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Written by Pat Clifton    Saturday, 04 June 2011 23:08    PDF Print Write e-mail
O-Club Pack Drains Palmer For Late Win
Clubs - Men's DI Clubs

Olympic Club pulled away late in Saturday’s DI Men’s Club Semifinal at Infinity Park in Glendale, Colo., to win 41-29, but it took them the better part of 80 minutes to separate from the Iowa chiropractic college.

Palmer fullback Jarod Selby opened scoring in the sixth minute with a penalty goal, and Olympic Club rebutted just 70 seconds later with a converted Ryan Harris try.

Then things got a little weird. In the 10th minute, a Keegan Engelbrecht kick for points hit the upright and landed in Palmer flyhalf Chad London’s arms, and London raced nearly the length of the field for the Dragons’ first try. A few minutes later, Palmer No. 8 Ryan Duklas took an interception 50-plus meters for a second long-range score, putting the Midwest champs up 13-7.

Palmer threatened to extend their lead while spending roughly five minutes inside Olympic Club’s defensive 10 meters, but some tenacious goal line defense and a Palmer penalty kept O-Club within a score.

After O-Club cleared its lines, Palmer stole the lineout and was on a break when center Russell Johnson, with an uncovered Selby to his right, sailed the pass to put the speedy Canadian away just out of Selby’s reach and into touch.

Escaping a couple dangerous situations unscathed, O-Club clawed closer with an Engelbrecht penalty in the 37th minute, followed by a Peter Galicz try off of a five-meter scrum, giving the San Francisco club a 17-13 lead going into halftime.

“At halftime I said to the team, if we just take care of the ball, we were kind of dominating the line of touch and the scrums, they weren’t going to have any good ball other than the ball that we gave them,” said O-Club coach Ray Lehner, “and that was the goal -- just hold onto the ball.”

Lehner, aside from reiterating the importance of possession, also made some key substitutions at halftime, bringing in former Eagle Kort Schubert and prop Andrew King. It didn’t take too long for the pair to make an impact, as a big run from Schubert put O-Club into scoring position, and King slammed down the try in the second minute of the second half.

"We tried to essentially manage the workload of some of these guys," said Lehner, "so I think we got the right mix where we started the right team and got the right guys on."

London then slotted a pair of penalties to pull Palmer back into contention at 24-19. O-Club second row Carl Hansen was binned shortly after the latter kick, and with a man advantage, Selby inserted himself in the backline off of a scrum and raced untouched for Palmer’s third long-range try of the day. London hit the conversion, putting Palmer up 26-24.

After Palmer was whistled for obstruction on the ensuing kickoff, Englebrecht slotted a penalty to reclaim the lead, 27-26.

Less than two minutes later, London hit his third penalty of the second half to force the third lead change in about as many minutes, putting Palmer up 29-27 with 13 minutes to play.

Olympic Club went on the attack from the restart, but a big Palmer tackle forced a knock-on at their five-meter line. The turning point of the game came next, when Olympic Club’s pack drove over Palmer’s scrum and Schubert picked up the ball and forced it into pay dirt, taking the momentum and the lead, this time for good, 32-29.

Palmer, with about 10 minutes to work with, did go on the offensive and were granted a scrum near the O-Club defensive 22, but once again, the O-Club’s pack stole Palmer’s scrum.

“My hat’s off to our tight five,” said Schubert. “They battled all game, and all their work paid off there and a few stolen scrums just kills the momentum of Palmer, and I think that was the difference in the end.”

For good measure, Olympic Club slammed in another try off of mulitple forward movements, this one by reserve forward Brian Mclenahan.

The O-Club’s re-emphasis on possession was what created the opportunity for victory in the second half. They used heaps of slow ball to starve Palmer of scoring chances and march into their territory. This, Lehner says, was the plan all along.

“In our competition in Northern California there are a lot of teams like Palmer with really great backs, and we want to close the game, slow it down, and especially late, once we had the lead, we wanted to really slow it down,” he said. “The boys did a great job. Andrew King is a real force. He came off the bench and made a massive difference once he came in.”

