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Written by Pat Clifton
Friday, 11 November 2011 16:08 |
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Four Eagles in H-Cup Lineups |
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International -
Americans Overseas
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 The Heineken Cup, which pits the best European clubs against one another, begins Friday.
The best teams from France, Italy, England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales compete for the most coveted club title in the Northern Hemisphere, and four Americans have been selected to their clubs' 22-man roster for the opening round. Chris Wyles and Hayden Smith are both slated to start for Saracens against Italy's Benetton Treviso. Wyles will be at fullback for the Sarries and Smith at lock, as usual. Wyles often played outside center during Saracens' 2010-2011 Premiership championship run. Takudzwa Ngwenya will start at wing for Biarritz Saturday against the Ospreys. Two seasons ago, Ngwenya burned the Ospreys' Shane Williams in the Heineken Cup quarterfinals for this famous try. Biarritz went on to beat the Ospreys 29-28 and fall to Toulose in the H-Cup final. The only game featuring an American that will actually air on American television is Northampton vs. Munster. This is considered one of the massive matchups of the first round, and Samu Manoa, formerly of San Francisco Golden Gate, will be on the bench for the Saints. The game debuts on Fox Soccer Plus at 3pm EST Saturday and will re-air multiple times throughout the week.
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Written by Alex Goff
Friday, 11 November 2011 13:33 |
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Oregon HS Girls Outstanding in Fall Season |
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School Age -
All-Stars
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|  | Front row from left: Head Coach Ernie Espinoza, Hailey Halvorson, Alyssa Bishop, Siva Aisea, Lia Tafea, Patricia Johnson.
Middle row from left: Assistant coach Pat Hogan, Rachel Sorenson, Hannah Fallon, Hannah Bell, Charlee Mackey, Gabby Yundt, Krystal Franklin, Angelica Alvarez, Forwards coach Eric Zimmerman
Back row, from left: Assistant coach Mark McDonnell, Kayla Postula, Mixtly Simon, Ali Austin, Candace Mahoney Watson, Cindy Vete, Eita Lavemai, Anna Rinearson, Brittany Freeman, Maurita McDonnell, Assistant coach Greg Tracey Click on image for larger picture. |
The Rugby Oregon U19 High School girls select side capped off a successful fall season, playing ten matches against college teams throughout the Northwest, beating nine and losing only one match, and that one by a mere two points.
The highlight of the season was the team defeating both Oregon State and the University of Oregon, but the overall record was very impressive.
In their ten matches, only once did the U19s give up more than seven points, that in a 30-27 defeat of Western Oregon on October 15.
In the remaining nine games they scored 219 points while yielding 22. Head Coach Ernie Espinoza has used the program to improve the skills of those players who want to add an extra season of rugby to their year. Those players then go back to their teams and make everyone better.
"I would say everyone improved on their rugby skills," Espinoza said. "Everyone stepped up and we didn't rely on just one player. Our focus was to offload every time, no matter whether you are a forward of a back. Offloading was our bread and butter."
Espinoza added that the key focus for the team was playing and improving on the simple things.
"Since we only practiced one day a week for two hours, I decided to focus on point of attack, and it worked. In the past I attempted to teach the whole game of rugby in two hours," he explained. "Lesson learned: keep it simple."
