HAIL PELICUS!

How Not To Make Friends On The Phone

As it happens, like many of us, I do have occasion to travel to the Land of the Griffon every so often. This past weekend I had an event in Pasadena and not wanting to waste a rugby weekend I contacted the Southern California Rugby Referee Society and notified them of my location and availability. They were kind enough to assign me to Pasadena’s home match against Tempe so I was set. All I needed next was to get there, and therein lies our tale.

Hail Pelicus often has tales of long drives through the countryside of Pelicanland, marveling at the majestic and pastoral by turn. The natural wonders we live amongst are spectacular and deserve all of the appreciation that they get but not all travel stories are the same. This last weekend was a tale of adventure and disappointment, courage and conflict, hope and despair before eventual victory, but at a cost. We shall start, as is proper, at the beginning.

I had booked a flight for the weekend months ago and used some of the Southwest points I have piled up through my business travel . I arranged lodgings and a car and was happily set for a fun weekend with friends and rugby. The Wednesday prior I was setting up a ride to the airport and checked my reservation and discovered something wrong: the flight was booked out of SFO instead of San Jose. That may not seem like a big deal to most but I live about 5 miles from San Jose International Airport and for me to get to San Francisco on a Friday evening in the heart of rush hour traffic was an eye-gouging, hair pulling, minimum 2 hour proposition at the very least. This could not stand. I called up the Southwest customer service department and calmly explained the situation and asked how it could be that I am flying out of the wrong airport. Well, apparently the Southwest website automatically suggests alternate regional airports when making reservations and I didn’t notice that the perfect flight at the perfect time was in fact, out of SFO not SJC. “NO!” I cried, “This is intolerable! Look at every other flight I have taken on Southwest! Look at the flight I am taking in two weeks! I always fly out of SJC! Look at my address; I live 5 miles for the airport! Why would you move my flight to San Francisco?” At this point the lady on the phone told me she could change my flight and we found an acceptable flight both coming and going out of San Jose. Phew! She started making changes and then said the fateful words “You don’t have enough points to cover the change fee so you will need to pay for it in dollars. The charge for this change is $500. How would you like to pay for it?”

It was at this point I started using profanity.

No, I will not pay $500 to fix your mistake, just make the change! I want to talk to your manager! I want to talk to Customer Relations (which is somehow different from Customer Service)! I will not pay this ridiculous fee for YOUR ERROR! Well, as expected I got nowhere, so with a final F-Bomb I hung up and resigned myself to dealing with traffic on the peninsula.

The next day (Thursday) I went to check into my flight and received the ominous message “This record locator is invalid”. At this point I got a cold feeling in the pit of my stomach. Had I gone too far with my righteous frustration? Did Southwest cancel the whole reservation as a final middle finger to me? I called up Southwest to see what happened and got a lady on the phone. (A different lady, thank the gods. I don’t think I could have dealt with the first one again after all I had said.) This lady looked at the reservation and said it was there but there was something funny about it. “Apparently” she said, “someone had started to make a change to the reservation but didn’t complete it. I show you flying out of San Jose at 3:00 and arriving back in San Jose on Sunday at 3:45. Shall I complete the change?” “Will this cost me anything?” I asked. “No, sir.”

Rock and roll! Glory, glory halleluiah! I jumped up and down pumping my fist and generally acting like an idiot.

“That will do nicely” I replied in a calm voice. She then checked me into the flight and I was set. All was right in my world, I smugly told myself. Sometimes being a complete asshole pays off. I was in a good mood with a foolish grin on my face for the rest of the day.

Karma, however, is a bitch and had a few more tricks up its sleeve for me.

Friday rolls around and the Storm Of The Century hits Southern California. Everyone’s favorite new meteorological term “atmospheric river” was heading straight for Southern California and it was looking to party. High winds and torrents of rain pummeled the region causing havoc. About midmorning I got a message on my phone that my flight had been cancelled.

$@#*!

I called up Southwest (again – by this time I should have had them on speed dial) and told them my flight had been cancelled and asked them to book me on another flight. Sorry, sir, but all available flights are full. “Even from San Francisco?” I asked, painfully aware that I had just spent two days behaving badly to get my flight moved out of SFO. Nope, not SFO. Nothing in Oakland, either. All flights were booked up until Sunday.

