Thursday, November 11, 2010

ANNUAL REFEREE MEETING SATURDAY

HAIL, PELICUS!

REFS NEEDED

Friday:
7 PM game at the Maritime Academy

Saturday:
6 PM game at Santa Clara
7 PM game at Stanford

Monday:
6:30 PM game at Stanford

Sharp-eyed readers will notice that those who refereed this past Saturday did two or more games. There is an abiding need for referees over the next month. I keep hearing about new referees but with rare exception they (you) are not responding with a list of dates that you can ref.

There’s no other way to get a game. Answer this e-mail and say when you can run.

Friday, Nov. 19: One ref needed
November 20: Need at least ten more refs
Sunday, Nov. 21: Four refs

December 4: Five or six more refs needed

December 11: Ten more refs needed

THIS SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10
FALL GATHERING AND ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

At the SF/Golden Gate clubhouse on Treasure Island
All of those who would like to referee over the next year should attend. New referees especially!

“Managing The Breakdown"
9:00 AM: Beep Test: The Multi-Stage Fitness Test (Beep test) will be given Saturday morning at 9 AM on the netball court at the Golden Gate clubhouse. Please be there early and warmed up if you would like to take the test. It's a back-and-forth shuttle run, so select your shoes accordingly. Those referees who aspire to territorial and higher levels should be taking this test annually. The more the merrier!
9:30 AM: Coffee, Bagels, and Juice for early arrivals
10:00-11:00: Seeing and Reacting to Tackle Scenarios (Pete Smith and Ref Coaches)
11:00-11:45: Coaches Panel--Paul Keeler, Tom Billups, Tony McKenzie
Moderated by Preston Gordon
11:45-12:00: Lunch
12:00-12:45: AGM: Reports/Registration/Safety Protocol
12:45-1:15: Managing A Dynamic Contest (Aruna Ranaweera)
1:15-1:45: 2010 Law Revisions and Key Video Links (David Williamson)
1:45-2:00: East Mids Exchange (E. Rauscher and S. Moore)
2:00-2:30: Video Quiz from South Africa (Aruna Ranaweera)

MATCH REPORTS

October 30:
Seconds: UC DAVIS 36 – Humboldt State 5 Referee: Scott Griffin
Late match report: Davis seconds beat Humboldt seconds 36-5 over two 30 minute halves. HSU was using some Davis players as they didn't have enough to fill out a full seconds team. Rain started coming down 1/2 way through second half, did not effect play substantially. Referee received much appreciated constructive criticism from 1st side ref at halftime.

November 5:

Stanford 18 – SAN JOSE STATE 24 Referee: Bruce Ricard
7th and 13th minutes of play, San Jose scored two try, and converted them (0-14). In the 15th minute, a San Jose player made a high tackle. This was already the third of the game, and after having warned the team on the second one, gave a yellow card to the player who committed this foul, for repeated fouls. The tackles were not particularly dangerous, but they occurred too often. At the last minute of the sin bin (25th), Stanford scored a try, not converted. Just before the half-time, Stanford scored a penalty. Score at half-time: 8 - 14 .

The second half started quite slowly. At the 15th, San Jose scored a penalty kick. Just after the restart kick, Stanford's ball carrier was high tackled, the advantage was gained, and 20 seconds later, the ball carrier was again high tackled. I sent the second high tackler to sin bin, and warned the San Jose captain that the next time, it would be red. The last 20 minutes were agitated, I missed two strange things in rucks, didn't see what was happening, it was on the other side of the ruck, even if I was close, and players stated to talk. I penalized a team for this, they talked a little less after that. Stanford made a couple of high tackles, but nothing dangerous; San Jose didn't make any other high tackles after the sin bin. San Jose scored a new converted try at the 25th. Stanford scored 2 tries in the 10 last minutes, not converted. But San Jose had too much of a lead.

Seconds: Stanford 0 – SAN JOSE STATE 32 Referee: Terry Ryan

November 6:

ANDREW MITTRY MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT
Anderson, Calif.

Report by Phil Akroyd:
It was a really enjoyable event that ran perfectly on time, was well organized with two pretty good fields (good and wide, but maybe a little short) and not one yellow card. We had a total of 4 refs (Pattalock, Wilkening, Ellis and Akroyd), so we ran one game on, one game off. I think there were too many games to give a detailed match report for each but I will include the highlights from the games I took.

