Considering the fact this game was to be an evaluation, I took extra care to prepare. Taking a half intensity week at my game (www.albanycrossfit.com). My girlfriend was also coming up for the weekend, so we would enjoy a trip to New York City together.
At any rate, I was presented with two Men's D2 sides, one from MetNY and the other from EPRU for my evaluation....along with 33 degree heavy rain, heavy winds, and posts not kept in the ground (taped to the top of soccer goals).
The presented me with the problem of the posts being blown over a number of times during the game and an enormous amount of scrums. Fortunately, despite the conditions, I had a few things to take away from the evaluation and game:
One of the flash points of the game near the try line when a player was pulled from the maul - I failed to pick up on this. Now, since the ELVs and the ability to pull down the maul, the management of the maul is not something I have had to practice much.....they rarely ever happened. However, with the conditions presented on the day the maul proved a great weapon for the teams and my failure to manage it properly and miss such a blatant infringement caused a fight to break out. I responded to the fight with my whistle, breaking it up and having chat with the captains, telling them to talk to their teams and calm down.
Writing this retroactively, this was the beginning of my troubles managing foul play...for D2 men's sides.
One thing I feel I did manage well in this game was scrummages, I managed to spot and penalize a "non-push" in a scrums, preventing the teams from using this illegal tactic.
Here is the hibernian match report:
http://www.hiborugby.com/
"The Hibo’s journeyed up the Garden State Parkway to play Met NY Division 2 team Montclair RFC. The weather would heavily impact the day; a heavy, cold rain fell all morning and afternoon, continuing through the match right up until the final whistle. The poor conditions, combined with the Easter weekend, impacted attendance for both clubs. At kickoff, only the Montclair “A” side was present so it was decided to have only one match, and the Hibo’s would play their extra players as substitutes. The Hibernians developed a roster for both the first and second half, and it was decided that the side containing players who wouldn’t normally start would play during the opening period. This proved to be extremely entertaining to the contingent of Hibo supporters on the sideline. The Hibo side contained 7 players who had yet to play an “A” side game for the team, yet they built a 17 – 7 lead over a D2 A side.
At halftime, Montclair expressed a need to now play a B game, since their B side players had arrived during the first half. It became obvious that they didn’t realize our more experienced players had been held in reserve. The Hibo’s agreed to accommodate their need for a “B” game, but we also held to the original plan of playing the previously decided second half roster"
Thursday, May 14, 2009
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.
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.
4/4/2009 Wentworth Institute of Technology @ Amherst College Women
Amherst College 34 - 0 Wentworth Institute of Technology
I was fortunate to have a referee coach watching this game.
I was unfortunate to have taken a knock to my ankle/knee on friday night (swinging tackle trip) with Springfield college.
As such, I looked unstable and took shortcuts. I probably could not have handled a men's game that day, but this was a d2/3 women's game, something I felt ok with despite the ankle/knee.
Fortunately the game was very one sided and it provided me a great opportunity to practice my communication, signals, and positioning.
Now I had an evaluation back in February (Uconn v. Harvard) where I had the concept of 45 degree positioning introduced to me, which I implemented into my game with success that day. Unfortunately since that game my 45 degrees had become less and less....until this day where I was almost right on the last foot of the defence (0 degrees), having to turn my head and look backwards to see what was happening at the breakdown. Something very wrong.
The referee coach that day made this correction for me (thank god). He brought me back to 45.
One interesting point includes a try scored from a ball that bounced back off the goal post in a penalty kick attempt.
I was fortunate to have a referee coach watching this game.
I was unfortunate to have taken a knock to my ankle/knee on friday night (swinging tackle trip) with Springfield college.
As such, I looked unstable and took shortcuts. I probably could not have handled a men's game that day, but this was a d2/3 women's game, something I felt ok with despite the ankle/knee.
Fortunately the game was very one sided and it provided me a great opportunity to practice my communication, signals, and positioning.
Now I had an evaluation back in February (Uconn v. Harvard) where I had the concept of 45 degree positioning introduced to me, which I implemented into my game with success that day. Unfortunately since that game my 45 degrees had become less and less....until this day where I was almost right on the last foot of the defence (0 degrees), having to turn my head and look backwards to see what was happening at the breakdown. Something very wrong.
