ANOTHER PELICAN FLIES HIGHER
Rob Hendrickson has earned promotion to C2 and was recognized for that accomplishment last Wednesday at our Society meeting.
Congratulations to Rob!
AN INFINITE NUMBER OF GAMES TO REFEREE IN PELICANLAND
Who would like to referee this Sunday, February 26? There is a game at St. Mary’s and another at USF.
We also need a ref for Monday evening at Cal Maritime.
Please jump right in! Early Pelican gets the best fish!
SOCIETY MEETING
Through the initiative and financial support of David Williamson, Professor of Sports Psychology Bob Weinberg spoke to the NCRRS Wednesday evening at St. Mary’s. Two dozen referees and coaches attended.
Prof. Weinberg is the author of Psychology of Officiating, which David highly recommends and which led him to seek out our speaker.
It was a most informative talk, with techniques to improve for all of us.
In fact, this writer has already had a chance to help another referee with these methods. One of his young charges from the Elsewhere RRS called to say he’s having problems not getting fully into the game until thirty minutes have gone by and there’s already a high penalty count. We talked about methods to short-cut that mental ramping-up.
The talk was recorded and sent on DVD to the members of USARRA’s training committee. They will be considering whether this material should be incorporated into the national training scheme.
Six visitors from our sibling society in
From SFO they will be taken to
The hand-off point to their Bay Area hosts will be at our society meeting on Tuesday, March 14.
The group will be hiking in
Everyone will have the option of doing high school games that Friday and then league matches on Saturday.
There will be a society banquet on SATURDAY, MARCH 18 in SF/Oakland/Berkeley. PLEASE RESPOND IF YOU ANTICIPATE ATTENDING. This will allow us to gauge the size of room that we need.
If you can free up a day off work to help entertain our guests, that would be great. Let Joe Leisek know – he will be announcing the billets pairings soon.
Ideally, someone from the Bay Area can go along on the
Trail Guide Bruce Carter will be driving up from
COACH DEVELOPMENT DAY AT STANFORD THIS SUNDAY
Stanford will host a Coaching Clinic this Sunday:
Coach Development Day will feature many internationally acclaimed coaches and coach development officers.
Many are flying in from around the United States to attend this one day session, but local registration has been, surprisingly, virtually nil.
Cost is $50, with all monies raised to be donated to the Pelican Ref Society, after the minor cost of lunch is deducted.
Pre-Registration is required. Please contact Jonathan Griffin:
THE COLDEST DAY OF THE YEAR
An arctic air mass moved in and temperatures plummeted last Friday. The snowline in
Many of us witnessed snow-covered hills on the way to our matches Saturday, February 18. That was certainly the case for this writer, driving up Highway 101 through
These are the peaks of the
Yet driving by these wondrously white geological features one also observes citrus trees, heavily laden with fruit, alongside the roads and in the yards of homeowners, keeping the birds and the bees busy.
Such are the contrasts of the coldest day of the year in Pelicanland.
We can only sympathize with the travails the weather can visit on those less fortunate than to live near the
Awakening at
Near freezing but never below, because the waters of the mighty
Having negotiated some dense radiation fog and arriving at
One fellow stepping steaming from his bicycle looked familiar: Rich Anderson, looking for all the world like he was ready to participate in this week’s inaugural Tour of California. He’d obviously put some miles behind and was ready for coffee and Danish.
We were two happy campers, talking about mutual rugby buddies while acquiring the mild buzz that ignites the day’s fuse.
You will read in the following match reports about hailstones, bitterly cold rain and wind. You will also read about brilliant sunshine and folks soaking it up. All of these are true, contrary though they may seem!
Such, indeed, are the contrasts of the coldest day of the year in Pelicanland. Enjoy reading about them in the comfort of your home or office.
GAMES RUGGERS PLAYED
THE PAT CULLEY SHIELD
By Jude Temple:
Throughout the modern history of Humboldt RFC there have been many student-athletes that have come from the high school rugby hot bed environment in the greater
The shield will be played for every year between the Humboldt and
The Patrick Culley Shield (the shield itself) was a generously made by a Humboldt rugby alumnus who wanted to establish a challenge to honor our mate Patrick Culley. In the planning of this we wanted start a tradition that would infuse some of the enthusiasm and zeal that is found with other “traditional” match ups.
