With club rugby off next weekend for the Thanksgiving holiday, the Red River and the South got one more round in before the break. Additionally, two of the best men’s unions in the county battled for the Elite Cup in Marietta, Ga.
Elite Cup
On Saturday, the champions of the American Rugby Premiership and the Midwest Rugby Premiership assembled at Lupo Family Field in Marietta, Ga. for the 2019 USA Rugby Elite Cup Championship. Representing their unions, the Life Running Eagles played the Chicago Lions for the trophy. After 80 minutes of intense rugby, Life defended their home field and hoisted the cup high for a 32-21 victory.
The first half of the match was very contentious with both sides committing a myriad of infractions. As a result, the play was choppy with each team scoring a try apiece. The rest of the points came off the boots of Life’s Sam Crowley and Chicago’s Harrison Deck and the Lions took a slim 13-11 lead into halftime.
Chicago converted its third penalty to start the second half, but Life’s dominant forward pack took over. After the Lions’ player was binned for a scrum penalty inside the five-meter line, Life’s scrum was on their way to a pushover score before the referee blew up the play for a penalty try. After exchanging possessions, the Running Eagles attacked with the man advantage and spun the ball wide where Crowley dotted it down in the corner to go up 25-16.
The Lions found themselves looking at another yellow card minutes later and Life immediately scored off a lineout maul. Chicago killed off the remainder of the time and teams were locked in a defensive battle for the rest of the game. Alex Dorrier added a try for the Lions in the final minute, but the damage was done for the 32-21 Life win.
“When we won the kicking game and played rugby in their half, we had success,” Life head coach Blake Bradford said as a key to the game. “We felt going into the game that we could pressure them with our scrum and maul and when we got it right yesterday, we were able to do just that.”
Bradford indicated that the turning point of the match was the penalty try on a pushover try attempt that gave Life the lead and the momentum. “In the first half, we played a bit too much rugby in our half, but we made some adjustments at halftime and we were able to convert pressure into points early in the second half. Bradford continued, "Everyone executed their assignments. The forwards were tough up front, the inside backs controlled the game, and our strike runners in the outside backs were effective.”
With many on the squad playing in the MLR in the spring, this team win was significant to Bradford. “We had some good wins and a few tight losses this season, so this Elite Cup win means a lot to the team and was a great way to send off the eight players that are graduating this quarter. I am very proud of every one of my guys for a great season. Our team captain even got on one knee and proposed to his girlfriend which sums up the tight bond in this team.”
The championship wasn’t the only rugby played in Marietta as the Midwest’s Kansas City Blues wrestled with the ARP Selects, a side composed of players from Old Blue, NYAC, Mystic River, Life, USA South, and 404 Rugby ATL. The Blues controlled the tempo and momentum from the start employing an effective offensive strategy to establish and keep possession throughout the match. Kansas City lit up the scoreboard with tries from Casey Cummings, Matt Wirken, Ryan Scheidt, and Danny Agar and Connor Michael and John Ray combined to go 4/4 on conversions and connect on four penalties. When the dusted settled, the Blues walked off the pitch with the 40-21 win.
Head coach James Paterson was very proud of his team and attributed the victory to his squad’s deep bench. “We traveled light and were missing a number of starters so it’s a tribute to the depth. We were able to build phases effectively and this allowed us to control possession and momentum in the match. Paterson added, "Our season was a success going 9-1 and it’s an excellent achievement. Losing the final was disappointing for everyone but it was a lot of these guys’ first experience with finals rugby. I look forward to the core of this group returning next year and pushing on.”
On the event as a whole, the Elite Cup is a self-funded competition offering the best of club rugby. “With the continued success of MLR, the top domestic club players are simply not available to compete in the spring, thus the Elite Cup is held exclusively in the fall,” Anthony Nashwaty, Director of the ARP said. “The Elite Cup puts the talents of top club players on display for MLR and USA Selectors. We hope to give more players the opportunity to be recognized and the clubs another high-level match.”
Next year’s edition of the Elite Cup will include the ARP and Midwest and Nashwaty has invited other regions to send their champion or select side to play in the event. Additionally, the partnership between the ARP and MLR referees has been key in raising the standards of the competition.
Atlantic North
Three weeks ago, Lansdowne and Old Blue played for the Empire GU Division III Championship in Brooklyn, N.Y. Lansdowne played a dominant match and beat its opponent, 27-3. However, the match was played under protest and the result was ultimately decided on Monday, November 25. Here is the official statement from the Empire GU:
“Prior to the EGU D3 final between Lansdowne and Old Blue D3, played on 09NOV2019, both teams lodged a protest. Subsequent investigation found that Lansdowne had exceeded the number of non-resident players allowed on a game roster. Therefore, the game was declared a forfeit win to Old Blue. Lansdowne appealed to USA Rugby but the determination was upheld by the national office. Therefore, Old Blue D3 will represent the EGU in the crossover final with NERFU in the spring.”
Red River
Fourteen teams saw action in the Red River DIII as a flurry of high-scores highlighted the weekend. Starting in the Central, the Other Rugby Club picked up its second win doubling up the McAllen Knights, 55-26, and San Antonio outlasted the Austin Huns D3, 48-45. It was a tremendous day for the Austin Blacks as eight players found their names on the score sheet as Michael Taylor grabbed four of the Blacks’ 14 tries on the way to an 87-7 de-shelling of the Corpus Christi Crabs.
Up North, it was a nail-biter and a couple of blowouts. Against the Shreveport, the Dallas Harlequins survived a furious rush from their opponent and it ended with a game-ending penalty kick by Kevin Clift to secure the 30-28 triumph for the Quins. Searching for its first win in league play, the newly formed OKC Tribe came back with big contributions from Christopher Bromley and Gregory Forrester to beat Alliance, 60-35. It was a banner day in Grand Prairie, Texas as the Mavericks hosted Dallas for a DIII/DIV doubleheader. Grand Prairie swept both games with Lee Foliaki leading all scorers with a hat trick in the 47-5 DIII win and DIV serving up a 38-0 shutout.
Lastly in the first week of play in the South, the Houston United shut out Bay Area Rugby, 66-0, and the Woodlands Rugby handed the Kingwood Crusaders a 46-14 loss. Trailing by two points late in the test, Michael Mumaugh was the hero for the Houston Arrows scoring the 27-22 game-winning try with no time left against Galveston.
Down in DIV, Fort Hood Old Skool Rugby Club improved to 2-0 with a 78-12 victory over the San Marcos Greys (Aiden Childs and Connor Lydon each scored a hat trick) and the HARC D4 clipped West Houston, 61-7.
South
In the annual Atlanta Cup, the Atlanta Old White dispatched the Atlanta Renegades, 20-5, in both squads’ first matrix match. The clubs split last season’s series, but in this year’s edition, the teams had to contend with brutally muddy conditions as well.
“The weather was a major factory this weekend,” Old White president John Burge stated. “Our backline returned to us from 404 Rugby but was slowed down by field conditions. The game was just a solid slugfest between both squads. We managed to keep control and play our game at a slower pace than normal… Both teams never took their foot off the gas. We exploited mistakes when we saw them and played our game pattern.”
In Florida DII, Miami Tridents overcame a 17-5 halftime deficit to beat Okapi Wanderers, 33-27, and remain the only undefeated team in the DII South Division. In the only other game, Miami beat Fort Lauderdale, 34-24, to even their record at 2-2 halfway through the season. Fort Lauderdale is now 0-3, the only winless team in the five-team division.
