Deep South Rugby 2010-11 Season Report

Deep South Rugby 2010-2011 Season Report
The following is an attempt to capture the highlights of rugby in the Deep South during the 2010-2011 season. If you have any other items you think should be added, send to deepsouthrugby@hotmail.com.
Congratulations to the following outstanding players and teams for the following accomplishments:
Adam Ducoing (Former Brother Martin player now with LSU) was selected by USA Rugby South in Aug. 2010 to play in the National 7s Championship in New York.

On July 17, 2010, NORFC lost to Atlanta Old White 17-7 in the USA Rugby South 7s Championship in Knoxville, TN, in the semi-finals. Old White beat Life University in the final 12-5. NORFC tied Life in their pool match.

The following rugby players made the South 7s Women’s All Star Team:
Corey Friedricks – NO Half Moons
Danye O’Mahoney – Auburn
Madeline Wilbanks – Auburn

The following players made the USA Rugby South Women’s U-19 All Star Team:
Madeline Wilbanks – Auburn
Maddie Windstein – Baton Rouge WRFC

Sept. 18, 2010 LSU lost to U Tenn in the final of the Southeastern Collegiate Seven Championship 19-17.
The following Deep South players made the All Tournament team: Robert Johns (LSU), Adam Ducoing (LSU), Jeff Pilgrim (MS State)

Cameron Falcon (Shaw High School) was selected as a USA High School All American. He played in the USA U-17 victory over Canada (44-29) in Santa Barbara, California, in Jan., 2011

The following NORFC players made the USA South Select Side that played Mexico’s national team in Mexico City on April 9th, 2011:
Robert Hoffman, Ross Bellachi, Mathew Upton, Mathew Lytle, Jeffrey Reuther (see Jeff Reuther’s match report in 2010-2011 articles.) Mexico won 25-9.

In 2011 the Alabama Sports Festival added Rugby 7s as a sport in the annual Alabama sporting event. The festival was held in Birmingham June 24-26 , 2011.

In March Alabama became the country’s 28th state-based youth and high school rugby organization (SBRO). (See article in 2010-2011 article archive.)

On April 8th at the French Quarter Fest Masters Tournament, Billy Goodell and Fran Thompson arranged a reunion match between what was once teams with a very bitter rivalry over 35 years ago, Crescent City and NORFC. A great time was had by all the ancient rugby players who were able to attend.

Congratulations to the following referees: Ed Land was promoted to L1 based on his performance this spring. Chris Liddy, Alex Sharland and Steve Parrill all received Territorial playoff appointments this spring in various playoff events. Steve Parrill was selected as Chairman of the USA Rugby Training Committee, which is part of the USA Rugby Referee and Laws Committee. Steve’s group oversees all of the referee training courses that the IRB and USA rugby offer across the United States. Steve is also the current Chairman of SRRA, (Southern Rugby Referee Association) which includes the Deep South, SERRS and Florida. SRRA is the referee oversight group for the South.
If anyone would like to become a referee, attend a class or host a class, please contact either Steve Parrill or Alex Shaland.

The Deep South hosted three USA Rugby South playoff events, two in Mobile, Alabama, and one in Freeport, Florida. The Deep South also hosted a Level 1 (Entry Level) referee course in Birmingham in July, 2010

Teams Review:
Men’s Division 1
There is currently no men’s division 1 side in the Deep South Union.
Atalanta Renegades (#1) and Boca Raton (#2) were USA Rugby South representative teams to national playoffs. Both sides fell in the Round of 32. The Renegades were beaten by Metropolis (MW #4) 34-31 and Boca Raton fell 26-14 vs. Cincinnati (MW#3).
The semifinal matches were Olympic Club (Pacific#1) vs. Palmer (MW#1) and Glendale Raptors (West N#1) vs. Boston Irish Wolfhounds (NE#2). Olympic Club from San Francisco lost to  Glendale (Colorado) in the championship 20-15.