My most entertaining game was Sierra College A V Chico State A. There seems to be some rivalry between these two evenly matched teams that meant a game with lots of aggression, intense rucking and a real desire to win.

Santa Rosa JC showed up with a large group of rookies who hadn't played before, not that you could tell. They went toe-to toe with Chico A and gave them a real fright with a game tied at 5-5 at half, which Chico finally won 10-5.

Sac State appeared to be their usual well organized squad with athletic players and strong forwards (the A side won all of their games, as did Chico State A). Having reffed UC Davis last week and Sac this weekend, I think that their games could be a lot closer this season.

Special mention to West Oregon who travelled a long way to play and came away winless. However, they conducted themselves magnificently under adversity with special mention to their captain who was a refs dream - in total control of his team and accepting of every decision from the refs. West Oregon also provided me with a "First". The coach asked that their opponents not wear full length tights, as he was well within his rights to request. Sierra College did not argue and obligingly, all three players removed them, as they did not have a break in the tights at the knee. Anyone else have this yet? Current Pelican law knowledge pays off again.

Report by Dave Ellis:
The imminent rain held off long enough to provide a glorious weather for a full day of rugby at the Mittry Memorial Tournament in beautiful Shasta County thanks also to my wonderfully obstinate mother, who despite being hospitalized insisted I go and ref the games (and I’ve never wanted to knowingly disappoint my mother). Once again the Mittrys put on a quality event in memory of their son Andrew - an ardent, ever-improving young rugger who was taken from us in an auto accident. Aside from an interesting array of field markings and lack of posts for a game or so, it was pretty much perfect out there.

CHICO 10 – Highwaymen 5
Two mostly veteran teams, with Chico gearing it up for another hard season. Chico have a nice mix of veterans and young guys in the team though, and as always are strong in the backs and tough in the tackle, which allowed them to eke this one out two tries to one.

Highwaymen 0 – SIERRA JC 5
JC rugby - you’ve got to love it! The Sierra squad seem to hold high aspirations for the season as they held off the veteran Highwaymen, who played as though they really did not want to lose this game. In the end a first half try held up for Sierra, who maybe had a little edge conditioning-wise.

Santa Rosa JC 7 – SAC STATE A 10
JC Rugby - you’ve got to love it!! Santa Rosa Junior College held sway in the first half of this thrilling game but resilient defense limited the first half damage to a converted try for Santa Rosa. Sac State came back strong in the second half with an early unconverted try, but even though Santa Rosa pressed again and looked dangerous, it was Sac State who battled to the final whistle and pulled it out with a try at the very end.

SANTA ROSA JUNIOR COLLEGE 38 – SAC STATE B 0
Santa Rosa put their foot on the gas from the kick off in this final game of the day and overwhelmed Sac State’s B side with 5 tries (4 of them converted) in the first half, coming from a mix of fluid running rugby and sometimes brute force. Sac State tightened things up in the second half, but couldn’t penetrate the Santa Rosa defense, which was impressive all day. JC rugby, you’ve got to love it!!!

STANISLAUS ROUND ROBIN

Report by Bryant Byrnes:
On a pretty Fall day in the San Joaquin Valley, four teams, three refs, six games, 20 minute halves. Mike King did the first two, I did two and Sam Davis finished the day.

SOUTH VALLEY 17 – Stanislaus 7
South Valley is, I understand, the Morgan Hill High School Club all grown up. Hey guys, keep those tackles lower. Stanislaus is that same team I had the pleasure of reffing four times last year. Although they did not win a lot, they were always game. Same here.

FOG 17 – Univ. of the Pacific 12
This was tied until the last play, when the Fog dotted one in the corner. Much better back play from the week before. The Tigers had a motor that would not quit and will be a welcome addition to college D2.

SLUGFEST AT UCSC

UC Santa Cruz 0 – SF State 0 Referee: Rob Hendrickson
I got my first run of the upcoming season reffing the opening game of the delayed UC Santa Cruz Slugfest tournament, which pitted the Slugs against SF State in a 2 X 20 minute halves format.