The referee coach that day made this correction for me (thank god). He brought me back to 45.
One interesting point includes a try scored from a ball that bounced back off the goal post in a penalty kick attempt.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
4/3/2009 Spring Shorties: Massachusetts Maritime Academy (MMA) @ Springfield College (SC)
This was a friday night game, I traveled straight from work to Springfield, MA. Having a chat with the Springfield College Coach (SC), I discovered that Basketball was invented in springfield - actually in the gymnasium right beside the field. Now Rugby was invented in Rugby, England --> what if basketball had been called Springfield?
The third team failed to show up for the spring shortie, so we only officially played one 50 minute game between SC and MMA.
Also, this game was being played on a football field, meaning:
- 5 yard lines along the 100 yard (not meter) field.
- No 22 meter line --> I ended up having the coaches mark the 25 yard line with a cone, but it was a nightmare for me to judge taking back in.
- The goal posts (at gridiron width) were at the back of the tryzone, so on conversions I had the players line up on the dead ball line. And on penalty kicks, the posts were also the deadball line, so the ball could not be played had it been hit off the post.
- The field was artificial turf, and not rugby style turf, it was very hard ground.
- The field was very narrow --> this greatly favored SC as much of their team were also SC gridiron (football) players.
- In addition, it was rainy conditions --> so this again favored the SC team filled with big boys for the tight game.
In pointing out all these conditions that favored SC....SC went on to win the game handily 24-3 in only 50 minutes....pounding it down the middle. I couldn't count the number of times a MMA bounced off a SC player.
Now I had expected this game to be played on Saturday (as scheduled) but upon calling the team.....friday morning....I found out it was actually to be played on FRIDAY NIGHT! I had not prepared for this, having had a hard workout (at crossfit) and training session on thursday with the Albany Knicks, really making my ankle sore --> I had planned on resting it friday for saturday. At any rate, the field was friendly to sore feet (being flat and turf), so it was not so bad.
I was pleasantly surprised by some rucks performed in great form this game, everyone one on their feet, coming in straight, and driving straight over. In saying there, there were a few occasions of bridging, the the players knew exactly what they were being called for. One of my main concerns coming out of the game was my judgement of advantage. Early in the first half, I gave a penalty advantage at midfield and I simply let it run too long. I think I could understand letting it run as long as I did attacking near the goal line, but considering the midfield ....after one phase of little gain in ground, I should have brought it back. Instead, I allowed probably around 5 phases without much gain (if at all). When I finally awarded the penalty (for offsides) the players had no idea what was wrong since my advantage call was so long ago. Another concern I had in this game was my judgement of knock on advantage being elevated to a penalty. I feel I missed a number of opportunities where I had allowed knock on advantage only for the defending team to infringe (offsides, handling on the ground, etc.) but I brought it back for the scrum, where it should have been elevated to a penalty.
I also had some issues with side entry (SC) but after a chat I managed to clear up the gray area for the boys, as the penalty count went down in the 2nd half.
The SC scrum pulverized the MMA scrum, and I probably would have been right to award SC a penalty in some collapsed cases. In considering the field conditions (hard turf, wet) I felt it would have been a bit harsh to penalize MMA for going down as it was very difficult to get a good footing.
I also have some concerns of my "playing the man" when is a player doing more than just bumping shoulders in trying to claim the ball.
Overall I was pleased with the game's performance, but I would really like to work on my advantage and continue to develop my judgement of the breakdown.
3/28/2009 Fatal Fourway (UMASS Amherst, Amherst College, Providence College, Sacred Heart College)
This spring tournament was held at UMASS Amherst. Despite the beautiful sunny conditions, the fields were horrendously muddy, both having standing water. All four teams played two 60 minute games.
Providence College 15 - 5 Amherst College
This game got off to a bad start when Providence College wore black and Amherst College wore black jerseys with a dark purple stripe. After about 5 minutes in the mud, both teams were wearing black. I did my best to manage the colors but it really made things difficult. Fortunately it was clear who was the better side so it did not effect e result.
