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1 VIRGINIA RUGBY UNION SPRING COLLEGIATE UNION ADMINISTRATORS: President Kris Kabza Vice-President: Bill Lucas Secretary: Greg Markham Treasurer: David Chapman MARFU/USARFU Rep: Reyn Kinzey Men s Club: Reid McClure Women s Club: Stephie-Jo Edwards Men s College: Carl Schmitt Women s College: Julie Comer Youth: Dan Bicehouse Newsletter: Jeffrey Anderson Coaching: Brett Burdick Referee Soc. Chair: David Chapman Referee Soc. Treasurer: Bill Frederickson Referee Soc. Scheduler: Bob Underwood president@rugby.org vp@rugby.org secretary@rugby.org treasurer@rugby.org usa@rugby.org men@rugby.org women@rugby.org collegemen@rugby.org collegewomen@rugby.org youth@rugby.org news@rugby.org coach@rugby.org ref@rugby.org rsvtreasurer@rugby.org schedules@rugby.org MEN S CLUB: The MARFU Division II Quarterfinals were played April 20. They were: (home team listed first) Norfolk Blues 26, Western Suburbs 12 Raleigh 34, Doylestown 15 Media 48, Brandywine 31 Washington Irish 20, Frederick 17 The semi s and finals will be played at Norfolk April The semi s matchups are Norfolk/Washington Irish and Raleigh/Media. The MARFU Division III Championship will be played April at State College, PA. The quarterfinal matchups are: Reading v Western Suburbs B James River v Quantico Happy Valley v South Jersey Old Gaelic v Blacksburg A PRU Men s XV beat touring Dendermonde RC (Belgium) at Severn River s home pitch in early April. Norfolk s Chris Porter scored one of the six tries.

2 The Norfolk City Blues won the Porter Cup. Their opening round win over James River was win #400 in the club s 24 year history! COLLEGE MEN: MARFU Collegiate Men's Div 1 Playoff Quarterfinal Results Game 1 - Navy 105 Kutztown 10 Game 2 Princeton 35 - James Madison 17 Game 3 - Virgina Tech 62 - Towson 20 Game 4 - Penn State 27 Delaware 21 MARFU Championship Semifinals Navy 31 - Princeton 13 Penn State 45 Virginia Tech 17 Plate Semifinals James Madison 28 - Kutztown 19 Delaware 22 - Towson 7 1st Place: Navy 15 - Penn State 12 3rd Place: Virginia Tech 18 - Princeton 15 5th Place: James Madison 17 - Delaware 13 7th Place: Kutztown 18 - Towson 17 The top three moved on to the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 on April 20-21, with Virginia Tech going to West Point, NY, where their opponent was Army in the first game. Army beat Tech The semi s and finals will be at the Sportsplex in Virginia Beach May 4 & 5. The semis will be Cal-Berkeley/Army and Wyoming/San Diego State. MARFU Collegiate Men's Div 2 Playoff Quarterfinal Results Game 1 Salisbury 39 Temple 3 Game 2 Virginia 22 York 0 Game 3 Radford 39 George Washington 0 Game 4 Widener 25 American 3 Championship Semifinals Salisbury 25 - Virginia 17 Radford 39 - Widener 14

3 No Plate Round 1st Place: Salisbury 32 - Radford 17 3rd Place: Virginia 51 - Widener 8 Only Salisbury State moved on to the Elite 8 and semi-final April in Jonesboro, AR, where they lost to Stanford in the semi-final, The final between Stanford and Northern Iowa will be played at the Sportsplex in Virginia Beach on May 4. The divisions for the VRU Collegiate Men this Fall will be as follows: Division I Tech and JMU Division II Radford, UVA, MWC, Longwood, and VMI Division III: ODU, W&M, CNU, VCU, W&L, HS and UR COLLEGE WOMEN: MARFU Collegiate Women's Div 1 Playoff Quarterfinal Results Game 1 Princeton 92- American 0 Game 2 Navy 11 James Madison 10 Game 3 Virginia 25 West Chester 10 Game 4 - Penn State 54 Delaware 3 MARFU Championship Semifinals Navy 22 - Princeton 17 (3 OTs) Penn State 17 - Virginia 0 Plate Semifinals James Madison 63 - American 0 West Chester over Delaware by forfeit 1st Place: Penn State 70 - Navy 0 3rd Place: Virginia 18 - Princeton 7 5th Place: James Madison 19 - West Chester 0 7th Place: American over Delaware by forfeit The top five teams moved on to the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 in Orlando, FL April Virginia fell to U.C.-San Diego 21-15, JMU beat Stanford and then lost to Illinois 17-3, Navy beat New Mexico State and then Marquette 20-15,Princeton beat the U.