The Slugs use the upper pitch until soccer gives up the lower pitch for the winter season, which was moist but firm, and by half time, the clouds were lifting and parting to open that prized view of Monterey Bay.

SF State controlled possession in the Slugs’ half of the field for most of the play, and came close to scoring a try as the ball squirted out of their maul at the goal line, only to wind up under a Slug in goal. SF State looked very strong in both back line and forwards, although scrums need work on both sides. The Slugs mounted a spirited defense, with a strong line, but need to work on not being so anxious to charge the opposing scrum half at rucks resulting in offside. A fun start to the season.

UNR 22 – Santa Clara 19 Referee: Blake Crawley
Well fought match. A seesaw match for the first 25 minutes, then UNR got ahead and traded scores while staying just out of reach until the death. Two long runs for tries by speedy UNR backs sunk Santa Clara.

Seconds: UNR 42 – Santa Clara Seconds 39 Ref: Crawley
Santa Clara Seconds jumped to a 15 point lead and UNR clawed their way back and took the lead, dominating the middle hour of the match. After an injury delay Santa Clara came back with intent, scoring two converted tries and actually had the ball at the end but inexplicably kicked it away to allow UNR an escape.

UC DAVIS 36 – Oregon State 17 Referee: Rich Boyer
Oregon State left windswept Corvallis for an eight hour bus ride to Davis for a perfect day for rugby. OSU came out quickly and took the lead through good back play. Davis looked a bit rusty, this being only their second game of the season (preseason). Davis countered with two tries to lead at half 12-10.

OSU continued spinning the ball wide and racked up more points, however, at halftime Davis replaced the starting fullback with a larger man. This fellow broke the gain line every time he touched the ball, had incisive running and great offloading skills. He was instrumental in the three late tries scored by Davis. OSU visibly tired from the quick paced game in the second half and was unable to mark the new fullback. OSU were game, forsaking penalty kicks in the hopes of scoring more tries. However, the backs made mistakes which were capitalized on by Davis. Davis captain Sam (#8), and #6 played very well, scoring a try each. OSU #8 was everywhere on the pitch.

Seconds: UC DAVIS 22 – Oregon State 17 Ref: Boyer
The seconds game was as fast paced as the first. It was nice to hear a number of accents: German, Australian and Austrian. The Austrian informed me rugby is gaining a foothold in his country. This game featured some less seasoned players, prone to making the simplest of mistakes. They took the penalties in stride, oftentimes apologizing for their infractions. OSU scored first, then Davis score 22 unanswered points and it looked like a rout. OSU fought back and scored three more tries near the end to make it a very close game. I particularly enjoyed refereeing a boy I originally coached while at Christian Bros. and another boy who played rugby with my son at Jesuit.

FOG Women B 36 – USF Women 10 Referee: Bruce Bernstein
Played on the Fog's TI field in pretty good condition & what became sunny skies.

Highlights included: Both teams played very well for a pre-season scrimmage-type match with two 30 minute periods followed by a 20 minute one. Good ball control by the Fog; good kicks by both flyhalfs into space past the defensive centers; USF won everyone of their lineouts & were very crisp about it; & the best two plays involved the Fog's inside center (12) intercepting a USF pass & running a good 60 meters, only to be outdone by USF's outside center (13) returning the favor a little later & going a good 80 meters as the Fog was about to score.

Nov. 7:
Maritime Academy Intrasquad Scrimmage Referee: Joe Androvich

Mixed squads of experienced to true rookies played three 30-minute periods. The Blue team beat the Gold team 22-20. I always enjoy refereeing the Maritime Academy; they are well-coached, disciplined, and have a passion to learn the game. I wish them success this year.

THIS WEEK’S PHOTO
Five Out of Six Refs
The Armed Forces Championships were contested all last week at Fort Benning, Georgia. The Air Force beat the Coast Guard in the final.

Six referees were assigned. Pete Smith had to leave prior to the picture-taking.

Left to right: Bruce Carter, Marc Nelson and Joe Zevin (Eastern Rockies), Carla Cross (Minnesota), Ed Gardner (USA Panel, living in London)

This event began in 1985. Your scribe has attended eighteen of the twenty-six tournaments, three times playing for the Army, four times coaching Army, and the remainder as an official.

HAIL, PELICUS!

For the Senate
Pelicus Scriptoris