Oregton U19 High School Girls All-Stars
Eita Lavemai (Beaverton) Sammie Moore (West Linn) Gabby Yundt (Linn Benton) Anna Rinearson (West Linn) Alejandra Trujillo (West Linn) Kayla Postula (Cleveland) Lia Tafea (Baeverton) Latayna Sallah (Beaverton) Riley Swanson (West Linn) Mixtly Simon (Battle Ground) Maurita McDonnell (Beaverton) Candace Mahoney Watson (West Linn) Charlee Mackey (Grant) Patricia Johnson (Canby) Erica Henstein (West Linn) Hailey Halvorson (New Berg) Brittany Freeman (West Linn) Hannah Bell (New Berg) Alyssa Bishop (West Linn) Brianna Burroughs (Clackamas) Hannah Fallon (Battle Ground) Krystal Franklin (Columbia County) Ali Austin (West Linn) Mackenzie Bangs (Linn Benton) Angelica Alvarez (Beaverton) Rachel Sorenson (Beaverton) Siva Aisea (Cleveland)
Coaching Staff: Ernie Espinoza, Eric Zimmerman, Pat Hogan, Greg Tracey, Mark McDonnell
FALL 2011 RUGBY OREGON RED HAWKS MATCH SCHEDULE
U19 HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS
Sept. 24
Oregon U19s 52 Reed College 0
Oct. 8 Babb Fest
Oregon U19s 20 Reed College 0
Oregon U19s 10 University of Washington 0
Oregon U19s 15 Oregon State University 5
Oct. 15
Oregon U19s 30 Western Oregon University 27
Oct. 22
Oregon u19s 77 Willamette University 0
Oct. 29
Oregon U19s 15 University of Oregon 5
Nov. 5 OSU Homecoming Tournament
Oregon U19s 10 Oregon State University 0
Oregon U19s 10 Oregon State University Bs 0
Oregon U19s 5 University of Washington 7
Oregon U19s 15 University of Nevada Reno 0
Games Played: 10
Won: 9
Lost: 1
Points for: 224
Points against: 49
Shutouts: 5
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Written by Alex Goff
Friday, 11 November 2011 14:27 |
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Scottish Lesson Propels Portland to Playoffs |
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Clubs -
Men's DII Clubs
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Way up there in Portland, Maine, a DII club playoff game will be played as Union visits Portland Saturday.
It’s a big improvement for Portland, 6-0-1 this season after a 3-3-1 record in 2010. The reason for the improvement may lay at the feet of another team, from even further north.
“We hosted a touring side from Scotland last spring,” said club president James Canon. “We matched up well against them as athletes and in physicality. But they played like a team. As our coach [Tom Lovering] said, we played like 15 guys who showed up at the field at the same time. We really learned a lot from that.”
From then on, the club all bought into playing as a team first. It wasn’t that they didn’t want to before, it was just they hadn’t quite seen how far they had to go.
The result was not losing a match this fall – their only blemish a tie with Albany.
“The strange thing is all our games have been struggles,” said Canon. “Not just the tie. Every game has been tough. I think that’s going to help us in the playoffs. We know how to keep going even when things aren’t going good. We don’t underestimate anybody.”
Center and captain Mike Milliken has been a tremendous leader for Portland, while scrumhalf Colin Talbot has also been key in bringing the team approach together.
They will need that leadership this weekend against a Union team they don’t know at all.
“The only thing we know about them is the color of their jerseys,” said Canon. “So we’re just going to play our game, and play as a team.”
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Written by Pat Clifton
Friday, 11 November 2011 13:08 |
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Two Eliminated in Northeast Saturday |
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Clubs -
Men's DI Clubs
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 New England and Met NY square off in a pair of play-in matches Saturday, the winners of which advance to the New England semifinals. The losers miss out on the Northeast’s spring crossovers against the Mid-Atlantic in the national round of 32.
In one of Saturday’s tilts, the Boston Irish Wolfhounds host Long Island. These two met last fall in the postseason, a game which the Wolfhounds won handily. That game, though, was between the NERFU and MetNY champs. This one will be between the NERFU runner up, BIWRFC, and MetNY’s third-place team, Long Island.
The Wolfhounds have had to overcome massive turnover from last year’s semifinal team, which partially explains why they don’t have a bye this weekend. Long Island, on the other hand, just stumbled out of the gate into a rough early schedule.
“We came into our first game against New York without a game under our belts, they had two or three games already, and honestly weren’t ready for them. Then the following week we ran into a buzz saw against Monmouth,” said Long Island coach Jerry Mirro.
“First half we dominated, could have gone either way. The second half we ran out of gas, we still weren’t game fit. Third game with Old Blue was a great game. Game could have gone either way. You could tell we were improving even though we were 0-3, and then from there on we just went up hill because our fitness came.”
Long Island is entering the weekend on a three-game win streak.
The other play-in features New York Rugby Club and South Shore. South Shore has a dangerous back three, and their fullback is especially good with ball in hand, so NYRC will try to keep the ball away from South Shore’s danger men Saturday.
“We’re looking forward to just closing their space down and identifying any sort of attack from that side of things,” said NYRC coach Greg Norris. “We’ll be looking to dominate more in the forwards more than we have in the past. I feel pretty confident that we will do that…We’re going to avoid kicking to their backs if we can.” Mystic River and Monmouth await Saturday's winners.
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