Justin Poirier, the gentlemen who made the shield, created it from old growth redwood from a house that Patrick Culley lived in near campus while attending HSU. He is also a founding member of the Santa Rosa JC club back in 1993-94 season and then came to Humboldt to finished school and earned his degree in Industrial Technology. He played rugby at HSU and now teaches in the wood lab there.
PAT CULLEY SHIELD MATCH
It must be the peak of rugby season. My third league game in four days took me to
We loaded up the car Friday afternoon. Music, snacks and my wife Eileen for the 300 plus mile drive. Eileen had decided to join me for her birthday weekend. Yes dear I am not going to tell them how many years young you are. Eileen has been involved in rugby for close to twenty years. She went down to the LA 7's for the third year. .What a wonderful woman I married!
What a beautiful drive: a rainbow in
We stayed Friday night in Fortuna, celebrating its centennial. This reminded us that most of the economy and original purpose of this area was to log wood to rebuild
We arrived in
Santa Rosa JC took advantage of a Humboldt turnover to score the opening try by #13 Mike Rodrigues.
Then Humboldt's forwards led by the front row started to take over. Hard crashing #12 Robert Montgomery broke a couple of tackles before scoring at 32 minutes. Hooker Ken Hurd broke free right before half time for a well deserved score. Half time
Most of the second half was played in
Humboldt tied the game at 16 minutes with a try by #13 Adam Bruhl.
The next 15 minutes saw
Humboldt 29
The first Pat Culley Shield was kept in Humboldt. I talked to Pat after the game. He was excited to hear about the hard fought shield and the opportunity to be remembered and respected by two great rugby programs.
I asked Eileen how she liked the game. She said it was a great game and the only time she noticed me was when I was bouncing off players.
These are definitely two playoff bound teams. Good luck to all.
Wednesday, February 15
The game kicked off at
The game started off with some sloppy play but good tackling by both sides. Once John Tyler's SC side scored the gates were open. Six try's in the first half by six different SC players.
Most of the scores were due to breakaway runs started by missed tackles. Once Brian McDonald's
The second half saw some substitutions by both sides.
Second half saw SC scoring another 5 tries and State finally being rewarded at the 36 minute mark with a try.
Both teams have some good numbers and players. Good luck for the rest of the year.
Touch Judges: Jim Crenshaw, Bruce Carter
Evaluator: Bryan Porter
Saturday games:
West Sac 14 –
The referee reports that ‘they wanted to play’ and estimates fewer than five penalties in the first half and maybe a couple more in the second.
This is the kind of rugby we can brag about refereeing!
Seconds: West Sac 12 –
According to a telephone report from Jim Crenshaw, this game had one of the most entertaining, spectacular and, for the home team disappointing finishes in memory.
West Sac was ahead with little time left and thought they had the ball.
One of Olo Fifita’s mighty mitts took care of that – he simply claimed possession from his opponent’s grasp and dragged a couple of would-be tacklers along until support formed. From that point, it is estimated that every
SF/Golden Gate 3 – OLYMPIC CLUB 61 Referee: Joe Saccomanno
Referee Coach: David Williamson
SF Fog – OLYMPIC CLUB seconds Referee: David Williamson
I reffed the second half of the O-Club 2s v. Fog. The score for Joe's half was 64-0; the score was more lop-sided for my half.. Fog played gamely, but was over-matched.
SFGG did a superb job of hosting on Saturday. Their U-23 team went to
After the matches, SFGG invited the teams in their clubhouse, providing drinks and food to all--including the referees.
Seahawks 27 –
Evaluator: Mike Malone
Watson Bowl,
This game was more evenly matched than the score would indicate. Just four minutes into the match,
The second half was much of the same, with
San Jose were brave in defense and their discipline paid off as they scooped up a loose ball in their 22 and passed it back and forth along the sideline to score a brilliant try. With the score 27-20 in favor of San Mateo and less than 15 minutes left in the match, San Jose looked more than capable of challenging for the lead.