Men’s Division 2
South’s South Pool Bracket A.
The Pool Points (3 for win, 2 for draw, 1 for loss, 0 for forfeit but played, -1 for forfeit not played, -3 for no show)
New Orleans 21
Baton Rouge 15
Battleship 8
Jackson 8

NORFC won their bracket. NORFC scored an incredible 422 points to their opponents 34 in the six pool matches they played in the spring. They faced Birmingham (#2 team in South Pool Bracket B) on April 2nd in New Orleans and won 15-0. In the quarter final round NORFC defeated Knoxville 44-3 April 16th in New Orleans. USA Rugby South’s Final 4 was played in Lakeland, Florida, on April 30 & May 1st. NORFC defeated Greenville 73-0 in their semi-final match and lost to Krewe (Tampa) 37-19 in the final. (Krewe was the defending 2010 Div. 2 National Champion.) Both Krewe and NORFC advanced to the national round of 16 played in Manassas, Virginia, May 22nd. Both Krewe and NORFC won all their matches to advance to the Final Four. NORFC beat Buffalo (MidWest #1) 48-22 and Doylestown (Mid-Atlantic #1) 61-17 to advance to a national semi-final match in Glendale, Colorado, on June 4th against Fresno (Pacific#1).

In Glendale the NORFC would not be denied a natinal championship. They ripped through Fresno 38-17 to find themselves once again facing Tampa Krewe. This time for the national championship. NORFC came away with  a27-21 win against the defending champs and the first national championship for NORFC.

 Men’s Division 3
In Pool G of the USA Rugby South Division 3 the points (3 for win, 2 for draw, 1 for loss,0 for forfeit but played, -1 for forfeit but not played, -3 for no show) were as follows:
New Orleans B (Green) 19
Okaloosa 17
Tallahassee 13
Pensacola 10
Panama City 3

NORFC B (Green) won their pool the first year this side competed in the division 3 competition. In the quarterfinals on April 16th, NORFC B (Green) defeated Krewe B (Tampa) in New Orleans 22-12. In the semi-final match in Lakeland, FL, on April 30th, New Orleans Green lost to Columbus/ Ft Benning 54-24. The following day Bragg captured the title defeating Columbus/Ft. Benning 22-13. In the national round of 16 both sides lost their first matches – Columbus/Ft Benning to Old Gaelic (Mid-Atlantic #1) 47-8 and Bragg 25-22 to Virginia (Mid-Atlantic #2). Bragg won their consolation round match 25-21 vs. Cincinnati Kelts.
Virginia fell to Syracuse (13-11) and Old Gaelic to Metropolis (20-10). National semi-final matches paired South Bay Rhinos (S.Cal.#1) vs. Metropolis B (MW#2) and Dallas (W#2) vs. Syracuse (NE#2).

The final saw Metropolis (Minneapolis) defeating Syracuse 46-25 to claim the Div. 3 championship.

Men’s Collegiate: Premier Division
This year was the first year of the Premiere College Division. LSU played in Mid-South Conference of the College Premiere Division.
The following are the results of LSU’s matches in the CPD:
Losses: Arkansas State 0-58 (home)
Notre Dame 11-15 (home)
Life University 8-71 (away)
Wins: Univ of Oklahoma 39-5 (home)
Univ of Tennessee 41-11 (away)
Texas A&M 16-10 (away)

The top 2 teams in the Mid- South Conference (#1 Arkansas State & #2 Life) advanced to the quarterfinals. Life traveled to California and lost to Univ. of California (Berkeley) Golden Bears 43-10 while Arkansas State Redwolves defeated Saint Mary’s College 30-17 at home. In the semi-finals in Glendale, Colorado, the Redwolves fell to Brigham Young University 36-15 and Cal defeated Utah 62-14 to set-up what has become the traditional top college rugby final of Cal vs. BYU. This was the 6th consecutive year they played in the final. Cal had won the last 4 and they came away a winner (21-14) on May 21st, 2011, in Utah to claim the first ever Collegiate Premiere Division Championship. This was their 26th national championship since the origin of a collegiate national championship in 1980.
In Rugby Magazines ranking of the 31 teams who played the first year in the Collegiate Premier Division LSU was ranked 20th.

Men’s Collegiate Division 1
There are no Deep South Union teams in Division 1.
Univ. of Florida was the USA Rugby South Champ. UF beat Univ. of Maryland 57-16 in the Round of 16 and lost to Bowling Green 21-8 in the Round of 8. Bowling Green lost 31-3 to UC-Santa Barbara in the semi-finals. UC-Santa Barbara fell 38-19 to Davenport Univ. in the final.