&%#$*@$#!!!!

The Southwest lady (do they even hire men for this job?) apologized for the inconvenience and refunded my points. The return flight was still good to go, so now all I had to do was get to Pasadena. I called up Hertz, with whom I have been a Gold member since 1996. I asked if I could change my reservation for the weekend? No problem, sir. Do you need to extend it? No, my flight was cancelled so I am going to drive. I would like to pick up a car in San Jose and drop it off in Burbank. Not a problem, sir, let me make that change for you… you had prepaid for the original reservation so I can cancel that transaction and reverse the charges… and now the charges are $550, plus a $60 cancellation fee because this is within 24 hours. How would you like to pay for that?

It was at this point I started using profanity. Again.

So much for being a Gold member. I eventually cancelled the whole reservation only paying the $60 blood fee (or cancellation fee, as they called it) and then went shopping online. I found the cheapest car rental I could find that had a car in San Jose that I could return in Burbank. Total, including gas, was $200 – I could live with that. It was close to 3:00 when I finished all of this and I still hadn’t packed so I decided to go get the car and then wait at home for traffic to clear and, hopefully, the heart of the storm to pass. At 7:00 I packed everything in the car and took off south. If all went well I should be rolling in to the hotel in Arcadia just before midnight.

All did not go well. To start the traffic on 101 was stopped at the 280 interchange. There was an accident that people had to get around. Not too bad, I was by it in 10 minutes and speeding my way south. I was moving along and woolgathering idly when a thought started nagging at the back of my head. “Hey idiot!” I thought, “You are approaching Salinas! You missed the 152 turnoff!” Arrggg. I sheepishly turned around and headed back north to Gilroy to get on the 152 and cut over to the 5. After all, only an idiot would try to take 101 all the way to Los Angeles. The rain was coming down less and less with longer breaks in between wiper worthy weather as I started towards the Pacheco Pass (naturally) behind a couple of 18 wheelers. The one lane road became two lanes and all of us regular folk happily sped past the big rigs heading towards the San Luis Reservoir… and stopped. All traffic in our direction had come to a complete halt and then slowly inched along. Apparently there was some road work several miles ahead and the lanes were reduced to one as people worked their way by. At this point I started thinking I would have been better of being a woolgathering idiot and taking 101 all the way down.

I didn’t reach the Hwy 5 interchange until 10:00pm.

Hwy 5 south was mostly smooth sailing at that point (why do people insist on going the speed limit in the fast lane?) until the Grapevine. Traffic slowed to a crawl at that point for some very good reasons: slashing, splattery rain making seeing difficult; patches of heavy, pea soup fog making seeing more than 50 feet impossible; and gusty winds that pushed your car around making steering an adventure in hope. I eventually rolled into my hotel at 3:00am.

Fortunately the gods felt they had punished me enough for my transgressions because everything else went great the rest of the weekend – match report below.

Will I learn a lesson from this? Probably not. Oh well.

New Kit

We have jerseys. We have socks. We have shorts. We have track suits. As of today we even have kit bags! The (astonishingly stylish) new kit will be distributed if I see you at some point in the next couple of weeks and at the Society meetings. I will do my best to find someone to distribute kit to those who can not make the meetings but feel free to reach out to me at hailpelicus@pelicanrefs.com if you plan to be in the San Jose area.

Las Vegas Invitational

The previous LVI Tournament Director has left his post to fulfill a lifelong dream of being a burlesque dancer on the Las Vegas Strip, so Steve Albrecht has taken over. Below is his call to the Greatest Rugby Referee Society On The Planet:

Referees One and All!

The biggest rugby tournament in North America is looking for YOU! The Las Vegas Invitational needs you on March 2nd, 3rd, and 4th to help volunteer and officiate 7’s (and a few 15’s) matches across youth, collegiate, and adult divisions in Sin City. As our tournament continues to grow, so does the number of referees needs to keep this event rolling! Come ref by day, and enjoy the most exciting city on earth by night!

All Referees receive:
– Rhino LVI Referee jersey (both Male and Female cuts)
– Tickets to all 3 days of the USA Sevens International event (when you stay at the Westgate Hotel – massive LVI discounts available)

ALSO – USA Rugby is holding a 1-day clinic Wednesday March 1st at the Westgate Resort. Don’t miss out on your chance to train with the best in the ever-growing world of Sevens Rugby.