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Written by RUGBYMag Staff    Saturday, 04 June 2011 22:38    PDF Print Write e-mail
Images from Day One of the CRC
Sevens - Collegiate Sevens

Philadelphia - It was a memorable first day during the USA Sevens Collegiate Rugby Championship at PPL Park. More than 10,000 people piled into the stadium and were treated to some of the best collegiate rugby in the USA, peppered with upsets, last-minute victories, plenty of cracking hits and an abundance of fancy footwork in the open field. But don't take our word for it, take photographer Marvin Dangerfield's, who was on hand to shoot all of the action.


Arizona's Peter Tiberio, touching down for the 8th time on the day.

The Oklahoma goose step

Try though they might, Navy could not get a grip on the competition.

Don't worry about this recalled try, Dartmouth, you went 3-0 today.

Utah rallied from its loss to the Big Green to qualify for the Cup round.

Nate Ebner was entertaining as usual, but OSU had little else in terms of offense.

Army squeeked by Central Washington to go 3-0 on the day.


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Written by RUGBYMag.com News Release    Saturday, 04 June 2011 21:22    PDF Print Write e-mail
Canada Stuns Italy A in Churchill Cup
Canada - Men

Canada beat Italy A, 26-12, to open the 2011 Churchill Cup in Northampton, England.


alt
Chauncey O'Toole stretches the Italy A defense. (Ian Muir photos)
alt
A Canadian jumper claims the ball in a lineout over Marco Bortolami of Italy A.

Down 9-6 at the half to the Six Nations development side, Canada exploded for three second half tries, two within four minutes of the restart.

Despite the scores from No. 8 Aaron Carpenter, prop Jason Marshall and fullback James Pritchard, it was the manic running of flanker Chauncey O'Toole that saw Canada through on the day.

Named Man of the Match by the Sky TV Broadcast crew, the New Brunswick native had a huge afternoon with the ball in hand, setting up many Canadian opportunities and directly feeding Pritchard for the third Canadian try.

Coach Kieran Crowley was very pleased with the win, but was torn on what aspect of play caught his attention more.

"It was a pleasing victory, but more so because we didn't allow any tries on the day," the soft-spoken New Zealander offered.

On the play of O'Toole, who the coach had said was the form player in Canada coming into the tournament, he said, "He did very well, and that resulted in other people doing well."

Crowley points to the final minute of the game where a disciplined Canada squad repelled over a dozen phases within a metre of the line, a sign of maturity in this World Cup year.

Crowely offered that defense coach Clive Griffiths, who coached many of the Canadians in North Wales this past winter, was grinning "like a little gnome."

O'Toole, 23, who was playing in his 12th game in a Canada jersey, agreed that despite not getting on the score sheet his contributions made for a good day personally.

"Absolutely, it was a good day. Whenever you get the W, that makes it all worth while," said the former resident of Belle Isle in New Brunswick.

"They were a solid team," O'Toole said of Italy A, "but we just really put things together.
Ander (Monro) put me into a space a few times, and everyone played very well," he concluded in his typical understated fashion.

It was an uninspiring opening half as the teams jockeyed for field position and neither side really threatened the other's try line.

Canada jumped to a 3-0 lead in the eighth minute from an Italian infringement as James Pritchard hit for a 28-meter effort.

In the 13th minute a huge kick by Italy deep into Canadian territory was heroically defended by prop Jason Marshall who showed great pace in legging it back to cover the Italian intrusion.

The Italians equalized in the 17th minute for a Canada offside.

At the half hour mark a delayed penalty on the Italian 22-meter line offered Ander Monro a free shot at a drop-goal, which he calmly slotted for a 6-3 Canada lead.

It only took Italy two minutes to get those points back with another Tito Tebaldi penalty, 6-6 after 31 minutes.

Just before the half Canada gave away another penalty for an infringement at the break down.

Canada seemed inspired in the second half and put Italy under pressure right from the kick off.

Within a couple of minutes Canada was parked on the Italian line. A knock-on by Italy from a Canadian turnover gave Canada a scrum five meters out. Brantford's Aaron Carpenter took the ball from the back of the scrum, drove left and was stopped at the line but touched down. The whistle came and the referee asked for assistance from the Television Match Official. The try was awarded after several minutes reviewing the replay.