This was a tough, well-played rugby match with both teams putting on an entertaining display
Seconds: Seahawks 24 –
Referee Coach: Tom Martinez
Diablo Gaels 3 – SF/GG SUPER LEAGUE 45 Referee: Paul Bretz
SFGG continued to tune up for the upcoming super league this week with a match against the Diablo Gaels. On hand was their new coach from
It seemed to work as they held the Gaels to 3 points for the match. At the end of the first half SFGG held the lead at 9-3. However the flood gates opened in the second half as SFGG scored 36 points to win 45-3.
APTOS 29 –
In a game that is seen by the outside world as one of brutality and violence, but known to those of us lucky enough to understand this complicated and refined sport as the finest in the world, we as referees get a unique perspective. We get to understand the elegance of the finer points of the game, and deal with the violence.
Two Division 3 men’s social-cum-competitive clubs trying to show each other up is always fun, frustrating, and occasionally funny. But rectangular cards of red and yellow shades seem to help the players understand that scoring is more important than fighting. I say this primarily in jest. . . boys will be boys, as they say. We still played rugby, even while it hailed.
An early penalty goal gave
Aptos, and their fans, were there for a win, and they got it. But as usually happens with the social clubs, we then got social. Though we had to travel 20 miles to get to the restaurant/pub, Michael's on
In clear and chilly
Be that as it may, they quickly put the game out of reach by scoring 3 tries within 10 minutes of the second half. Two of the three were by their speed-of-light (and Irish) stand off Matt Bradford; he twice neatly inserted himself in the
Credit to
Humboldt –
Fog 11 – MARIN 22 Referee: Bruce Bernstein
Referee Coach: Jake Rubin
Marin barely beat the Fog at USF's beautiful, but artificial Negoesco Field 22-11.
The game was hard-fought/defensive battle with both teams unable to mount any offensive drives &/or finish with tries.
However the Fog came back to win the party 45-8, with 7 dishes including Palealla & frittata along with 4 choice beers on tap at The Metro on Market near Castro. Oh yeah they even won the boat race which was already over by the time I had to anchor Marin's boaters.
No report received.
At game time the field had a thin white blanket and the temperature was in the 30s. The start was delayed a bit to see if
ST. MARY’S 68 –
Evaluator: Bryan Porter
The only way to top an early morning cup of coffee with Bruce Carter was an afternoon match a St Mary's picturesque pitch. The field was in fairly good condition as the
The Gaels scored a minute into the match on a long try after some slick passing from forwards to backs. This pattern was repeated throughout the afternoon.
The Gael men of match were #13 Volney Rouse and #8 Captain Josh Merliner. The moment of the match occured midway though the second half when a clever pop kick inside the attacking 22 was touched down in the try zone as the hail or snow or whatever fell from the skies.
Seconds:
UNR were a little short of players but managed to round up enough to play, they also wanted to beat the snow back over the hill. They were not as tight a group but gave their best keeping St Mary’s at bay for a while – even leading briefly in the first half. St Mary’s better organization and conditioning played through, ending the half at 26 – 12 before a final of 40 – 12 with SMC playing all their youngsters.
Touch Judges: Marcus Williamson, Conner O'Brian
Referee Coach and reporter: Bruce Carter
Even on a day when the wind- and rain-tunnel that the mouth of
The cold, wet stuff seems to catch a vector at the
And the fact of the matter is, Witter Field and the Golden Bears always draw a good crowd from the visiting team as well!
But umbrellas alone weren’t the answer: it was cold. Hugging and shivering cold.
This was Tony Latu’s first opportunity to referee at this storied field. He took a tour of the Doc Hudson Fieldhouse prior to the game, to get into a proper collegiate rugby frame of mind.
Both teams are showing mid-season form: periods of patterned play and reliable possession, mostly organized defensive re-alignments, and the ability to take advantage of miscues by their opponents. Other aspects of mid-season form are also present, such as the making of miscues.
Brian Lowe of American Rugby News was on hand, and we renewed our acquaintance. Here is a link to his report of the match:
http://americanrugbynews.com/2006/02/18/sac-state-puts-up-good-showing-against-cal
Here are Tony’s impressions of the day:
My very first time at the famous Witter Rugby Field. Thus I had to leave early from Galt in order to get there in time. And I did, arriving at 1100. I saw Manager Jerry Figone and the ground crew putting the final touches on the field, which is unbelievable. Jack Clark then took me on a quick tour in their
On Wednesday,
Seconds:
The sun came out for the second match and the crowd melted away. Because the sky was so suddenly transformed, they all went to the beach or to a park?
