The last weekend of January brought USA Club Rugby another full slate of 59 matches across the Pacific North, Pacific South, Red River, and the South.
Pacific North
Men's
After electing not to participate in the Pacific Rugby Premiership this season, SFGG is focusing its efforts on its DII and DIII sides in 2020. Against Life West on Saturday, SFGG split the games as its DII crew won 20-10 but DIII was defeated 48-29. The DII victory was significant as Life West played most of its PRP squad in preparation for its season opener on February 8th. In the only other DII match, 12 players combined for 16 tries in Santa Rosa’s 91-0 dismantling of Google.
Director of rugby at SFGG, Neil Foote, mentions the club's reasoning of exiting the PRP competition. “We feel with the advent of the MLR the PRP has lost a lot of the top quality players that made it an exciting competition. We have an exciting coaching staff on board this year led by former eagle Jone Naqica and supported by NZ sevens star Oreni Aii and Long term club legend Paula Fukafuka and Jack Webb looking after the D3 side. We lost a number of last years Side who joined other clubs in an effort to play at a PRP level but retained a committed group of young men.”
Foote continued, “Our Recent D2 match against a PRP laden Life West team showed us there is little or no difference between the two competitions. The match itself was a hard fought physical match fitting of the rivalry this has become. The match itself came down to our taking advantage of the opportunities when the appeared.”
Play in DIII was highlighted by comebacks, close calls, and tight contests. In the Blue Division, the San Jose Seahawks scored in the 70th minute off a five-meter tap and go to come back on Fresno 18-13 and the Olympic Club survived a late three-try barrage from the Sacramento Capitals to escape with a 29-24 road win. Berkeley notched its second win of the season beating San Joaquin-Stanislaus 19-7 in the Yellow division while Napa Valley snatched victory from the jaws of defeat with a Robert Beasley try in the 77th minute to win 23-22. Lastly, B.A. Baracus doubled up Colusa County 51-24 despite being red-carded 20 minutes into the match.
Women's
San Francisco Golden Gate (SFGG) and Berkeley are both 2-0 in DII NorCal after last weekend’s wins. SFGG built off of its season-opening win against San Jose with a 25-10 victory over Life West Saturday.
“My opening preamble to the team was: This is all mental fortitude. It doesn’t matter what they were or what we were last year; it’s how you approach every single game,” SFGG head coach Emma Hadfield recited Saturday’s pre-game speech. “It’s about putting one foot in front of the other and making your next step better than the last.”
Captain Morgan Wisehart did well to keep the team focused during an even first half, and the speed and attacking ability of Simone Colas energized the squad.
“There were moments when they started to break us down, and then there are always a couple of those senior core players that really elevate the team and bring it back for us,” Hadfield said. “There were times when our rucking wasn’t clean, and we worked so hard on that last week. All it takes is a couple of those veterans setting the ruck, slowing it down and executing, and once we get the ball in hand and moving forward, everything comes really naturally.” SFGG tidied up its game in the second half and pulled away for a 25-10 win.
Berkeley opened up against San Jose, recording an 85-7 win to lead the league standings. There was a period in the first quarter when the teams were knotted at 7-7 – Mariah Blackmore scored San Jose’s try, which Teagan Hughes converted – but otherwise the game belonged to the All Blues. Maria Victoria Abrenica, Teru Baker, Cathy Cai, Kat Chasakara, Erika Granger, Briana Riley, Sally Shatford, Jazmyne Spear and Angelina Tuakalau scored tries, while Chasakara kicked the majority of conversions.
Berkeley plays Life West this weekend, SFGG is meant to host Santa Rosa, while Sacramento plays San Jose.
Pacific South
Men's
The newly revamped Pacific South DII began its season on Saturday. The changes to DII included the Santa Monica Dolphins joining the division from the PRP and Belmont Shore’s DIII side moving up a level. With the addition of the two new clubs, the division was split into two five-team groups.
In its first match, Santa Monica was welcomed to DII with a 17-15 loss to last season’s league champs, the Ventura County Outlaws. Ventura County’s stout defense held its lead for the final 30 minutes after Brendon Pinheiro scored the eventual game-winner a little over ten minutes after halftime. On the flip side, Belmont Shore showed it belongs in DII after flexing its muscles against Pasadena for the 57-15 victory. In the other two games, Oceanside began its season with a Las Vegas party beating the Irish 49-34 and the Tempe Old Devils brought the hellfire to Los Angeles for the 41-6 win.