Then two minutes later a sustained Canada attack saw Jason Marshall touch down, also on the line, and a second request for help came, again netting a Canadian try.

With the Canadians now in the lead 16-9 they began to play with flourish and passion, not letting up the pressure on the Italians.

It appeared Canada might have a third try that would need verification, as Jebb Sinclair got across the line but was held up by Italy.

Chauncey O'Toole led the way on the Canadian attack all afternoon, finding and shattering the gain line with nearly every touch of the ball and keeping the ball alive at key moments.

Italy scored a penalty in the 63rd minute but there seemed to be little else they could offer against the well-organized defense of Canada.

In the 56th minute the feisty New Brunswick native found a seam inside the Italian half, running some 25 meters before offloading to a streaking James Pritchard who closed the last 15 meters under the posts.

Pritchard converted his own try and Canada were well in the lead at 23-9. A Pritchard penalty in the 70th minute gave Canada a 14 point lead.

Canada held off a late charge by the Azzurri and what looked like an Italian try in the 82nd minute was in fact a penalty to Canada. The resulting kick into touch brought the final whistle and the start of a huge Canadian celebration.

Canada now take on Russia on Wednesday night at Esher RFC. A victory there would give Canada a second straight berth into the Churchill Cup final.



For more information on the Churchill Cup go to www.churchillcuprugby.net. For more information on the Canadian rugby team visit www.rugbycanada.ca.

Canada  26 (6)
Tries: Aaron Carpenter, Jason Marshall, James Pritchard
Conversions: James Pritchard
Drop-Goal: Ander Monro
Penalties: James Pritchard (2)

Italy A 12 (9)

Penalties: Tito Tebaldi (4)



Canada
Name-Club (Hometown)
1. Hubert Buydens - Prairie Wolf Pack/CRC (Regina, SASK)
2. Pat Riordan (Captain) - B.C. Bears/CRC (Burnaby, B.C.)
3. Jason Marshall - B.C. Bears/CRC (Vancouver, B.C.)
4. Tyler Hotson - Plymouth Albion/PRO (Vancouver, B.C.)
5. Brian Erichsen - B.C. Bears/CRC (Vancouver, B.C.)
6. Jebb Sinclair - The Rock/CRC (Fredericton, N.B.)
7. Chauncey O'Toole - The Rock/CRC (Belle Isle, N.B.)
8. Aaron Carpenter - Plymouth Albion/UK (Brantford, ON)
9. Ed Fairhurst - UBC Ravens (Victoria, BC)
10. Ander Monro - Ontario Blues (Victoria, B.C.)
11. Phil Mackenzie - Esher/UK (Oakville, ON)
12. Ryan Smith - Prairie Wolf Pack/CRC (Caledon, ON)
13. Conor Trainor - B.C. Bears/CRC (Vancouver, B.C.)
14. Ciaran Hearn - The Rock/CRC (Conception Bay, NFLD)
15. James Pritchard - Bedford Blues/UK (Parkes, NSW, Australia)

Replacements
16. Ryan Hamilton - B.C. Bears/CRC (West Vancouver, B.C.)
17. Andrew Tiedemann - Prairie Wolf Pack/CRC (St. Albert, AB)
18. Mitch Gudgeon - B.C. Bears/CRC (Victoria, B.C.)
19. Nanyak Dala Prairie Wolf Pack/CRC (Saskatoon, SASK)
20. Sean White - B.C. Bears/CRC (Victoria, B.C.)
21. Mike Scholz Ontario Blues/CRC (Oakville, ON)
22. Matt Evans - Unattached (Duncan, B.C.)