Men’s Collegiate Division 2
Points: (4 for win, 2 for draw, 1 for 4 or more tries, 1 for loss by less than 7 points)
Southeastern Conference West Division standings:
Univ of Louisiana (Lafayette) 10
LSU (B) 10
Univ of Mississippi 4
Mississippi State Univ. 0

Southeastern Conference East Division standings:
Auburn 10
Vanderbilt 9
Univ of Alabama 8
Univ of Tennessee (B) 1

In Conference semi-finals East Conference #2, Vanderbilt, beat UL-Lafayette 19-18 and East Conference #1, Auburn, defeated Ole Miss 42-6. Vanderbilt beat Auburn in the Southeastern Conference final 9-3. In the USA Rugby South Final 4 in Mobile on March 26th, Vandy lost to East Carolina (Dogwood Conference Champ) 22-9. In the final East Carolina fell to Univ of South Florida (Florida Conference Champ) 29-11. Both teams advanced to the National Div. 2 Round of 16 where both teams had an easy time. East Carolina University cruised past William Patterson (NE #1) 57-7 and USF took Bentley (NE#3) 44-13. In the Round of 8 East Carolina lost a close one to Salisbury (Mid-Atlantic #1) 32-29 and USF lost to Middlebury (NE #1) 38-14 in the Round of 8. Middlebury defeated Salisbury 29-26 to make it to the final where they lost to Wisconsin Whitewater (Mid-West #1) 7-3.

(Note from C. Dube, Deep South Union President) The LSU-B didn’t play in the Div II finals because they along will all Div I/CPD College teams fielding second sides are considered developmental or JV. Therefore the idea was to get these guys in a bracket and give them some developing game time, but the teams were never intended to be separate teams like they are in the Senior Men’s brackets. My guess is that when there was no set guidelines for CPD and Div I teams hosting 3rd side or second side games this was the best meaningful way to make sure JV or second side players were getting game time.

Men’s Collegiate Div 3 Bayou Conference
Points: (4 for win, 2 for draw, 1 for 4 or more tries, 1 for loss by less than 7 points)
East Division
Univ. of West Florida 24
Spring Hill 24
Univ. of South Alabama 10
Troy Univ. 0

West Division
Tulane 29
Loyola 15
Univ. of Southern Mississippi 0
Univ. of New Orleans 0

On March 27th the University of West Florida defeated Tulane 28-0 to become the Bayou Conference Champ and advanced to play-offs. The USA Rugby South Div. 3 Championship matches were played in Mobile on April 2nd and 3rd. UWF defeated Sewanee, the Dixie Conference Champ, 22-19 in the semifinal and Furman College, the Peach Conference Champ, 46-11 to claim the USA Rugby South Division 3 Championship. UWF advanced to the quarterfinal round of the National Small College Rugby Organization Division 3 Championship. On April 16th in Knoxville they played Longwood University, the Virginia and Mid-Atlantic RFU Champ. Longwood came away the winner 31-17 and advanced to the semi-finals. Longwood went on to beat Salve Regina College from Rhode Island, New England RFU Champ, 27-22, in the semi-final and claim the title of 2011 NSCRO Men’s Collegiate Division 3 Champion with their 36-27 win over Occidental College from Los Angeles, Southern California RFU Champ, in the final.

In the final 2010-2011 ranking of the 135 small colleges in the NSCRO competition, University of West Florida was ranked #6 with a 9-2 record.

Women’s Division 1
There are no Deep South Division 1 sides.
2010 Women’s Division 1 Champion was San Diego by a score of 16-12 over Atlanta.
The 2011 playoffs will be played Oct. 30th and 31st in Austin and the Finals on Nov. 14-16th in Mesa, Arizona.

Women Division 2
The following are results from the South Division 2 Championships: In October of 2010 Miami defeated Knoxville to claim the championship. The top 8 Division 2 teams in USA Rugby South were ranked as follows:
#1 Miami
#2 Knoxville
#3Memphis
#4 New Orleans
#5Jacksonville
#6Baton Rouge
#7Columbia
#8Charleston

In the quarterfinals of the national tournament Miami lost to Atomic Sisters (West #1) 29-0. The Atomic Sisters beat Raleigh Venom (Mid-Atlantic #1) 20-7 to make it to the final where they lost to Albany Knickerbockers (NE #1) 22-0.
In consolation play Miami defeated Budd Bay Bandits (Pacific #1) 19-0 and then lost to Severn River (Mid-Atlantic #2) 24-20 to end up ranked 4th nationally.

Women’s Collegiate – Division 1
There are no Deep South Division 1 sides.
USA Rugby South Champ, Univ. of North Carolina, defeated UC-San Diego (S. Cal. #1) 12-10 in their first match and fell to Army 51-0 in their second match in the national tournament. Army beat Cougar’s Women’s Rugby 31-20 on their way to their victory by a score of 33-29 over Penn State in the final.