The third weekend of action in the Arizona DIII saw one dominant team emerge and a lot of parity in the next five clubs in the standings. After moving down to DIII, the Red Mountain Warthogs are on a tear after beating Las Vegas 40-34 to remain undefeated. With Phoenix, Tucson, and NAU picking up wins on Saturday, the peloton pack behind the Warthogs that includes Las Vegas and Scottsdale all seem fairly even. A lot will need to happen for teams to separate themselves over the next seven games.
One game of note in DIII was the Tucson Magpies clipping the Old Pueblo Lions 52-22 to retain the Tucson Cup for the twelfth straight year. The Tucson rivalry cup has existed for 16 years with Old Pueblo holding it for the first four years. Tucson fullback Anthony Spencer had a second impressive game logging three tries, which brings him up to nine in only three matches.
It’s still too early to tell who will emerge from the SoCal DIII pack. The North County Gurkhas and Eagle Rock are the front-runners with a bevy of contenders behind them in the 12-team division. Santa Monica, Huntington Beach, and Santa Barbara each secured their first victory over tough competition while North County and Eagle Rock added their second. This weekend’s match between San Diego and North County should be a game to watch.
In DIV, it’s a two-way tie for first in the early season. The Dead Rabbits are very much alive and are 2-0 after a 52-24 victory over the San Diego Armada. The South Bay Stingrays are also undefeated despite a second-half scare from the LA Rebellion on Saturday.
Women's
DI San Diego was on its way to a landslide win against Santa Monica, taking a 31-0 lead through Bria Bohanon (3), Chun Chow and Kristina Johnson tries and three SarahRose Oberman-Breindel conversions. The Dolphins then rallied with four-straight scores from Nina Poloukhine, Daejione Jones, Ann Leese and Christina DerHagopian. Poloukhine’s conversion made it 31-22 midway through the second half. Bohanon then added one more San Diego score and Oberman-Breindel’s extras sealed a 38-22 win. Both teams banked bonus points. On the other side of the four-team league, Belmont Shore forfeited to Tempe.
Division III also saw new team Riverside forfeit to Phoenix, but a game of 10s did evolve. Meanwhile, Santa Barbara, like Phoenix, improved to 2-0 with 29-10 win over Northern Arizona. The teams were tied as Santa Barbara’s Jessica Vazquez and Northern Arizona’s Serina Satoafaiga traded scores, and then the Mermaids built some momentum with back-to-back tries through Kathryn Culhane and Amanda Kelley, 17-5. Jacqueline Castillo put down one more try for the Arizona squad, and the game ended with Santa Barbara’s Emma Matheny and Crystal Ho scoring. Phoenix and Santa Barbara play this weekend.
Red River
Men's
The Red River match of the week was the men’s DII match between Ft. Worth and the Dallas Reds. After going 2-6 last season, Ft. Worth is off to a strong, and somewhat surprising, start to the season. After opening the year with a 17-10 home win over last season’s Red River DII champions, the Austin Blacks, Ft. Worth beat the Austin Huns 22-5 on the road. On the other side, Dallas hoped to continue its success being a league semi-finalist last year and started 2020 with a win against the Huns, 17-12.
When game day arrived, Dallas burst out to healthy lead up 15-0 after 20 minutes. Although Ft. Worth got on the board via an Andrew Audet try, Dallas dominated the set pieces, contact area, and field position in the first half and held the 22-7 advantage at the break.
As Ft. Worth head coach TeShay Flowers recalls with a chuckle, “At the half, I told the men: ‘My granddaughter is here. Stop embarrassing me.’' Well, Flowers’ halftime talk worked. After the Reds notched a penalty kick early in the second half, Ft. Worth went on to score 21 unanswered points in the final 35 minutes of the match. The last try in the 78th minute put Ft. Worth over the top for the 28-25 victory.
“I was happy with the second half effort regardless of the result,” said coach Flowers. “We are still very much a work in progress but I can see the team starting to gel. This was a character win for the team more than anything else. They fought for each other and never gave up. As a coach, that's all you can really ask for… everything else will sort itself out.”
“This match was destined to be a tightly-contested affair from start to finish,” said Dallas head coach Filip Keuppens after the match. “Hats off to Ft. Worth for a great match, and we look forward to the return fixture.” The two teams will play each other again on March 14 when Ft. Worth hosts the Reds.