Italy “A”
1. Alberto De Marchi (MPS Aironi)
2. Tommaso D'Apice (Futura Park Rugby Roma)
3. Fabio Staibano (MPS Aironi, 9 caps)
4. Corniel Van Zyl (Benetton Treviso)
5. Marco Bortolami (MPS Aironi, 84 caps)
6. Valerio Bernabo' (Benetton Treviso, 19 caps)(C)
7. Mauro Bergamasco (Stade Francais, 84 caps)
8. Manoa Vosawai (Benetton Treviso, 8 caps)
9. Tito Tebaldi (MPS Aironi, 14 caps)
10. Riccardo Bocchino (MPS Aironi, 6 caps)
11. Michele Sepe (Benetton Treviso, 3 caps)
12. Matteo Pratichetti (MPS Aironi, 22 caps)
13. Denis Majstorovic (Estra I Cavalieri Prato)
14. Andrea Bacchetti (Femi-CZ Rovigo, 2 caps)
15. Ruggero Trevisan (BancaMonteParma Crociati)

Replacements

16. Andrea Manici (HBS GranDucato Parma)
17. Matias Aguero (MPS Aironi, 17 caps)
18. Dario Chistolini (Petrarca Padova)
19. Joshua Furno (MPS Aironi)
20. Francesco Minto (Benetton Treviso)
21. Giulio Toniolatti (MPS Aironi, 5 caps)
22. Durandt Gerber (HBS GranDucato Parma)

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Written by RUGBYMag Staff    Saturday, 04 June 2011 22:15    PDF Print Write e-mail
CRC Pool Standings
Sevens - Collegiate Sevens

Pool A

W

L

T

Pf

Pa

Pd

Pts

California

3

0

0

88

7

81

9

Penn State

2

1

0

33

48

-15

7

LSU

1

2

0

22

43

-21

5

Ohio State

0

3

0

17

60

-43

3



Pool B

W

L

T

Pf

Pa

Pd

Pts

Dartmouth

3

0

0

77

31

46

9

Utah

2

1

0

50

39

11

7

Notre Dame

1

2

0

67

45

22

5

Boston College

0

3

0

5

84

-79

3



Pool C

W

L

T

Pf

Pa

Pd

Pts

Army

3

0

0

61

32

29

9

Central Washington

2

1

0

47

31

16

7

North Carolina

1

2

0

53

56

-3

5

Navy

0

3

0

29

71

-42

3



Pool D

W

L

T

Pf

Pa

Pd

Pts

Arizona

3

0

0

79

0

79

9

Texas

2

1

0

43

31

12

7

Oklahoma

1

2

0

34

61

-27

5

Temple

0

2

0

5

69

-64

2

 

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Written by Cody Secker    Saturday, 04 June 2011 19:29    PDF Print Write e-mail
Old Aztecs Make Krewe Sweat for Repeat Bid
Clubs - Men's DII Clubs

It had the implications of a championship game. When the San Diego Old Aztecs took on the defending champion Tampa Krewe for a spot in the championship game, neither one gave an inch. And in the end, it was a late try by winger Charles Kasper that sealed the deal for the Tampa Krewe, 34-25.

And despite the victory, Tampa didn’t play up to their full potential. “That was probably the worst game we’ve played this season,” Krewe captain Tyler Cathey said. “One of the main reasons we got the victory today was our depth and the tremendous focus they have when they come in the game.”

It was a game that seemed to have more swings than a city park. San Diego scored near intermission to gain slight momentum going into the half. However, in the second half, Tampa seemed to start gained momentum with back-to-back tries, but San Diego just never seemed to want to go away without a fight. With Tampa Bay up 29-15 and time waning, San Diego scored consecutive unconverted tries to pull within four.

“When we scored to go up by 14, that’s usually when we put teams away,” Krewe coach Dai Morgan said. “Give a lot of credit to the Aztecs for never giving up; they gave us a dog fight.”

For Tampa, it’s going to be about correcting mistakes and playing a more polished game tomorrow in the final. And for some players, it will be about proving themselves to not only their head coach, but also their team. “We have a few guys who didn’t play well at all today, and they were the first ones to admit that,” Morgan said.

Tampa will take on New Orleans, which is a team that glided into the finals with a big win over Fresno. New Orleans and Tampa met in the South final earlier this spring, with Tampa winning 38-17. As territorial rivals, bragging rights are on the table, right next to the National Title trophy. “We want to play them and they want to play us,” Cathey said. “We have history with them and they want nothing more than to beat our best.”

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