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Written by Pat Clifton
Tuesday, 06 September 2011 17:25 |
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Dartmouth Gutted by Graduation |
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RUGBYmag Premier -
Scouting Reports
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Dartmouth’s Collegiate Rugby Championship 7s victory wasn’t just the icing on the cake for the Big Green’s season. For several seniors, it was their last taste of rugby altogether.
Before the CRC, few knew of Nick or Chris Downer, the brothers who helped lead the Big Green to nationally televised glory. After the tournament they were featured in Sports Illustrated’s “Faces in the Crowd”. Just as soon as they became as close to household names as one can being a rugby player in America, they’ve graduated.
So have captain Tommy Brothers, All American prop Charlie Grant, football convert Tanner Scott, 7s All American Muhammed Abdool-Shakoor and most every front row player on the two-deep roster.
Altogether, the Big Green were gutted by the loss of 20 seniors.
“It’ll be mostly a brand new team,” said Dartmouth coach Alex Magleby. “Most of the guys won’t have had too much first 15 experience. It’s the grand challenge as a coach.”
The most gaping void is left in the tight five, where every starter and most of the backups are gone. Dartmouth, despite being a CPD-caliber team steeped in tradition, will fill that void no different than most colleges would, with players converted from starkly different positions.
“It’s that old saying, you may be bigger than us, but at least we’re slower than you,” joked Magleby.
“All the guys are kind of the same size for the most part, so we traditionally have played a pretty universal game with multiple players being able to play scrumhalf, flayhalf, multiple players being able to play lock and prop…There’s guys that’ll have played in the centers for two years and suddenly they end up being our starting prop or hooker. A lot of colleges end up doing that, I think.”
Some of the starters who do return are heavy contributors, like honorable mention All American Paul Jarvis. The flanker co-captained last season and made the all Rugby East team.
The sole returner in the tight five, sophomore lock Dylan Jones, is a Gonzaga product and a good player.
All American Nate Brakeley also returns, as do 7s contributors Will Lehmann, Will Mueller, Clark Judge and Kevin Clarke.
“They’ve had that 7s experience the last two years, so I think they’ll be competing really well and doing really, really good things,” said Magleby.
“Clark Judge and Will Mueller, those two will be seniors, so they’ve kind of been through the system, they’ve started CPD games, things like that. They’re leaders on the team so they’ll have a huge impact on our success this year.”
Derek Fish, one of the best scrumhalves in the country and an all Rugby East performer, is still recovering from a torn ACL and won’t likely be back until spring. But if Dartmouth makes it out of the Ivy League this fall, he’ll be a huge boost for the Big Green come playoff time.
The freshman most likely to help fill the scoring void left by the Downers, Scott and Abdool-Shakoor? High School All American wing Madison Hughes.
“He’s one of the better recruits coming into the US rugby ranks this year, I think. He’s a fun player to watch, so it’d be great to watch him grow here,” said Magleby. “Madison could play any position in the back nine well…He’s a potential guy that has a chance to play at the next level.”
Dartmouth lost a ton over the summer. But they usually keep the cupboard well stocked, and if there’s anyone who can make a masterful meal with what’s found in the average cupboard, it’s Magleby.
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Written by RUGBYMag.com News Release
Tuesday, 06 September 2011 16:38 |
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New Zealand Names RWC Opener Lineup |
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International -
Rugby World Cup
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AUCKLAND - Coach Graham Henry on Wednesday announced the team to play New Zealand's opening match in Pool A against Tonga at Eden Park, Auckland, on Friday, 9 September.
New Zealand:
1. Tony Woodcock
2. Andrew Hore
3. Owen Franks
4. Brad Thorn
5. Ali Williams
6. Jerome Kaino
7. Richie McCaw (c)
8. Victor Vito
9. Jimmy Cowan
10. Daniel Carter
11. Isaia Toeava
12. Sonny Bill Williams
13. Ma’a Nonu
14. Richard Kahui
15. Israel Dagg
Replacements:
16. Corey Flynn
17. Ben Franks
18. Anthony Boric
19. Sam Whitelock
20. Piri Weepu
21. Colin Slade
22. Cory Jane
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Written by Alex Goff
Tuesday, 06 September 2011 01:26 |
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Eagles Fired Up - Clever |
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National Teams -
USA Men
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 USA captain Todd Clever says the pressure of making the World Cup squad is over, and now his team can get down to the business of simply preparing for four must-win games.
"We've worked so hard to be here and make the final cut and people are excited,” said Clever. “Playing for the US team, we don't get to face top international teams all the time, so we have to make the most of it every four years."
The positive for the squad is to have had just about two weeks to work together before worrying about a game.
"We get together and then five or six days later we have a Test match. It hasn't been ideal,” he said, pointing to the need for the team to just have time together without the specter of a game hovering over them. But, he added, “we're coming together better than we have in the past, which is great, but it's a mission just to get 30 guys together in one room."
Now that they’re about to start, said Clever, "we want to start off strong, but it's a huge ask against Ireland. Four short days later we've got Russia. That's going to be a tough game, but it's one that we're picking out to get a victory from, and Italy as well."