By the end of the match it was not only sunny, concrete and asphalt surfaces had already dried. There were a number of folks sitting along the top row of Memorial Stadium, next to where the referees get to park their cars.
They weren’t watching sports; there wasn’t anything happening on the oval pitch below.
The row where they were sitting not only faces the western sun, it views the distinctive profile of the City by the Bay and its framing icon, the
UC
Touch Judge: Mike Villierme
Referee Watchers without Portfolio: Scott Wood, Ray Schwartz
UC Davis is a very impressive side. Stanford, stocked with good, fast athletes, could not keep pace. Constantly on attack,
Seconds: UC
This was pretty much a repeat of the "A" match as the Aggies appear to have a better idea of how to score trys either from long breaks from a scrum or from sustained drives inside the 22. The Cardinal appear to have good instincts and will be better with experience.
Maritime Academy 7 – GOLDEN GATE U-23, 13 Referee: Geordie Hawkins
Played at
The intermittent showers did not put a damper on the enthusiasm brought to the field by two young but eager teams ready to play aggressive running rugby. With threatening skies at kickoff and an already wet field, both teams still opted to throw the ball wide and employ some running rugby.
Several knock-ons stopped play early, and after a dust-up involving several players from both teams was cleared up, running rugby was back in order.
The second half started and the skies opened up with a steady rain falling for the remainder of the game.
Again
After a penalty against
Some good tactical kicking by
USF scored 5 tries in the first half (and in the rain) and 2 in the second to prevail over a UOP team that really came alive in the second half once all their players finally arrived. USF's backs looked particularly strong in getting the ball outside, while their forwards had their hands full with the UOP pack who consistently could rotate the scrums through 90 degrees. Having reffed UOP 3 times and USF twice this season, I enjoyed spending a well fought match with friends, although more than one jokingly commented that they were disappointed in me for not finding an occasion to call the police as apparently happened in the game immediately before mine.
UC
In an important Division 2 match, UC Santa Cruz took it to
About ten minutes into the match,
Both teams were anxious to start the second half, as the temperature might have been 40F, with the off and on rain showers. Several players had the sense to wear long sleeve shirts under their half-sleeve jerseys (remember back in the day when rugby shirts had full sleeves, for days like this one!).
Meanwhile, long breakaway runs by
A number of infringements by Santa Cruz toward the end of the match, as the were doing what they could to keep Santa Clara scoreless, saw some brave tap-penalty attempts by the red-shirted squad to get some points. Finally, as I put down the last scrum of the match with only a few minutes left, a rain shower turned to a brief snow flurry, and then it started to rain hard. Luckily there wasn't any injury time to play, and as I drove the twelve miles back to Aptos, I had the heater going full blast, trying to stave off hypothermia, and anticipating the long shower I was about to take. I hadn't even removed my boots for the drive home!
Stanford women –
Unfortunately
STANFORD (Red) 66 – Stanford (White) 43 Referee: Chris Parkhouse
Touch Judge: Deb Hart
The match was moved to
Both teams threatened a number of times, but neither managed a score until Cameron Stewart slotted a penalty with 10 minutes remaining in the match. A second penalty goal by Stewart with 5 minutes left to play put the pressure on
Katy Chou at #8 was solid for
Many thanks to Deb Hart for running touch.
Seconds:
Referee Coach:
It was another fun rugby day!
The intensity of the first side game carried over into the seconds with plenty of hard tackling and spectator cheering. Both sides have improved their skills over the last month and it showed in this match. The day was mostly dry but for a downpour at the beginning of the match. The first half belonged to
The second half belonged to
Many thanks to
UC SANTA CRUZ women 47 – San Jose State 7 Referee: Chris Fisher
ST. MARY’S women 22 – Sac State 3 Referee: Bjorn Stumer
Unwisely and pessimistically, your referee packed rain gear only to find sunshine at the pristine
This was basically a tale of two halves with
Kat Todd-Schwartz and Steve Jarmek
The
Monday:
Who ever said Monday is not a rugby day? On a day when the Canadian women's hockey team won Gold in
Beautiful, blue sky, crisp, sunny day on TI.
