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.

1/23/10 Uni Hou @ Katy

These two teams came out ready to play some rugby in cloudy and windy but comfortable conditions. University struck first, demonstrating better pace and tackling than the "older" Katy side. University of Houston's play in the loose to start the game would have led the spectators and referee to believe this might be a blowout but unfortunately for UniHou - their discipline was not up to snuff. A swift two yellow cards (10 min apart) for red zone breakdown infringements brought Katy back into the game. Katy were certainly the more organized and disciplined rugby side - just not quite so light on their feet as UniHou. Katy only scored one try on the day (converted) but did kick 3 penalties and a drop goal. UniHou scored three tries, 2 converted. Their last try and conversion was scored right as we passed fulltime....bringing the game to an unfortunate draw.

Overall - I wish my communication had improved to prevent me from having to use the 2 yellow cards on UniHou - something to improve certainly.

Following the game we went to a classic Texas bar - Mr. Jim's Hole in the Ground for a classic american rugby social. Contentious points of the game were discussed and kegs emptied.

1/16/10 Texas HS Scrimmage Event

Welcome to Texas Larry! you brought the weather with you! 32 degrees and wet! Regardless of the weather, this was a fun and challenging introduction to texas rugby.

This was my first experience with Houston area rugby....a early season High School scrimmage tournament. The games were played with 2 20 minute periods, the conditions were muddy, and many special rules were implemented for the young teams...such as uncontested scrums.

Westside 0 - 10 Strake Jesuit

The westside team had a total of 3 players with on-field rugby experience....the strake jesuit players all had game experience (it should be noted, they are also a Varsity sport). The game started with a free kick. The teams did not want to kickoff...said they had not practiced it yet. Seems to me that a scrimmage is prime opportunity to practice kickoffs...at any rate...Westside proceeded to take a free kick and get tackled, strake immediately penalized...and westside took a quick tap....then strake didnt go back 10...then westside took another...and jsut keep trying to tap and go. I had to literally stop play and explain the best options to the teams. This type of communication and "greenness" to rugby continued throughout the game. Strake naturally beat Westside because of their game experience....but Westside were extraordinarliy good at rucking. They turned over a number of strake rucks quite legally, it was quite impressive.

Strake dominated the lineout and their overall skills were superior, enabling them to score two tries out wide. Westside never really managed to pass the ball further than their flyhalf.

Overall, I felt delayed in response during this game. To be expected after a 2 month break, but I hope my response and comfort level improves.

Katy 45 - 0 San Antonio

The next game was much better with all players having played rugby before... Katy v. San Antonio. All players had played rugby before, made for quite a skillful game....though Katy were clearly superior. Gave a yellow card at the end of the game for a player who didnt understand "fringing" despite my personal explanations. We talked further after the game. I also missed a clear maul collapse early in the game - too much of a delayed response to some obviously dangerous play.

11/20/2009 Radcliffe College (Harvard Women) @ Yale Women

"The Game"

US History really needs to get it right, the oldest collegiate sporting event in American history is the Yale v. Harvard RUGBY game. Sure, football may have evolved from rugby, but people still play rugby and the history books need to get this right.

I refereed the Yale v. Harvard women's rugby game on friday night. The men played at 9 AM on saturday beside the football stadium to prep for "the game."

Unfortunately the Harvard ladies got stuck in traffic out of boston, so the game did not kick off until about 9. This lead us to play on 30 minute halves....and the harvard ladiesa also only had 17 players. The ladies were obviously up for the game, but understood the situation. Yale are d1, Harvard d2. Yale made this clear throughout the entirety of the game. Overall, the ladies played in good sprit and they had a good time out there. I refereed the game rather loosely because that's the way the ladies seemed to want to play and I think they appreciated it.

Yale: 4 Tries, 1 Penalty (23)
Radcliffe College: 1 Try, 1 Conversion (7)

Following the game I stayed with a local referee and traveled to the NRUs on Randall's island in NYC. I was an AR for two D3 games on saturday - I enjoyed it very much. Both games were action packed...for an AR anyway. I was forced to make number of critical decision to help out the man the charge.

These were also unfortunately my last games with the New England referees. It was good to see many of them again. I will be moving to Houston after christmas...hopefully I can return to New England to work and referee. I was given many great opportunities and really enjoyed the rugby here...could not ask for better.

Thanks for all you have done for me NERFU - hopefully I can repay.