Westgate Hotel link: https://www.usasevens.com/las-vegas/official-lvi-hotels/

To register to ref at the LVI 2017: https://goo.gl/forms/e5Om9GuMqYsM5zR43

Any questions about the event?: https://www.usasevens.com/las-vegas/las-vegas-invitational/

Las Vegas 7s

Overwhelmed with the awesome responsibility of representing Hail Pelicus and the entire Northern California rugby community in Las Vegas, the editors will not be putting an issue next week but will put out an issue the following week with thoughts, interviews and reactions worthy of the Greatest Rugby Community In The World. Please know that we will not be using our status as credentialed media to play childish pranks on the Lords of Rugby Union, but will be hard at work. I make this sacrifice for you, dear readers.

Plus, there aren’t any games scheduled to cover here during Vegas weekend.

Disciplinary Action Reporting – Process For Reporting Incidents

The various competitions all have their own disciplinary chairs and this will make it difficult to centralize the communication and data. To help Scott Wood has developed a form that will centralize the process, regardless of the competition. The link to the discipline form is https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1mmUNg11uVOSkIsUtHifSqQzalhWbwohk_J6AmPyrucQ/viewform

Copy the link and have it available on your smartphone. If you have an iPhone add the link to your home screen.

When needed fill it out and click submit. The discipline chair of the competition you refereed will receive a notification about the incident. He/she may contact you latter for more details.

If you have any questions as to how to use the app please refer to the following video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Uz0_gTaOnY

On To The Game Reports!

Date: 02/18/2017
Pasadena RFC 23 – Tempe Old Devils 14
Location: Pasadena, CA
Referee: Hinkin, James
AR: Reed, Austin (Southern California)
AR: Kruckenberg, John (Southern California)

An exciting D1 clash in Southern California pitted newly promoted Tempe Old Devils against the steadily rising Pasadena RFC. With heavy rains hitting So Cal the match was moved from Pasadena’s regular field to the all weather turf football field at Duarte High School. Football lines everywhere, but at least rugby was going to happen. Apparently when this happens in So Cal they have slightly different ways of dealing with the fact that the goal posts are at the back of the try zone. When I stated that any attempt to charge down a conversion should start from the goal posts rather than the try line I was told that isn’t always the case but it was accepted. Then I was asked if a penalty would be move forward 10 yards if a kick is chosen, because that is how it has been done in the past. No, I said, the mark is the mark.

Was I right? We are on a non-standard field so the law book doesn’t cover it, so yes, I was right because I made the decision at the start of the game and both teams had it the same. In reality, there is not “wrong” answer to this situation as long as you are consistent.

The game started in a drizzly rain – not enough to worry about but just enough to make the ball slippery. After 15 minutes of this match I thought Tempe would win by 40 as they were dominant in the scrum and their backs were running through the Pasadena defense. Pasadena was saved by handling errors as the slippery ball evaded the hands of the Tempe runners time and again. Tempe scored an unconverted try and were cruising in spite of their knock-ons. With all the scrums we had very few issues as an exchange of penalties at the first couple of scrums sorted them out (amazing how that works) and then Pasadena regrouped a bit and started pressing the Tempe line more and more. Pasadena had their share of knocks and was getting frustrated by the ball hawking of the Tempe defense. The #10 (a HS All American, I was told) was especially good at it, turning over several balls as the support arrived too late to prevent him getting his hands on the ball. Each side were able to kick a goal for a 8-3 Tempe lead at the half.

The second half was a different story. Pasadena made some adjustments and were able to get their support to a tackled player quicker. They also stiffened up their defense to allow fewer line breaks. Each side exchanged a couple of penalties for a 14-9 score. At this point a tiring Tempe side made some subs and that made all the difference, especially in the scrums. Tempe’s #1 is really, really strong and had been a handful all game but ran out of gas and had to be replaced. At the same time Pasadena put in a prop that usually starts and wow, did the scrums change. After 2 straight tightheads were stolen by what had been up to that point the weaker scrum I asked my ARs to check for foot up, illegal binds, or anything else that might explain it. The next scrum I was on the side of the Tempe replacement prop and saw the issue – he just wasn’t at the same level as his predecessor. Pasadena used their new found momentum to score a converted try and take the lead. With about 5 minutes left Pasadena put together a long, multi phase series and scored a great team try to put the game out of reach. Tempe fought hard until the end but came up short.

