February 7, 2010
A battered and bruised USA Sevens team pulled it together down the stretch to claim the Shield at the Wellington, New Zealand Sevens tournament.
After finishing 1-2 in pool play, the USA dropped their Bowl Quarterfinal to France 21-10 and fell to the Shield competition. There, the USA upended Scotland 19-12 behind two tries from Nese Malifa to reach the Shield Final against Tonga. The game was a repeat of Day 1 of the competition where the USA knocked off Tonga to get their first pool play victory of the 2009/2010 IRB Season.
The USA took an early lead with a Matt Hawkins try, but Tonga fought back with two converted tries to push their lead to 14-5 midway through the second half.
The USA came right back and got within striking distance with a Nick Edwards try that was set up by a nice cross-field kick from Nese Malifa. On the restart, a excellent tackle from Paul Emerick put Tonga deep in their own half. A turnover later, Emerick got the ball and found a seam to score with seconds left on the clock. Malifa converted and the USA won 17-14 in dramatic fashion.
The USA failed to come away with IRB points, but their 3-3 record and Shield Title marks their best performance of the season. The pressure is now on the squad to come up big in Las Vegas for a variety of reasons.
Injuries to Mark Bokhoven and Ata Malifa will facilitate a roster change heading into Las Vegas. Just dismissed last week from the squad, former-NFL player and Olympic hurdler Bennie Brazell and the young speedster Dmitri Ethmiou are the front runners to fill the void. With the tournament played on home soil, former USA Sevens stalwart Thretton Palamo may also be a possiblity to join the team.
Keep reading →
February 4, 2010
On Tuesday, USA Rugby CEO Nigel Melville laid out plans for the revamping of college rugby on his blog. Many of the concepts aren’t new to discussion and rumors, however they had never officially been put into place.
The major component of the announcement is that USA Rugby has officially began the search for a Director of College Rugby to lead the development of college rugby. The strongest sector of USA Rugby, the collegiate game has massive potential across the board.
“We recognize the need to create a college game that can support the increased numbers of players entering college and looking to play rugby. As a result we are now searching for a Director of College Rugby who will lead the development of the College game,” said Melville on his blog.
A few key areas of the objectives are items that I (and others) have discussed at length in regards to the collegiate game. Most notably, the creation of a new Division 1 competition to begin play in 2011, renaming the Territorial competitions in line with the American conference concept, and creating a uniform calendar. Further key objectives include another stab at the NCAA with women’s rugby and developing a strategy for Collegiate Sevens.
Keep reading →
February 1, 2010
The USA Sevens team has been named for this weekend’s IRB Sevens World Series in Wellington, New Zealand. The final stop before the all important Las Vegas Sevens, Wellington could prove to be a major point in the team’s season.
With two very disappointing showings in the first two tournaments in the IRB Series the team looks to bounce back from their 2-8 record on the season. The USA Sevens team has yet to win a game in pool play this season, but have held tight in a handful of games against the elite teams on the circuit.
Head Coach Al Caravelli has a bolstered squad with Team Captain Kevin Swiryn back in action. He has also added Paul Emerick and gotten Mark Bokhoven and Zach Test back from injuries. The team has also benefitted from an unprecedented buildup as they spent eleven days playing and training in Fiji
“It was a bit different having our training camp in Fiji, but it was excellent preparation for the next leg of the series in Wellington and our home tournament in Las Vegas,” U.S. Sevens Coach Al Caravelli said.
Keep reading →
January 30, 2010
Grand Prix Rugby World Series Part 2: The Competition
Welcome to Part 2 of our breakdown of the proposed World Sevens Competition. I must first update some incorrect data that I had. What I had referred to to as the World Rugby League or WRL, is not the correct designation. The initial launching platform is to be called the Grand Prix Rugby World Series. I shall refer to it as such from here on out. If you’ve read my earlier articles, please excuse any confusion.
OK, with that out of the way let’s get on with the story. This time around I’m going to focus in the competition end of the equation. Factual information contained within this article was obtained through multiple sources, including William Tatham Jr. who leads the effort to launch the Grand Prix Rugby World Series.
William Tatham Jr. has loaded his management team with some big hitters in the world of Media Broadcasting. Broadcasting innovation will be the backbone of Grand Prix Rugby as they attempt to take the game of Rugby Sevens to new media heights. The management group operates as Grand Prix Sports & Entertainment and will be referred to as such from here forth.
Grand Prix originally targeted solely the American market for the launch of their venture, but has shrewdly opted to launch on a “World Teams for World Distribution” platform. This shift in focus may ultimately be what gets the operation up off the ground. It is noble to make a run at breaking rugby into the American market, but these are businessmen, not idiots. America simply isn’t ready to support a professional competition.
Keep reading →
January 27, 2010
Editors note: Since the publishing of this article, I have been corrected on the true name of the competition. The world sevens competition being proposed is called the Grand Prix Rugby World Series and NOT the World Rugby League. Sorry for any confusion.
It’s not normal for me to write a follow up piece so soon after the original
article posted. But, news is pretty thin this time of year and this wasn’t a normal article for me.
My interview last week with William Tatham Jr. regarding the launch of a World Professional Sevens competition (being called the World Rugby League or WRL for short) immediately grabbed the attention and opinions of rugby fans across the globe. Within just a few days of hitting the internet the article became the most read article I have written in my two years of covering rugby passing the others as if they were standing still.
The really amazing part, and something of significance, is how far across the rugby playing world the article reached. A visit to Rugby America from foreign readers isn’t anything new, but the number and diversity of those visitors was like nothing I’ve ever seen before on my sites. At one point, overseas readers were outnumbering the American readers.
Keep reading →
January 25, 2010
A trip to the Semifinals of the Digicel Suva Sevens in Fiji was the icing on the cake for the team’s buildup for the next leg of the IRB 7’s World Series.
Planned as a developmental tool, USA 7’s Head Coach, Al Caravelli was very happy with the outcome.
“It’s great first step,” Caravelli said. “With only three practices under their belt, I was very pleased with their performance. The exciting part is that we aren’t even close to hitting our potential. There is still so much room for improvement. They’ve raised the bar on what my expectations are on them.”
Keep reading →
A battered and bruised USA Sevens team pulled it together down the stretch to claim the Shield at the Wellington, New Zealand Sevens tournament.
