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.

The rest of spring 2008

My first season of refereeing wrapped up as follows:

4/12 - 4/13 MBA World Cup

This was an event to remembered. Every April, the Duke University Fuqua School of Business hosts the MBA Rugby World Championships. This celebrated event has been held since 1980 and is typically attended by 25 or more of the world’s most prestigious graduate business programs.

In 2008 it was plagued by some serious monsoon type weather (april showers) - with all the fields having standing water. I had a really good time - the rugby, even though it was wet and slow - fit the style of teams competing at the tournament and made for a good event.

The first day was a stop and go affair - any time there was lightning there was a required 30 minute break. The day, however, did finish as intended. I unfortunately cannot remember exactly who I refereed - but I do remember being assigned Ivey (Canadian Business School) 3 times, awarding a penalty try, and thinking NYU were a bunch of pricks (they were very mouthy).

I refereed the Plunger Final (for 17th out of 22) between Chicago and Harvard B. This was by far my best game, from a refereeing perspective, and from an entertainment perspective. Harvard B pushed ahead with an early try and conversion through a backs play. They also picked up a penalty to round out their scoring at 10. Chicago got one try in the first half, leaving them with 5. In the last play of the game Chicago scored another try, making it 10-10 - leaving me with the fear of going into overtime. Luckily, Chicago nailed the difficult conversion for win, 12-10.

The second day I had my first assessment by Ray Davis. I did not feel the game went well - I even made a blatantly wrong call (calling a scrum for what should've been a 22 drop by grounding in goal). Fortunately I was still promoted to C3 that weekend.

4/19 Enodiaks @ Guilford

Guilford College is based out of Greensboro, NC and is a member of USA Rugby South's Collegiate Men's Division 3. I don't know the last time they won their conference - but it has not been since I have been in college (2004). Guilford, however, did show up well on this day where I had my first experience ever with them. They were playing Enodiaks - a combination of two new clubs in the Raleigh/Durham area. Eno River is based out of Durham, NC. The Kodiaks are based out of Raleigh, NC and advertise themselves as being open to men no matter their sexual orientation.

At any rate, Eno River and Kodiaks were both low on numbers to they combined to become the "Enodiaks" to play Guilford.

It was immediately obvious who was the better team - Guilford basically ran in tries at will. To Eno's credit, they did muster a penalty and a lineout on the Guilford 5 meter line to drive it over for a try. Final score was something along the lines of 90-5.

Hopefully Guilford will capitalize on the excellent number of players they had for the game - many of whom looked rather good (but considering the opposition....).

I hope Eno River and Kodiaks continue to grow their clubs so that they can be competitive in the NCRU.

4/26 Elon Women's Round Robin

This was my final game of the season. Upon arrival at Elon's field I realized this was going to be a PROM DRESS game. I immediately told them I was going to have a hard time refereeing the game....as it was impossible to tell who was on what team as they were all wearing randomly colored dresses. The girls were all comfortable with that.

It turned out to be a reasonably enjoyable event - the crowd was really into it and the girls spent most of their time laughing.

An easy way to end the season......