In a way it was an official nod to what the players, the coaches, and the fans are thinking. Russia is a true must-win. Ireland and Australia they need to hang in there, and Italy is a wild card. The USA has never beaten Italy, but two wins would guarantee a place in RWC 2015.
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Written by RUGBYMag Staff
Tuesday, 06 September 2011 12:51 |
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Norwich Women Succeed in Montreal |
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Colleges -
Women's College
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MONTREAL, QC – The season opened on a high note for the 2011-12 Norwich University women's rugby squad this past weekend.
The Cadets won four of five matches en route to the championship at the Montreal Irish tournament. The highly-touted Cadets upended Bishop 48-0, Fredericton 15-5, and Prince Edward Isle 21-7 in pool play Saturday. In Sunday's finale against the host Irish, Norwich took a 12-10 win, reversing a 46-5 loss to their hosts in Saturday's final pool match.
In looking back at Sunday’s win over the host team, which propelled the Cadets to their first-ever title at the tournament, Coach Austin Hall came away impressed by his team’s defense.
“Never before in my coaching career, have I seen a team play better defense, inside its own 22, for a longer period of time,” Hall said. “The heart of our team was present in every tackle, every breakdown, and every second of focused play.”
Taking ownership of the ball from the opening whistle, the Irish marched down to the Cadets’ 5m line and began what would be a 45 minute campout in that area of the field. For 7 relentless minutes, Norwich stymied their attack, but ultimately a gap was found and the Irish led 5-0.
With their first chance to put the ball in the Irish half of the field, Norwich kicked long on the kick-off and eventually received a scrum outside the 22 after an Irish knock-on. A back option off the scrum moved the ball wide and then back inside to free All-American flanker Hannah Bushey with only one player to beat for the try. Bushey smashed her way through the Irish fullback to touch down between the posts. Sophomore center/wing Emily Derocher converted the score, giving Norwich a 7-5 lead with 16 minutes left in the half. Those 16 minutes were nothing but an onslaught of Irish attack, stopped over and over again by a solid and aggressive Norwich wall of defense.
Hopes of playing some attacking rugby were quickly destroyed when the Irish picked up where they left off in the first and marched right back into Cadet territory. Phase after phase of defensive awareness and team play continued to keep the Irish out of the try zone, until back-to-back penalties finally gifted the Irish a penalty try. The conversion was missed, but the Irish led 10-7 and had owned the ball and the territory for 90% of the match.
Once again, the Cadets kicked long and found themselves in unknown territory on the Irish side of the field. Clark put a grubber in behind the defense and the Norwich backfield raced on. Junior wing Emily Baugus touched down for the go ahead score on just the second Norwich attack of the day. Norwich held a 12-10 edge with 10 minutes to play after the Baugus conversion.
The final 10 minutes were, as expected, played inside the Norwich 22. The Cadet defense continued repelled everything that came at them. Sophomore flyhalf Joya Clark and senior flanker Marlene Dwyer provided a number of key tackles.
“We said that defense would win us this game, but we had no idea that it would require that much defense,” Hall said. “I am in awe of these players who battled through that match and never backed down to the physical Irish side.”
Team captain Katie Hathaway was selected as MVP of the tournament.
The Maroon and Gold's next match is slated for Saturday, Sept. 17, when they travel to Bryant College of Rhode Island. It's the team's North-East League opener.
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Written by Alex Goff
Tuesday, 06 September 2011 00:47 |
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Date, Reunion On Irish, USA Minds |
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International -
Rugby World Cup
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Ireland opens their World Cup on September 11 against a USA team with nothing to lose that will also be playing on the 10th anniversary of the 9-11 terrorist attacks.
The Eagles will be fired up. Ireland, with many players facing their former coach, USA Head Coach Eddie O’Sullivan, will have their own motivations above and beyond the need to win in a World Cup match.
"Eddie's done a tremendous job with Ireland over the years, but it's not really a massive factor for us, we just have to play the opposition,” said Ireland’s Geordan Murphy. "He's probably got a lot of inside knowledge on the way our guys like to play and I'm sure he'll be tipping his team off to our strengths and weaknesses, so we've got to do our homework on those guys and give them the full respect that they deserve."
"Today we knew this was the start of the preparation week and training went very well this morning, everyone was clued in and now we know it's game time,” added Rory Best. "We had two reasonable run-outs before today, but there's no doubt today, you could feel it, you could see it, there was a big step up in intensity, everyone knew: 'game week' and this is why we're here."
Both teams are aware of the date.
"Motivation isn't going to be an issue for these lads,” said O’Sullivan. “They're always easy to fire up. It's going to be emotional I think. For me, part of my job is to contain the emotion. If they get too emotional, they'll make mistakes, and if they make mistakes they'll pay a big price."
"Obviously they're going to be charged and the first 10 minutes I'm sure will reflect that,” said Best. "From an Irish point of view we have to make sure that we're able to match their physicality and intensity, especially in that first 10 minutes."
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