Women’s Collegiate – Division 2 (No Deep South Div 1 sides)
Points in USA Rugby South Iris Division South Conference:
(4 for win, 2 for draw, 1 for 4 or more tries, 1 for loss by less than 7 points)
Kennesaw State University 24
Univ of Alabama 10
Auburn 5
Univ of South Alabama 0

Kennesaw State (Iris South #1 seed) defeated North Georgia (Iris North #2 seed) 32-20 on Feb. 19th to advance to the Iris Conference Championship. Univ of Alabama (Iris South #2 seed) lost to Lee Univ (Iris North #1 seed) 84-7. In the Iris Conference Championship on Feb. 26th Lee Univ squeezed by Kennesaw State 30-26 to win the title and advance to the USA Rugby South Final 4. The South Championship matches were held in Mobile on March 26 & 27th. Elon , the Dogwood Conference Champ, was steamrolled by Lee 81-0. The Orange Conference Champ did not participate, so Kennesaw State replaced them and went down to the Univ of North Carolina – Charlotte, the Oak Conference Champ, 21-10. Lee Univ won the final against UNC – Charlotte by a score of 17-10. Lee advanced to the National Championships in San Diego held on April 16th and 17th. In their first match they lost to George Washington Univ., Mid-Atlantic #2 seed, 20-5. In the consolation round Lee defeated Claremont College, Southern California #1 seed) 38-0.
George Washington lost their next match to Western Washington 20-12. Western Washington lost their next match to Radcliffe 32-14. Radcliffe defeated Notre Dame in the final 22-10 to claim the 2011 USA Rugby Division 2 Women’s National Championship.

Deep South Youth Rugby

Jesuit Blue Jays captured the 2011 Louisiana State High School Championship by defeating Shaw 17-7 in the final on April 16th at the Pan American Stadium in City Park. Brother Martin was 3rd. The Territorial Union (USA Rugby South) allowed Louisiana to send 3 teams to the championship tournament held in Sanford, Florida, on April 30 & May 1st. Jesuit went as Louisiana’s #1 seed in the high school bracket. Shaw chose to go as Louisiana’s #2 seed in the high school bracket. Brother Martin was Louisiana’s #1 seed in the U-19 multi-school bracket.
All 3 Louisiana sides lost their first matches. Jesuit fell 14-21 to Chapin (SC) Eagles, Shaw 36-0 to Charlotte (NC) Catholic, and Brother Martin 27-0 to Spartans (Georgia). Jesuit defeated Greenville (SC) 36-0 and Shaw downed Providence (NC) 19-7 in their second matches of the day. Brother Martin lost their 2nd match 29-19 to Greer (SC) Spartans. On Sunday Shaw defeated Greenville (SC) Red Raiders 19-27 and Jesuit trounced Providence (NC) 41-0. Brother Martin lost a close match 21-27 to Alpharetta (G) Phoenix.
In the high school bracket Charlotte Catholic took the championship with a 43-12 win over Jupiter (F).
In the U-19 Multi-School Bracket Naples (Fl) Bears defeated Raleigh (NC) Rattlesnakes 22-3 .

The final USA Rugby South 2011 High School standings are as follows:
#1 Charlotte Catholic (NC)
#2 Jupiter (F)
#3 Chapin Eagles (SC)
#4 Kennesaw Mountain (G)
#5 Jesuit Blue Jays (L)
#6 Providence (NC)
#7 Shaw (L) (* editor’s note)
#8 Greenville (SC)

On May 21st in Utah at the national championships Charlotte defeated Fallbrook (Sou Cal #1) 10-7 to advance to the semi-finals where they lost to the defending champion, Xavier (NE #1), in a heartbreaker 18-17. Xavier lost to Sacramento Jesuit 50-27 in the final.

The final USA Rugby South 2011 U-19 Boys Club standings are as follows:
#1 Naples Bears (F)
#2 Raleigh Rattlesnakes (NC)
#3 Mathews Vipers (NC)
#4 Greer Spartans (SC)
#5 Tampa Barbarians (F)
#6 Trojans (G)
#7 Alpharetta Phoenix (G)
#8 Brother Martin (L)

In the national tournament the Naples Bears lost a close one (11-13) to Utah United who beat Kansas City Jr. Blues 29-20 to get to the final where they faced their perennial foe, Highland. Highland captured their 20th national championship since 1980 by a score of 38-24.