My First Outing

Since I have been mainly stuck in the house since surgery I really wanted to try and get out of the house this weekend. The weather was gorgeous outside and Jake was dying to get some play time…so the girl and I decided to go to the Austin Blacks tournament here in Austin on Saturday. So we packed the crutches and grabbed the pup and we were on our way!

While the car ride did make me a little sick, it was nice to have the wind blowing in my hair and my two best friends in the world out for an adventure with me. Once we got to the fields we decided to walk around first so we could say hi to everyone and Jake could get some play time. I was surprised at how mobile I was feeling and so we probably stayed for two hours.

The rugby was good as we got to see the Dallas Harlequins, Austin Huns, Shreveport and the Austin Blacks play. Meg (roommate) was reffing and so we watched her ref for a bit too. I know it sounds weird to say “we watched the ref….” but now that I am a ref, it is helpful to study other refs to pick up skills, tactics etc with dealing with players. Meg had to give her first red card today as a player elbowed another in the back…crazy! Now she has to file a report and that player will miss two other games as a result.

Other than that the afternoon was perfect as Jake got to chase his ball, we laid out a sleeping bag and had a little picnic with our capri suns and sunshine. It was beautiful! Of course I was very swollen and tired when we got home, but it was worth it!

Read below for the recap of the tournament from the Blacks list serv:

Dear all,

This past weekend the 40th Annual Austin Rugby Tournament was held at Burr Field with Dallas Harlequins taking home the honors in both divisions.

In the Social Division, Harlequins-2 defeated Huns-2, Alamo City, and Ft. Worth to take home the Championship. Ft. Worth was runners-up with a 2-1 record.

In the Premier Division both Austin Blacks and Dallas Harlequins entered the final match of the day undefeated. Austin kicked-off deep and flanker Matt Price blocked the Quins clearance kick and pounced on the ball just over the Quins goal-line for a try in the 1st minute of play. Blacks fly-half Justin “Juddy” Wootton” converted for a 7-0 lead for Austin. However, the Quins came storming back and spent the rest of the 20 min. half in the Austin end of the field, aided by repeated Austin penalties spotted from referee Mitch Damm. The Quins could seem to do no wrong as, by game end, they were awarded 12 penaltys compared to a single penalty for the Blacks.
Due to a combination of hard running by the Quins and sloppy tackling by Austin, the Quins racked up a 20-7 lead with only 10 minutes left in the game (3 trys, 1 conversion, and 1 penalty). However, Austin finally woke up and new Austin winger, Jeff “Barbarino” Gatlin, weaved through the Quins defense for a try converted by Juddy (20-14). The Quins kicked off deep and Austin maintained possession until Juddy broke free and dotted down in the left corner to bring the score to 19-20 with no time left. Juddy’s conversion attempt missed by inches and the Quins preserved the win and the championship. Nevertheless, Justin “Juddy” Wootton was the unanimous choice for Most Valuable Player of the tournament.

All participants agreed that it was an excellent tournament and a perfect start for the 2008 Spring season. Thanks to the following club members for a highly successful tournament — Mason Herring (Tournament Director), Chris Callan (STRR referees), Steve Wiley (AAHS-concessions), Gary Jones, Robert Brennes and Chris Bugge (t-shirts and beer), Mike Graham and Royce Lemoine (fields) and Matt Fry and Pete Dufrene (parking). Apologies to any others I left off this list.

Next weekend is the official start of the Spring season with home matches against the Austin Huns. The 1st XV match kicks off at 2:00 followed by the seconds at 3:30. There will also be three other matches at Burr Field, with Huns-3 vs. Midland, UT Grads vs. McAllen, and Austin Area High School vs Stony Point High School.

The 40th Anniversary of the club’s founding has been set for March 1st when we host the Dallas Harlequins at Burr Field. There will be a number of special events associated with the Anniversary celebration and we invite our Old Boys to help us organize the event. In particular, we need to contact as many of our former players as possible, especially the members of the land owners group.

Alan Sharpley
President, Austin RFC