out to be one of the worst rugby teams I have ever refereed. Their only interest seemed to be making dangerous tackles, protesting every call, and provoking NC State players. Now this is even after the Minnesota team borrowed a couple NCSU players to make up 15. At any rate, the game continued to deteriorate and eventually resulted in an unfortunate neck injury to the NCSU Flyhalf. This prompted the arrival of the ambulance and my whistle to end this dead rubber game.
US Air Force B 51 - 5 Atlanta High Country
Hungover and having an extremely sore ankle I took this 3rd place match. I struggled to keep pace due to my ankle. At any rate, the Air Force ran around Atlanta High Country (D2 or D3 South) at will, scoring more than 1 point a minute. Atlanta scored a spirited try with about 1 minute to go, throwing a short lineout to their 300 pound prop/lock on the AF 5 meter line to bundle over.
Refereeing Overview of the Weekend:
During the tournament final I had a chat with the Western Suburbs captain (game #1 on saturday). He said he thought I did a great job refereeing his game, demonstrating great knowledge, decision making, and fitness but should in the future establish who is in charge from the get go. I should not let there be any gray area. This comment seemed to confirm an underlying issue I was having over the weekend and prior.....I have been allowing too much chatter/response from players..... why could this be? Can't be sure...maybe some uncertainty is sensed in my voice, maybe I look uncomfortable, maybe people doubt me due to my age, maybe I just like to talk about rugby too much. At any rate, me responding to this chatter casts doubt over my ability and hurts my ability to control a game. This characteristic of mine must change. The comments from the referee coach in XROXX game also relate to this. He helped to remove some of the issues, but hopefully over time I will learn to establish a cool calm presence as a referee.
My Alma Mater, NC State University, had attended this tournament. This was one of my personal motivations for flying down to referee the tournametnt as the opportunity for me to go and cause ruckus with many of my old college buddies was hard to pass up. At any rate, NCSU and minnesota had teams cancel games on them in their respective pools, so a scratch match was organized between the two. Unfortunately no referee was assigned....I had just finished the UNF game on the field beside theirs, and volunteered to do the game. Unfortunately, the Minnesota team turned out to be one of the worst rugby teams I have ever refereed. Their only interest seemed to be making dangerous tackles, protesting every call, and provoking NC State players. Now this is even after the Minnesota team borrowed a couple NCSU players to make up 15. At any rate, the game continued to deteriorate and eventually resulted in an unfortunate neck injury to the NCSU Flyhalf. This prompted the arrival of the ambulance and my whistle to end this dead rubber game.
US Air Force B 51 - 5 Atlanta High CountryHungover and having an extremely sore ankle I took this 3rd place match. I struggled to keep pace due to my ankle. At any rate, the Air Force ran around Atlanta High Country (D2 or D3 South) at will, scoring more than 1 point a minute. Atlanta scored a spirited try with about 1 minute to go, throwing a short lineout to their 300 pound prop/lock on the AF 5 meter line to bundle over.
Refereeing Overview of the Weekend:
During the tournament final I had a chat with the Western Suburbs captain (game #1 on saturday). He said he thought I did a great job refereeing his game, demonstrating great knowledge, decision making, and fitness but should in the future establish who is in charge from the get go. I should not let there be any gray area. This comment seemed to confirm an underlying issue I was having over the weekend and prior.....I have been allowing too much chatter/response from players..... why could this be? Can't be sure...maybe some uncertainty is sensed in my voice, maybe I look uncomfortable, maybe people doubt me due to my age, maybe I just like to talk about rugby too much. At any rate, me responding to this chatter casts doubt over my ability and hurts my ability to control a game. This characteristic of mine must change. The comments from the referee coach in XROXX game also relate to this. He helped to remove some of the issues, but hopefully over time I will learn to establish a cool calm presence as a referee.
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