As for the Austin Blacks versus the Austin Huns triple-header in celebration of Australia Day, the Blacks went three for three winning the DI, DII, and DIII matches. Blacks started with a 53-0 shutout in DIII, just got by the Huns in the DII match by a score of 27-23, and lastly, DI extended its winning streak to three games with a 36-26 win. In addition to the victories on the pitch, the Austin Blacks were proud to donate $1,000 to the Australian Red Cross as part of their annual Australia Day celebration.
In DIII, the Grand Prairie Mavericks are still kings of the North defeating Alliance 47-26 while Shreveport upset D.A.R.C. 42-32 and Dallas ended a two-game slide to get back to 0.500 with a 24-22 squeaker versus the Harlequins. In the Central, the Other Rugby Club blew out San Antonio 75-22, which included five tries from Justin Hale, and McAllen earned its second win over Alamo City 43-25. Down South, H.U.R.T. blanked Galveston 69-0, Bay Area cracked Woodlands 43-10, and Kingwood put up a valiant effort against the Houston Arrows but fell 29-27.
In other notable scores from the Red River, Dale “Cheese” Russ and his three-try day led the Dallas Reds to 43-32 DI win over the Dallas Harlequins and the Woodlands picked up its first DII win against San Antonio 34-24.
Women's
Austin took over the DII standings after a 24-10 win against San Antonio. Both teams are 3-1, but the Valkyries have two extra bonus points.
The Riveters went up 7-0 when Antea Dedic scored 10 minutes in and Christine Krieger converted. Approximately 20 minutes later, Valkyries fullback Chelsey Arambula scored and flyhalf Zoe Hunter evened it up with a conversion. San Antonio retook the lead 12 minutes into the second half with a Krieger penalty, 10-7.
“During the first half we were pretty much neck-and-neck playing a heavy forwards game,” Austin captain Alicia Fischweicher explained. “In the second half we were able to swing the ball out to our speed. Sending in a few fresh legs and getting our ball out to space helped us secure a late win.”
Even though Austin incurred a yellow card at the turn of the fourth quarter, the team was able to put wing Kristen Karsten away for the 12-10 lead. Arambula and Jennifer Vancura added a try apiece and Sophie Babo converted for the 24-10 final.
Dallas Athletic and Bay Area are the only teams playing this upcoming weekend.
South
Men's
It looks to be a two-team race in the Florida DII South as Boca Raton smashed Miami 55-12 on the road and the idle 4-0 Miami Tridents continue to pull away in the standings. The February 15th match between the front-runners should decide the regular season title.
Up north, the Naples Hammerheads ventured to Orlando and handed O-Town its first loss, 32-21. Flyhalf Tristan De Kock nearly outscored the Hammerheads by himself with a pair of tries, a penalty, and two conversions. The three-team North looks to be wide open.
In the Florida DIV, Orlando knocked off Naples 27-17, and Lakeland edged Indian River 22-21.
The second weekend in the True South DIII Southwest saw New Orleans break off 53 points to 27 against the Crescent City Blues and the Montgomery Yellowhammers pound the Gadsden Pioneers, 39-8. Inside center David Bess was a man possessed for the Yellowhammers as he scored four tries and one conversion in the win.
The scores for the DII tests of Birmingham at Atlanta Old White and the Atlanta Renegades at Greenville were not available at the time of publication as well as the result of the Atlanta Bucks at the Athens Eagles match in DIII Georgia.
Women's
Fort Miami and Orlando never disappoint and are the traditional rivalry in DII Florida. Fort Miami traveled to Orlando for its league opener (Orlando lost its first game 12-5 to Tampa Bay) and went up 10-0 on tries from outside center Makalia Kowalsky and wing Lindsey Perkins. There the scoreboard held until the 30th minute, when Fort Miami lock Brie Cokos scored. The visitors kept pressuring and two quick tries from inside center Morgan Brown put Fort Miami up 15-10. With 15 minutes to go, Orlando No. 8 Kristi Schnepp scored the host’s third try, 15-15. The teams pummeled each other until the final whistle, and the game ended in a tie.
Jacksonville and Indian River opened up their seasons against each other, and enjoyed a lead-changing first half before the Sinners pulled away with a 28-12 win. Wing Erica Long scored 10 minutes in and Keina Crawford’s conversion gave Jacksonville the 7-0 lead. Indian River responded with back-to-back tries through wing Ruby Sheets and lock Danielle Dipierro, who also added a conversion for the 12-7 halftime edge. In the second stanza, Long and outside center Rachael Stabbert (2) dotted down, and Long and Crawford (2) converted all three for the win.
This weekend, Orlando travels to Jacksonville, and Tampa Bay heads to Fort Miami.