4 of Massachusetts while Penn State beat Oregon 59-5 and then beat Princeton In the consolation round Cal-Berkeley beat Virginia The semis and final will be in Blaine, MN May 4-5. The pairings will be Illinois/Air Force and Navy/Penn State. MARFU Collegiate Women's Div 2 Playoff Quarterfinal Results Game 1 Lock Haven 84 William & Mary 0 Game 2 - St. Mary's 26 Radford 0 Game 3 - Mary Washington 35 Temple 12 Game 4 Kutztown 53 - George Washington 0 Championship Semifinals Lock Haven 32 - St. Mary's 0 Mary Washington 19 - Kutztown 12 No Plate Round 1st Place: Mary Washington 17 - Lock Haven 10 3rd Place: Kutztown 20 - St. Mary's 0 Mary Washington moved on to play College of Charleston in Cedar Falls, IA April in the Elite 8 and semis. They beat Charleston and then lost to the U. of Minnesota in the final. The final will be in Blaine, MN May 4 with Minnesota v. Northern Iowa. In the VWIT, Virginia beat Princeton in the final. ********************************************************************** WOMEN S CLUB: No Virginia women s club qualified for the MARFU Women s Club Championship. The four teams that played were Washington Furies, Maryland Stingers, Philly Women, and NOVA Piranhas. Those that went on to the Sweet 16 were Maryland, Washington, and Philly. They will next play May REFEREES: Former FIFA referee Michel Vautrot had an excellent column in the December 2001 issue of FIFA Magazine. It was entitled, It s Only A Game. I reproduce an edited version here:

5 I read a letter recently that I had received from a promising young referee in a provincial part of France, whose cry from the heart said: We are less and less safe on the regional football pitches of our country (and whose fault is that?) and referees are losing credibility so much in the eyes of players and spectators as well as of the various committees despite the reports we submit to them, that I have decided to face the consequences and to pack up refereeing before I suffer this growing violence personally. When you think that 150 of my colleagues have already done the same thing so far this season, this makes you wonder. I m not the first and I won t be the last to hang up my whistle in disappointment, but if I were you I would do the same before it s too late. We have to admit that this is anything but an isolated case among referees in the provinces. There, there are not enough referees to go round for all the matches being played and it is driving them crazy to train new referees every year only to see them disappear again just as quickly. The whole procedure seems to be a bit of a waste of time and the turnover is doing the whole operation little good. Not to mention the ridiculous situation whereby if there is a referee available he only gets criticized, while if there are not enough then everyone cries out for more! Human nature As World and European Champions, France has seen the number of players grow in inverse proportion to the growth rate among referees, the latter fading like melting snow. And I am well aware that this is not a phenomenon exclusive to France. Many efforts have already been made and of course there is no miraculous recipe for encouraging new candidates because they have nothing else to do. But I would still like to make a few suggestions, such as: pushing the message, so often neglected, that football was not invented for referees (the game existed before they did) but that human error soon made their introduction necessary making teams understand that referees do not grow on trees but that most of them actually evolve through the clubs themselves, and so the latter would be well advised to think of this ahead of time to make sure they are ready for it. And instead of blaming referee committees for their incomplete referees, they should remember these referees are none other than the basic material that has come through their club system itself. After all, the more candidates there are, the greater the choice and the better the quality. Moreover, I think we should also sell our own image better by not always talking about the stigma attached to our job when in fact the truly devoted referee would never give it up for all the gold in the world. And maybe the time has come to change our tune by putting the absolute priority on the many good reasons for taking up a career that offers more pleasure than pain, the latter even being useful as it helps our development as human beings. Speaking personally, I do not know what football is supposed to owe me, but I do know what I owe refereeing. What I could not learn from a book I learnt from my years with a whistle, and I have absolutely no hesitation in saying so. COACHING:

6 William & Mary WRFC is looking for a coach. Interested parties should contact Katie Schleeter at vkschl@wm.edu or go to the VRU website at and go to the William & Mary contacts list. SEVENS: In the Hong Kong 7 s, the USA women s team lost in the final to the New Zealand Maori team, The USA men lost the Plate semifinal to Scotland MARFU: MARFU U-23 ITT Squad: If you want to be considered for this squad, you must attend one of the two remaining instructional/skills development camps: Saturday May 25 Mary Washington College 9:00AM 4:00PM Saturday June 1 West Chester University 9:00AM 4:00PM A selected preparation camp will be held June 8 9, location TBD. The ITT squad will be competing in the ITT s June in Davis, CA For more information, contact Nancy Kechner at kechner@virginia.edu MARFU Women s All-Star 15 s and 7 s Dates: JUNE 15 & 16 OPEN MARFU 7s CAMP, location TBD JUNE 22 & 23 OPEN MARFU 15s CAMP, location TBD JULY 14 INVITATIONAL MARFU 15s CAMP, location TBD AUGUST 24 & 25 ALL STAR 7s CHAMPIONSHIPS IN SAN DIEGO, CA SEPT. 14 MARFU 15s V SOUTH 15s IN CHARLOTTE, NC NOV. 23 MARFU 15s PRACTICE, location TBD

7 DEC. 6-8 ALL STAR 15s CHAMPIONSHIPS IN ORLANDO, FL For updates, go to NATIONAL: Tom Billups is the new head coach of the Eagles. INTERNATIONAL: Here are the current rankings for the top 20 countries: 1. France 2. England 3. Australia 4. New Zealand 5. South Africa 6. Argentina 7. Ireland 8. Wales 9. Scotland 10. Fiji 11. Samoa 12. Tonga 13. Japan 14. Canada 15. Italy 16. Georgia 17. Romania 18. USA 19. Russia 20. South Korea. There are currently 62 countries that have qualified for world rankings, with Norway bringing up the rear. OF INTEREST: Down Memory Lane I was contacted by Maria Linger of the now-defunct Iris WRFC to see if I would be interested in some rugby memories for the Newsletter. You bet I would. Here are some of what Iris recalls from her halcyon days: Although I am not exactly certain of the year, the memories are crystal clear... Somewhere around 1978 or '79 I joined Iris Women's Rugby Club in Richmond, Virginia. It was summer, and I was asked to play in a Sevens tournament after only three practices. In the first minute of my first game as a sevens' prop, I scored a try. Although it was the only try I'd ever manage, it certainly did a lot for my ego... I was instantly hooked and had no idea what I was in for when the real thing came around! Unfortunately, our coach at the time believed in a sort of 'hit 'em hard' philosophy. I started fifteens as a tighthead, and my instructions were to bang the living bejeezus out of the opposing prop... I didn't know any better! Plus I was the youngest on the team, at I wanted to please and did not rock the boat, at first. As I began to learn more about the game, I became disenchanted with the methods I'd been taught, and took it on myself to learn all I could about how a proper scrum should come in. I called Matt Godek, and ordered a few books, including the referee's rulebook... but still, there was only so much one can learn from a book... I knew there was something missing in our front row's form. I began watching other teams, and wanted very much to emulate the better players... but often the others in our scrum were dubious about trying new things.

8 I had heard about two women's teams that were legendary, teams I would have to face soon enough... Florida State, and Beantown. And I made up my mind that one way or another I'd get the real poop from someone on one of those teams! We faced Beantown soon enough, and got our butts kicked; but there was a certain dynamo on that team... Mary Ellen Moynahan: 'Moy' I heard her teammates call her. I watched their front row-- a well-oiled machine. They were bound and down so quick, it was nearly a blur! I found myself frustrated, trying to watch their front row, and concentrate on my team at the same time. It was impossible, and although I hated myself for it I fell back to my old ways, butting heads with Moy as hard as I could, then feeling like crap after the game. The third half was torture, for I was feeling like a total heel, having tried to take Moy out that way. I wanted to apologize, but pride wouldn't let me. We'd expected to lose, and of course we did, not even scoring one try. The more seasoned players had expected it! I was disappointed in myself! The next spring we resumed our season, and I subscribed to the E.R.U. newsletter. We were doing pretty well, winning most of our games, which we always did (except for games against F.S.U. or Beantown!) I was getting in terrific shape, and seeking any help I could get from other players and coaches. Still, that low tight scrum eluded us. Then one day the newsletter arrived and there, in the back, was a full page devoted to Moy, who'd been voted MVP. I vowed that next time we met Beantown, things would be different...but again, we got run over, and again, our scrum was sloppy, if not strong. After the game, I approached Moy, which was very brave of me, since she was eternally surrounded by players congratulating her. I managed to get her attention and told her my plight while the other Beantown players looked on, rather amused at my audacity. After apologizing profusely for the past, I as much as begged her for help on my game. Moy seemed nonplussed, but she gave me her address and told me to write. I sent a letter off the minute I got home, even before I'd showered, while the game was still fresh. To my delight I received a reply not long after; a three page letter detailing how Beantown's front row bound up, how they got low, how they came in, how the second row came in, as well as the rest of the scrum... I was ecstatic to finally be privvy to the proper way to do things... we'd been binding by grabbing one another's shorts. Moy said hold on to the jersey collars, and she advised me to become loosehead, since I was so observant. I studied the letter, committing it to memory, and took it with me to practices, to games, anywhere there was a rugger to chat with. Eventually I found myself at loosehead, proudly ordering the new number one for my jersey... and although we never did beat F.S.U. or Beantown, our game got better, and soon a lot of us found ourselves on the women's select side... they placed me at tighthead. It was an honor, but not as big an honor as getting invited to the Nationals, in Oakbrook, Illinois, where Iris placed something like 12th. Convinced I could not have improved so drastically without Moy's help, I wanted to thank her in a way that show my appreciation to its full extent. I sculpted a small