Both captains were excellent (the Tempe captain at 6’ 10” being the largest rugby player I have ever seen) and helped control a game that threatened to get chippy as legs tired and the game came down to crunch time. A pleasure to referee.   Many thanks must also go the ARs on the day, Austin Reed and John Kruckenberg, who were a great help.   Proper ARs are a luxury.

Date: 02/18/2017
Pasadena RFC B: something – Pasadena Old Boys: something more
Location: Pasadena, CA
Referee: Hinkin, James

The B side match was Pasadena B v Pasadena Old Boys with predictable results. No matter what the score, I was informed, the Old Boys won. Fair enough, but I got to use one of my favorite tricks to great amusement from both sides. Penalty and the Old Boys go quick. A B Baller tries to tackle without retreating but doesn’t bring the player down who passed on to a support player (who was playing in the A side) and he took off untouched and unstoppable. Now, the thing about Old Boys is they tend to get too tired to run but not too tired to yell at the referee and so several were lying on the ground loudly calling for a not 10 penalty. So I blew my whistle and gave it to them, despite the fact that the ball carrier was 50 yards downfield with no defenders in sight.

Sometimes you get what you ask for.

Date: 02/18/2017
Cal Maritime B 10 – Pleasanton Jesters U23 50
Referee: Byrnes, Bryant

This was the second match on a pretty and dry day at Maritime-Pistol Pete Smith having earlier moved both refs around like chess pieces on a board. And the teams were, in the rugby sense, motleys-some Jesters played with Maritime, and somehow a number of Solano fellows showed up and were mixed in.

If memory serves, these sides played each other last year. And while the result was the same, this was the better game (certainly good spirited). It took about 20 minutes of avuncular advice and penalties to herd the Jesters into rough compliance-but they scored on a number of pretty coast to coast tries anyway. And the Maritime Bs were of considerably sterner stuff this time. What they lacked in foot speed they made up for with some big hits.

Date: 02/18/2017
Cal Maritime 34 – USF 0
Referee: Fenaroli, Steven

Originally scheduled to be in Colusa for two games but this was a welcome easier trip. Hard work from both teams meant a good game on both sides of the ball. Maritime couldn’t make conversions. USF was close to the goal lines multiple times but couldn’t ever put the pieces together.

Date: 02/18/2017
Solano-Yolo 12 – Granite Bay Varsity 44
Referee: Boyer, Rich

This was an away match for both sides, held at Witter Rugby Field at Cal Berkeley. Granite Bay came out very strong with backline play and put up three tries, all scored in the corner by the outside backs, within the first fifteen minutes. Solo were game, but Granite Bay just had a little more sense of urgency. It was 27-0 at halftime. Solo made adjustments and came out firing, with three fine linebreaks by flyhalf Garlick and the outside center, only to be undone by errors. The Solo outside center had a clear try off an intercept pass but it went to ground, such was Solo’s luck for the day. Granite Bay continued with their stifling defense and wide open, expansive play, putting up 3 more tries before Solo turned the momentum with scything runs from Garlick, captain Jake and the outside center, which led to 12 points. But it was Granite Bays day.

Chico State Women 22 – Stanford Women 34
Referee: Carney, Mark

No report received

Date: 02/18/2017
EPA Razorbacks 18 – SFGG 48
Referee: Lew, Tim

On a narrow pitch in East Palo Alto, the razorbacks took on the SFGG gold. Both teams came out hard as expected with hard running and big tackles. EPA legally slowed down SFGG’s ball and prevented gate from playing a fast game. EPA was not able to defend the set pieces and gate dominated both scrums and Lineouts. Gate was able to fend off the late tries and maintain composure.

