4/5/2009 Spring Shorties: UMaine Farmington, Bowdoin @ University of Hartford

Spring Shorties, Participating Teams:

U Maine Farmington
Bowdoin
University of Hartford (Host)

The tournament was played in beautiful conditions (60 degrees, sunny, some wind) on a narrow field at Bloomfield High School (typically used for American Football). Ground was fairly muddy, but good and soft for rugby and typically provided enough footing for scrums.

U Maine Farmington 7 - 0 Bowdoin

Closely contested local derby (3 hours away from the local area). Only a try made up the difference in this 50 minute game.

U Maine Farmington 12 - 0 University of Hartford

U Maine demonstrated good control of the game. Lining issues and a lack of corner posts caused some difficulty.

University of Hartford 12 - 12 Bowdoin

A very tightly contested game resulting in a draw.

I used the referee coach's advice to full effect in these games. I got a lot of practice becoming comfortable in the 45 degree position and learning to vary it when necessary...like when I can tell they will be going to the blind side. (In which situation I back up to the pocket).

My main concern coming out of these games was my management of dangerous play. There were a few, of what I deemed, marginal late charges and maybe what could have been considered dangerous tackles. I unfortunately never carded anyone for these offenses (I did give a number of penalties). Luckily the game never degraded to fights, but I feel I should be more proactive in my management of dangerous play, no matter how marginal I think it is.

Unfortunately I can't recall too many bad things about the games except for where I maybe should have gone to dangerous play / card when I didn't. I thought the games went very well.

The night before (staying with the referee coach) I iced and took medication for my sore ankles/knee from fri/sat. I again took some ibuprofen and iced that morning for the short drive to the game. Somehow, despite the injuries, I managed to get through Sunday's 3 games with little difficulty. With the ibuprofen and ice for sunday I think I found a formula to keep my ankle going....excellent.

Now on this weekend I refereed the following games:

Springfield College v. MMA (50 minutes)
Springfield College v. MMA (30 minutes) extra period not counting for spring shorties.
Amherst College v. Wentworth Women (80 minutes)
UMain Farm v. Bowdoin (50 minutes)
U Main Farm v. Hartford (50 min)
Bowdoin v. Hartford (50 min)

That's 310 minutes of rugby refereeing.