9 statuette of a female player, holding a rugby ball under one arm, and sent it to my mother who had a bronze foundry in Arizona. My mother had the sculpture cast, mounted on marble, and sent it back to me just in time to take to the Nationals the following year. Iris played well, and at the end of our first day I walked over to Moy and handed her the bronze statue. She looked at me somewhat curiously, said thanks, and put the little sculpture in her kit bag, bidding me good luck in our remaining games. At the end of the tourney, Iris came in 9th. We were ecstatic, having broken into the top ten... but after we were done there was one last game to watch... Beantown vs. FSU. Beantown had taken the National Championship the previous year and were defending the title. FSU was out for blood...it was a very tense match, with howling wind, and, I think, rain, or sleet, or hail... whichever it was, the game kept us on the edge of our seats... I screamed my heart out for my mentor, and her team. But despite their efforts, Beantown lost. It was with heavy heart I watched them leave the field after congratulating the new champs. Sighing, I walked back to my bag. It had been my hope to make more of an impression on Moy with my gift, having had such a desperate desire to express my thanks, to let her know what an impact her simple letter had made on my game, and how much our entire scrum had improved as a result of a quicker, lower, tighter front row. But indeed, it had been such a busy weekend, and we all had a lot on our minds, facing the long flight home with sacks full of muddy, ripped, bloody uniforms, nursing our wounds, reliving it all. After securing my kit bag, I felt a tap on my shoulder. Turning around I saw Moy with one of the other Beantown scrummers. Moy spoke somewhat softly, but in earnest. I wanted to give you this in appreciation for the sculpture you gave me. I didn't wear it today in case we lost; it has never been in a losing game." At that she handed me her Beantown Jersey; with her number one on the back. It was faded, patched together in several places, the sleeves cut short and hemmed long ago, and there were no buttons... her teammate was shocked and said "But Moy, that's your lucky jersey. " I was speechless as they turned and walked away. I stood for a long time holding the jersey, and was soon surrounded by Iris teammates wondering why on earth Moy would give me her jersey. No article of clothing before or since has ever come close to matching it... and to this day it hangs on the wall, next to my Iris jersey, and my Referee Society of Virginia jersey. It was, all in all, a glorious time to be a rugger. If you have some memories to share and all of us do send them along to me at news@rugby.org Don't forget about the on-line services for rugby. Some of the main ones are: The rugby newsgroup: rec.sport.rugby.union

10 On the World Wide Web: VRU WWW Site: EPRU Web Site: PRU Web Site: MARFU Web Site: USA Women's Rugby: WWW Rugby Score Reporting: US National Team: Rugby Today: Rugby magazine: USA Rugby: IRFB: Planet Rugby: Rugbyrugby: USA Women's rugby mailing list. To subscribe, put in the message: subscribe uswrugby-discussion (your address) without the parens. Rugby coaches mailing list. To subscribe, put in the message: SUB RUGBYCOACH (your full name) without the parens. This address gets you on the U-15 Youth Rugby listserve. Send your name, address, phone number, and rugby responsibilities to get on. Tactical Rugby listserve. For coaches, administrators, players, and referees. Rugby magazine. Hey, can reporting a tourney result get any easier??? USA Rugby's address. To reach an employee, (first initial)(last name)@ usarugby.org The VRU official address. The U.S. National Team s list.

11 The referees have a mailing list, but it s closed to non-referees. Weekly, more and more Internet rugby services go on-line. Get on-line yourself and see what there is! One great place to start: FINAL WORD: You don t have to compromise to be recognized. Wintley Phipps