Refereeing wise the most hotly contested point of the weekend was "Bridging" and it's materiality. There were a couple of instances in the first game were I had the coach yelling from teh sideline about it, where I had determined it immaterial. It was causing confusion with players.
Providence College 27 - 12 UMASS Amherst
This game was on the better field (though still with standing water) and teams with different color jerseys: Red/White and Black.
An excerpt from the UMASS Amherst rugby website:
"The next match against a Providence College, a match fit team. They had toured on Spring Break to Bermuda for three matches, added a match vs BU, which they won 32-0 and and defeated Amherst College earlier in the day 15-5. This too, was an exciting match, though PC showed the ability to maintain possession as well as forcing turnover ball. We fell to 0-17 at the half. We fought back and never lost our sense of determination. We began to get our act together and matched them at every turn. Tries were scored by Nick Petmezis and Connor Carroll in a 12-12 second half battle. We lost too much of our own possession, where PC showed great concentration on ball retention and the ability to strip ball from our hands. The 17 point 1st half hole we dug, proved to be too great and we lost 12-27."
The most important take away from this game was the UMASS coach's comments about bridging. He was adamant that I had penalized some immaterial bridging or "killing" the ball. The coach, however, makes some good points...his side lost this game at the tackle, they were simply not aggressive enough. Did I allow Providence too much leway and credit at the tackle/breakdown? I don't think so.
Providence College 15 - 5 Amherst College
This game got off to a bad start when Providence College wore black and Amherst College wore black jerseys with a dark purple stripe. After about 5 minutes in the mud, both teams were wearing black. I did my best to manage the colors but it really made things difficult. Fortunately it was clear who was the better side so it did not effect e result.
Refereeing wise the most hotly contested point of the weekend was "Bridging" and it's materiality. There were a couple of instances in the first game were I had the coach yelling from teh sideline about it, where I had determined it immaterial. It was causing confusion with players.
Providence College 27 - 12 UMASS Amherst
This game was on the better field (though still with standing water) and teams with different color jerseys: Red/White and Black.
An excerpt from the UMASS Amherst rugby website:
"The next match against a Providence College, a match fit team. They had toured on Spring Break to Bermuda for three matches, added a match vs BU, which they won 32-0 and and defeated Amherst College earlier in the day 15-5. This too, was an exciting match, though PC showed the ability to maintain possession as well as forcing turnover ball. We fell to 0-17 at the half. We fought back and never lost our sense of determination. We began to get our act together and matched them at every turn. Tries were scored by Nick Petmezis and Connor Carroll in a 12-12 second half battle. We lost too much of our own possession, where PC showed great concentration on ball retention and the ability to strip ball from our hands. The 17 point 1st half hole we dug, proved to be too great and we lost 12-27."
The most important take away from this game was the UMASS coach's comments about bridging. He was adamant that I had penalized some immaterial bridging or "killing" the ball. The coach, however, makes some good points...his side lost this game at the tackle, they were simply not aggressive enough. Did I allow Providence too much leway and credit at the tackle/breakdown? I don't think so.
3/21/2009 U Albany v. Albany Knicks
In an open weekend for me, I volunteered to help my adopted club (Albany Knicks) out and referee a friendly scrimmage with the local college side, U Albany. The game was to be played on a surface impossible to play rugby on, hard field hockey turf. This resulted in most players wearing tennis shoes, long sleeves and pants to avoid the nasty scrapes certain to result. We played two 20 minute periods, taking time outs for short coaching sessions.Fortunately this was a friendly, so all of the players were only out their to help each other, nobody wanted to hit the ground anyway. The scrums could not really be contested due to a lack of footing, and the D1 Knicks totally ran rampant over the scrambling college boys, I don't even recall the score. I do recall a try being scored off the kickoff though, without a tackle even being made (had the time been measured, it may have even made the guinness book of world records).
The game presented a great opportunity for me to practice positioning, whistle tone, signals, and prove my worth to the local rugby club.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
3/14/2009 - 3/15/2009 Savannah St. Patrick's Day Rugby Tournament
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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