HAIL PELICUS!

 

April Showers Bring May Rugby

The late season rains have helped but not ended the severe drought here in Pelicanland but, welcome as they were, the rains will not be back until the late fall. One of the tragic circumstances we have to deal with out here – perfect rugby weather for the next 6 months. For those teams still playing and playing locally they will have a fast track to run on. For those who are playing in other parts of the country, well, it’s a crapshoot. Hopefully the weather will cooperate. Still active in the national playoffs are St Marys, looking to avenge last year’s close loss to Life University. In club action we have Sacramento Lions advancing to nationals with a win over Santa Rosa – a hotly contested series all season long. SFGG is also busy preparing for the PRP championship match against Glendale so good luck to all.

 

Fine Dining With Fine Feathered Friends

 

Praeconium Secundus: As the flock will all be in Sacramento already to cheer on the inevitable Eagle victory over the Moose Excrements our Annual Banquet will be held nearby the evening of June 21 following the match. Location details will be forthcoming as soon as we can convince a worthy establishment to host us. This is a formal event so #1 will be expected and mascot checks will be mandatory. Admission is free to qualified members of the flock but if any of you can manage to scrounge up a date then a terrible price will need to be paid. This year we are confident to once more secure the services of “Smiling” Pete Smith to emcee the event and hand out the awards and accolades from the previous year. Mark your calendars!

 

IRB 7s Referee Course

 

The IRB Officiating Sevens course will be offered on Saturday, June 7, 2014, in Dixon, California, at Gretchen Higgins Elementary School, 1525 Pembroke Way 95620.

 

It will be held in conjunction with a youth sevens tournament on Sunday, June 8. Those completing the course work on Saturday who wish to obtain Level 2 certification can be observed refereeing at the tournament to complete their requirements. The Lead Educator will be Bruce Carter. Morning coffee, juice and snacks and lunch will be provided.

Approximate delivery time:

8 hours. Plan to start at 8 AM and finish by 5 PM.

Cost:

$50 for the Level 1 course on Saturday, an additional $25 for the Level 2 certification on Sunday.

Prerequisites:

An IRB Level 1 Officiating (generic fifteens) certificate of attendance.

Requirements for Certification:

Current USA Rugby membership, including registration as a referee, attend and participate in all course modules.

Description:

The Levels 1 and 2 Officiating Sevens courses are designed to provide referees with the skills and knowledge needed to referee Sevens Rugby in the national environment (in major Unions) and to international levels in less developed Unions and/or age grade international competitions. They build strongly on the IRB Levels 1-3 Officiating courses and seek to assist match officials who aim to referee or assist in Sevens. The Level 1 Officiating Sevens course is a one day, attendance only program. The optional second portion of the course is a second day, accreditation program, giving Level 2 IRB Officiating 7s accreditation. To achieve this designation the participant must show competence in all competency transcript descriptors for all modules of the course. Course Focus: The principles of attack and defense in 7s rugby The time, space, and tolerance needed for officiating 7s rugby How Assistant Referees and In-Goal Judges assist the referee

 

 

And Now, On To The Games…

 

Date: 05/03/2014

CSUMB Women 0 – Santa Rosa JC Women 56

Referee: Asonye, Elvy

 

The game was clearly one sided, but still a great learning experience for both teams.

 

 

Date: 05/03/2014

Olympic Club B 102 – Berkeley RFC 22

Referee: Zanarini, Tom

 

Fun game of 10’s rugby.

 

 

Date: 05/03/2014

Provo Steelers 12 – Dallas Reds 43

Referee: Bruno, Jordan

 

Took an early flight out of Oakland Saturday morning to Salt Lake City for an afternoon match in Provo. The scenery driving down to the field was great–snow capped mountains and desert. With a kickoff at 4pm the 85 degree weather cooled off to 70 degrees with a calm wind coming in laterally. The Dallas Reds showed up early to Provo’s home field and were ready to play. With no certified ARs assigned to the match, I bit the bullet and handed the flags to each team, knowing that their input would be biased. Luckily the match was lopsided and didn’t come down to any marginal calls–the Dallas Reds took an early lead and were up 27 nil at half. A great kicking performance by the Dallas flyhalf saw 10 converted penalty kicks by the end of the game and all but 1 converted conversions, the longest from 60m out. Provo had a solid team with a big push by the forwards, but Dallas had the superior side with players that were fit and ran at pace. Foul play was kept at a minimum with one professional foul occurring late in the game within the Provo 5m line. Both teams were cordial at the end of the match and happy that they had made it that far. I thanked both sides for a spirited and physical match and flew out later that evening. With the varsity cup played in Sandy, I ran into a few old timers and Cal alumni at the airport. All in all, a great weekend in Utah.

 

 

Date: 05/03/2014

Sacramento Lions 31 – Santa Rosa 19

Referee: Franzoia, Tom

 

No report received

 

 

Date: 05/03/2014

Sacramento Lions 31 – Santa Rosa 19

Referee: Lew, Tim

 

In a great match-up for the Men’s D1 norcal championships, Sacramento came from behind in the last 20 to pull ahead and secure their spot in TX. Santa Rosa played a very good game as they control the ball and set pieces throughout the game. Unfortunately for them, they could not stop the long hard runs of Sacramento in the end of the 2nd half. Both teams played extremely well.

 

Thanks to Tom & Scott for AR’ing and keeping an eye on foul play. Also thanks to Paul for the feedback which allowed me better vision in the 2nd half.

 

 

Date: 05/03/2014

St. Mary’s College 72 – Lindenwood 7

Referee: Akroyd, Phil

 

#4: Eric Rauscher

#5: Mark Godfrey

 

A little more tricky from a referee perspective than the score suggests. While St. Mary’s were pretty devastating right from the first minute, there was generally a good amount of competition at the tackle.

 

SMC has platforms all over the fields – scrums, lineouts, backs moves – and follows the old formula of get the ball, keep the ball, score.

 

The final should be pretty good next week.

 

 

Date: 05/03/2014

UC Davis Women 60 – Santa Clara Women 17

Referee: van Staden, JC

 

This was a nightmare of a trip!

You think people at JFK would believe me that I really need to get on that plane cause I have ref a rugby match?!

Rugby? What is that sir?

Well, go stand in that doorway to the plane, if i make it through you I fly, and you will understand what it is…. If not, i will stay, and you dont need to know what Rugby is…

He almost look like he was willing to try, when his supervisor stepped in and said enough, you can not fly without your language, point!

Fun spoiler!!!!

 

Arriving in Davis 5:15, just to find have of Santa Clara late because if the shut-down on the freeway because of the gangster shootings… Eish, its just a game we try to play?!??!

 

Nice scrummage, Davis was just to strong, and had a lot of dept, but SC had the heart to hing in there. My count may be slightly off, but 8 scrums, 8 penalties, 2 line-outs sums it up! 30 min 15 vs 15, followed by 20 min 10 vs 10.

 

Good luck building girl!

 

 

Hail, Pelicus!

For the Senate

Pelicus Pedem Referre