First half was a cracker with
The second half was all Bears. To be fair, this is pre-season for the tourists and the lingering jet lag was of no help. True to rugger form, though, they never gave up and were pressing for a late try until the final whistle. What a nice way to spend part of my day off; family in tow (at least Wade stayed awake for part of this one), a fun run and breaking some bread with new found friends.
SUNDAY IN
Touch Judges: Chris Lakey, DeLyn Barclay
Referee Coach: Sosiua 'Josh' Tameifuna
Assessor: Ruben Moran
There were Super League players playing for the
Editor’s Note: This was an exchange for Tony, arranged with the kind assistance of Dana Teagarden. In the other half of this exchange, Kevin McCaslin will referee the New York Athletic Club at
HIGH SCHOOL
Thursday, February 16
Peninsula Green 12 –
The high school season has officially started. This past
Both teams field well coached and experienced players. They may have two of the best scrumhalves I have seen this season in high school rugby.
The game started fast. Lots of good tackling. EPA game plan looked to by crashing their big forwards and wearing down the opponent.
Five minutes into play PG #9 Travis Benson took a quick tap penalty in for the first score of the game. Travis then converted his score. PG 7- EPA 0. Then the EPA's forwards hard driving charges started to break down the PG defense. #12 for EPA touch down try at 13 minute mark. EPA #3 Alo Sanft scored on a forward drive at 22 minutes. #6 Fatia Vailala scored on another forward crash at 30 minutes. Followed by another score at half time.
Toward the end of the first half some spotty play off the ball forced a warning at half time to both teams...enough.
Five minutes into the second half #8 Tenu Tukuafe scored another forward try. Followed by another try by a reserve back. At the fifteen minute mark one EPA player dove on an opponent on the ground for the first yellow card to EPA. Two minutes later another player late hit a PG player for the second yellow card. This stopped the spotty play. EPA played some great defense being two players down and held PG scoreless with two in the bin.
Both teams at full strength PG scored one last try by #11 Siosia Haatoa.
Good game and I look forward to seeing both these teams in the playoffs.
Friday, February 17
Windburg 5 –
Saturday, February 18, High School Games
SF/GOLDEN GATE 73 – Piedmont HS 0 Referee:
Touch Judge: Rob Hendrickson
On the Job Corp Field at
LAMORINDA 36 –
Touch Judges: Mike Sagehorn, Bruce Carter
Lamorinda played host to
Lamorinda played a patterned game of support while
Lamorinda eventually won 36-24. However, the match was undecided until the last play. With time running out
Lamorinda JV 10 – GOLDEN GATE JV 22 Referee: Bruce Carter
Touch Judges: Mike Sagehorn, Giles Wilson, Paul Bretz in turn
Standing around, too lazy to grab a flag: Rich Anderson
Refereeing high school games at this point in the season can be like watching your small child who is just learning to walk: mistakes will be made, goals aspired to may not be attained and the whole process may be a bit shaky, but you know that in a short time the players will coordinate together, work in synchrony, and progress appreciably.
Both teams have some good athletes and some raw rugby skills. They are eager to have a go and, when knocked down, keen to have another.
It will be a pleasure and a privilege to see them again over the next couple of months.
LAMORINDA Silver squad 26 – Antioch 24 Referee: Giles Wilson
A spirited and balanced game with Lamo displaying their strength in depth having already played their varsity against
The game was close, 10 – 7 in Lamo’s favour at the half but their inability to convert their first half tries would haunt them at the end.
APTOS 28 – Valley Christian 7 Referee: Chris Fisher
Elsie Allen 5 – JESUIT 27 Referee: Joe Leisek
Drove home from
THIS WEEK’S PHOTO
Newly-promoted Rob Hendrickson, featured speaker Professor Bob Weinberg and David Williamson pose in the classroom at St. Mary’s last Wednesday.
HAIL, PELICUS!
For the Senate
Pelicus Scriptoris
