Rugby Here and There…

Big Weekend for Rugby! Looking at the Online Rugby Calendar there were tons of games this weekend:

Foolsfest Tournament
Austin Valkyries vs. Black Ice *Black Ice won 19-5
Austin Valkyries vs. Boulder Babes * Austin Valkyries won 20-0
Belmont vs. Scottsdale
Brandywine vs. NY Village Lions
Chicago vs. St Louis
DC Furies vs. Raleigh *Furies defeated Raleigh
DC Furies B vs. Norfolk *Norfolk defeated the Bside
Detroit vs. MSU
E. Kentucky vs. WKU
Georgia Tech vs. COFC
Glendale vs. Atomic Sisters & Scottsdale
MARFU Developmental Round Robin
Morris vs. Harrisburg
NOVA vs. Keystone
NOVA B vs. Chesapeake
NOVA C vs. Chasapeake B
PSU vs. Maryland *Maryland defeated Philly
Providence vs. Chicago Northshore
Riverside Rattlers vs. Las Vegas
Santa Monica vs. Tucson
Suffolk Bullmoose vs. Fordam, Stony Brook & Fairfield

Some of the news in my inbox is below:

• U.S. National Women’s Sevens Team Wins Plate in Hong Kong

  HONG KONG – The U.S. National Women’s Sevens Team went 4-1 during its two days of competition at the 10th Cable & Wireless Hong Kong Women’s Rugby Sevens Tournament, winning the plate final against China, 22-5.
  “Overall, our team showed more poise, discipline and focus then ever before,” U.S. Sevens Head Coach Julie McCoy. “It is our goal to continue developing our game of sevens in the ‘American Style’.”
  The U.S. Women outscored their opponents 94-29 after everything was said and done, with the only loss coming at the hands of the Australian Women, who ended up playing New Zealand for the Cup Championship later that evening. (rest of the article via USA Rugby.org)

• USA Women’s U-19 Team Lose Heart breaker to Wales U-19’s

  RUMNEY, Wales — A last second penalty kick by Wales resulted in the National Women’s Under-19 Team losing their second game of their U.K. tour by only one point, 15-14. (rest of the article via USA Rugby.org)

• USA Women’s U-19 Team Lose for the 3rd Time Against Canada

  The USA U19 women’s team dropped the third game in their three-game tour of the UK, 32-5 to Canada. (article via Goff *subscription required)

• USA U-19 Team Blog (FREE articles, pictures and a cute video of their rookie skit…)

• Austin Valkyries Open West Season 1-1, end on high note…

  AUSTIN, TX — The Austin Valkyries women’s rugby club opened their 2007 West Division I season with one win and one loss this weekend at Burr Field. The team, while a bit battered, ended on a high note and plans to take that motivation into their challenge match April 21 v. Belmont Shore.
  Saturday’s match versus the Denver Black Ice proved too tough a challenge for the Valks who, despite scoring first, fell 19-5 to the visiting Ice. Simple errors held the Valkyries back from adding more points although the action was balanced for much of the game. Effort and desire were not lacking from the home team, rather the timing & continuity usually associated with an Austin attack was just not quite clicking. Rucks were won and scrums were spun, but the scoreboard was not our friend at the final whistle.
  Sunday dawned a new day and the Valks were bent on revenge. Despite the aches & pains of playing the day before, and without the services of all-everything Meg Pace (knee), the Valkyries pulled together and put on a display of teamwork, snot-nosed tackling, and a 1-15 attack to decisively shut out the Boulder Babes 20-0. Traci Schmitdke kept up her scoring spree from Nash Bash with two tries on the day, first off a gorgeous line out combo with Rachel Kraft and then by adding the insurance try off a back line break by Rosalind Chou.
  The nail in the coffin, however, was a devastating 75-meter breakaway run by our rookie wing Latoya Walker. Luckily coach Heidi Whitman could keep up with Latoya along the sideline to instruct her where, when & how to touch the ball down for the score. Scrumhalf Wendy Young converted a 22-meter penalty kick in the second half to complete the scoring.
  Looking ahead, the Valks are off the next 2 weekends (with a possible scrimmage April 14) but then face a revamped Belmont Shore squad on the 21st. Thanks to all the fans & old girls who supported us this weekend, we hope to see you then!

• BYU downs New Mexico State 24-12 on March 31, 2007.

  The BYU women’s rugby team defeated New Mexico 24-12 Friday.
  The two teams battled close for most of the game, and in fact the contest was tied up 7-7 at halftime. (via Goff *subscription required)

• Navy, Penn State Women Win

  It will be a Penn State v. Navy final in the Mid-Atlantic women’s DI college playoffs as PSU hammered West Chester 51-17 and Navy downed Virginia 17-0.
  “It was actually a very difficult first half for us,” said Penn State head coach Pete Steinberg. “We were into the wind and the penalty count was something like 14-2 against us. Sometimes when we don’t blow teams away early some of our players have a tendency to lose it a little.” (via Goff *subscription required)

• Northern Iowa Downs Minn. U23s

  The University of Northern Iowa women’s team started their spring season this past weekend with a victory over the Minnesota U23s in St. Cloud.
  UNI scrimmaged with the Twin Cities Amazons women’s team on the trip, which head coach Steve Murra said went very well. then they took on the MRFU U23s and got tries from Chelsey Iverson, Rochelle Walter, Amy Conrad, Kayla Soliday, and Ashley Mulford in the 31-17 victory. (via Goff *subscription required)

• Check out the Hong Kong Diaries…they have been updated.