2/20/2010 University of Houston @ McAllen Knights

Full size field, softened from rain the previous days. Quite hot, 75-80 degrees and humid. I commend both teams for playing a good honest game and helping to keep the penalty count very low. McAllen were larger than the underpowered UH (missing players due to travel distance) and used their size advantage to great effect. UH got easily frusturated with their mistakes only to cause more problems for themselves- enabling McAllen to score some quite easy tries. The heat definetly played a part in this game - McAllen score 5 tries in the 1st half, but only 1 in 2nd half. The heat slowed the players down greatly as the game wore on.

McAllen:
4:06
16:00
25:00 (con)
28:30
38:00 (con)
65:00 (con)
Final Score: 36
University of Houston:
Final Score: 0

Notes:

near radius event
zone inconsistency

improved ruck straight down management

scrum management good - early drives and improper binding stopped before starting

contentious try was scored. I was not 100% sure of score, but quite confident. It was a muscle over try...need to be better prepared for positioning.
lots of offside at kicks

prevented UH quick taps on a number of occasions. Need to endeavor to allow this when they seem to want to go quick.

low penalty count - 14I must say that McAllen were excellent hosts. I was pleasantly surprised by the environment on the border. I flew down to McAllen on Saturday morning - I was picked up by a team member and taken out for a bit of lunch in preparation of a 2 PM kickoff. McAllen have got a nice full size pitch and had beer and food for both teams following the game. Further than that - one of the team members owns a hooters.....so we spent much of the evening at the hooters drinking free beer and eating free wings! Following that, we had a good time in the wild McAllen mexico border bar scene. McAllen has created a nice strip in their downtown for a great nightlife atmosphere. The McAllen guys - like all rugby players - know how to have a good time. I hope I get sent to the border to referee again - it was a surprisingly nice area. Oh, and the Mexican food was delicious. I flew back to Houston sunday morning....with very little "sleep."

2/18/2010 Kingwood @ St Pius Varsity

The game was played in 50 degree conditions on a thursday evening. The field was grass and lined for rugby in a nice stadium with some nice attendance. Unfortunately the field was lined slightly to wide for safety - on one side the touch lines were too close to a fence, making for a dangerous scenario. As such, the 5 meter line was treated as the touch line on the side of the field. It's great that St. Pius can fit a full size rugby pitch in their stadium - unfortunately, they need to do something about the lights and fence (line the field a few meters less wide). The St Pius back three struggled to organize themselves. Kingwood's flyhalf was quite a good kicker and quickly figured out how to punish the St. Pius unorganization...scoring many tries off a kick and chase tactic. Kingwood also stole many Pius lineouts. Other facets of the game were rather even - Pius managed to take a few scrums against the head.

St Pius: 2 Tries, 1 Conversion (12)
Kingwood: 4 Tries, 1 Conversion, 1 Penalty (25)

Notes:

hard to predict st. pius / kingwood direction of play. found myself out of position.

pile ups were numerous, managed

too easy with penalties - assuming player innocence. Should have been harder to teach more. Game still went well - but the ball was slowed a little bit too much.

2/16/2010 Sam Houston State @ Texas A&M

This was a Tuesday night game, it also made the rugby news.

http://www.americanrugbynews.com/artman/publish/college/College_Make-up_Games.shtml

Chilly (40 degree) conditions - played at 8 PM on Tuesday evening in College Station. Field was marked with blue lines - but there were white lines close to the blue. This caused confusion for players trying to stay infield. Game was close for the first 10-20 minutes, but A&M dominated possession and the gaps began to open up for them in the SH defense. The game was played in good spirit, but at the 60 minute mark SH really started to tire and began to get sloppy in their breakdown play - committing several penalties resulting in a YC. On full time SH managed to score their first try, punching over a try after numerous penalties committed by A&M goal line defenders - a habit that A&M had no opportunity to show earlier in the game. Overall, A&M dominated most aspects of the game (possession, set piece), coming away clear winners.

Texas A&M: 10 Tries, 6 Conversions (62)
Sam Houston State: 1 Try, 1 Conversion (7)

Notes:

"white" request from A&M captain before game. I was not aware of "Maroon" importance.

two charge down offsides against A&M

offside lines on far side of ruck crept up - should have penalized earlier to manage better.

white 6 kept breaking his bind on scrum. Not very material - but should have managed the incident to stop him.

need to think about A&M ruck management - became more and more straight down as the game wore on. Need to manage better.

felt very good about my scrum management - I thought I was accurate and prevented problems before they occurred.

2/11/2010 Kingwood JV @ Strake Jesuit JV

Thursday night game.

Chilly conditions (40-50 degrees) but very little wind. Game was played a football field with extended touch lines but was still quite narrow for rugby. Teams played a wonderful game. Both sides scored tries from good strong direct running and off opportunistic botched lineouts. On full time Strake Jesuit made an excellent break from their own 10 meter line looking sure to score. Unfortunately while being tackled and reaching out to ground the try...he knocked it on! unfortunate, Strake was very close to a draw. Kingwood came away with this close one - it bodes well for both programs having such enthusiastic athletes on their JV sides.

Strake Jesuit: 2 Tries (10)
Kingwood: 3 Tries (15)

2/6/2010 Dallas Harlequins 2 @ Bay Area Rugby Club

here is my submitted match report:

"Sunny, 60 degrees, great rugby conditions. Bay Area had better athleticism and overall skills - unfortunately they seemed to have a complete disregard for rugby laws. Bay Area could probably have won the game by 50 points - but their total lack law knowledge prevented this. Many BARC players were not aware that they could not use their hands in a ruck, many did not understand that they had to release the ball carrier following a tackle, consistently entered from the side, and were particularly cynical defending their goal line. This resulted in two yellow cards at 10 and 15 minutes for repeated and cynical goal line offenses. The game cleaned up a bit following an explanation, but at the 70 minute mark Bay Area committed another cynical goal line offense resulting in a 3rd yellow card. In sum, Bay Area had twice has many penalties as Dallas, but their skills and athleticism made them still come away clear winners, 36-18. Dallas struggled to tackle BARC in loose play. Some interesting points in the game: -During penalty kicks, twice the ball hit both posts (not just one) and came back into play. -A charge down try was score"

As you can tell...I did not have much fun. My demeanor killed me today - didn't look right and forceful enough starting right with my pregame chats. I felt very consistent in my law application and I thought the timing and execution of the yellow cards were good. Perhaps I should have made a bigger deal out of the first penalties.

The Bay Area team was simply probably the worst rugby team I have ever known and refereed. Negative and cynical play with a total lack of rugby knowledge. The fullback even tried to tell me a ball had gone dead when it hadnt. One saving grace for Bay Area - no dangerous play penalties in the entire game - but I probably should have given one for stupidity.

Bay Area - worst rugby club in Houston.

BARC: 5 Tries, 4 Conversions, 1 Penalty (36)
Dallas Harlequins 2: 3 Tries, 1 Penalty (18)

1/30/2009 Stony Point HS @ Strake Jesuit Varsity

Cold day, just over 40 degrees and quite windy. The game was played on American football field - narrow and short. This proved bad for SJ and beneficial to SP. This first half ended quite even, SP with one try and SJ with a penalty. The 2nd half, however, was quite different. SP came out running hard and straight through the tiring Jesuit defense scoring 3 more tries.

Stony Point: 4 Tries, 1 Conversion (22)
Strake Jesuit: 1 Penalty (3)

I don't feel like I made my mark with the Strake players in this game as they committed constant penalties. My management was just not effective. I think this trouble communicating might be partly due to my law precision: using the correct words and having a clear and distinct understanding.