Date: 02/18/2017
Fresno State 69 – SFSU 0
Referee: Jury, Jeff

It’s been a tough week for SFSU and it didn’t get any easier traveling to Fresno. They’re a game group and threatened the Try line, but couldn’t convert. CSUF’s fitness and game plan ruled the day. CSUF 69 SFSU 0.
The B game was closer with a lot of the SFSU A’s playing twice. CSUF 24 SFSU 20

Date: 02/18/2017
Los Gatos 14 – Peninsula Green Varsity 17
Referee: Pohlman, John

Wow what a rugby game. Peninsula Green won on the final play of the game at Leland High School in San Jose this past Saturday.
This was a very well matched physical game. Many of the players have played together or against each other for many years.
United opened the scoring with #8 and former Pen Green player Nathan Garcia scoring at 25 minutes in. Pen Greens captain #7 Bo scored seven minutes later. Half time score 7-7.
The first half was fast and fun.
At 12 minutes in United’s winger intercepted a pass and went 60 plus meters for a try. Pen Green responded a few minutes later to tie the score 14-14.
The last twenty minutes were played at such a high tempo and mental drain that some of the players got a bit testy.
This led to a penalty call at the 35 minute mark to Pen Green. Their kicker converted the penalty and won the game with their first lead of the day. Pen Green 17 United 14.

Date: 02/18/2017
Napa 35 – Baracus 30
Referee: Wood, Scott

Napa (from Napa) hosted Baracus (from SF) at the Minnie & Lovie Ward Rec Center (formerly Ocean View rec center) fields. Not sure about the view but the winds from the Pacific were an unabated constant 15 mph dropping the temperature to a balmy 50 Kelvin. Both teams entered the match at 3-0. Napa was relatively strong, but not overly dominant, at the breakdown while Baracus featured a quick backline. The host were first to score a penalty goal only to have Baracus quickly answer with a converted try. Back-and-forth possession was the name of the game. One yellow card at the end of the first half left Napa down a player for the first 39:10 of the second period. HT: Napa 13 – Baracus 27

Not quite the tale of two halves; however, Napa capitalized off a downward sloping pitch scoring two tries prior to Baracus slotting a penalty goal (N25-B30). This fueled Napa’s attack as they battled down the pitch scoring another try and a penalty goal. Willing to battle to the end, Baracus created a momentum that led to the final five minutes mostly played inside Napa’s 22. Baracus was able to cross the goalline only to have a Napa arm snake under the ball and create a knockon. Scrum, penalty, penalty (scrum elected), clearing kick to touch, lineout, free kick (I tried to manage that to no avail), tap, pass, kick to touch. Game over. Napa 35 Baracus 30

Date: 02/18/2017
Olympic Club 51 – SFGG Green 8
Referee: Gordon, Preston

The GAA pitch on Treasure Island was in great shape after all the recent rain, with just a few soft spots, and the weather gods favored us with warm sunshine and a cool breeze that picked up slightly as the game went on. Olympic Club had a full roster of 23, while SFGG put out 18 players, 6 of whom were front-row qualified.

O Club opened the scoring with a converted try seven minutes into the game, adding two more at 11′ (converted) and 18′ (unconverted) before SFGG responded with a penalty goal at 23′ (19-3). It was fairly clear by this time that the game would be somewhat one-sided, and O Club notched 3 more tries in the half, at 25′ (converted), 34′, and 38′ (both unconverted) to leave the halfitme score at 36-3. There were a fair number of scrums in the first half due to knock-ons by both sides with no opportunity to play advantage, and O Club’s dominance in those set pieces clearly paid off. That platform, and their well-disciplined ruck play allowed their backs to get around the outside defenders or occasionally cut through holes in the midfield. SFGG, on the other hand, seemed to have a few players playing outside their usual positions.

The Olympic Club reserves got a pretty good workout in this game, with most of them coming in early in the second half after they scored another try at 52′. At that point, the rugby became a bit more haphazard on both sides even though the intensity stayed high (for the most part). SFGG got a great try in the corner at 63′, after spending ~5 minutes camped on the O Club line, but the wind pushed the conversion a little wide. O Club added two more tries at 36′ and 44′ (running time, there were a couple of injuries in the second half) to clear 50 points. In my view, 51-8 was a fair summary of this contest.

Thanks to all involved for a good game of rugby!

Date: 02/18/2017
Redwood 24 – Marin 10
Referee: Hammack, Robert

The rain had stopped by kickoff but the field was muddy and the conditions still wet. Ill-discipline was a recurring theme for Redwood (3 yellow cards) but they made up for it with hard running and strong defense. Marin had lineout trouble in the windy conditions and didn’t ask enough questions of Redwood’s defense.

Date: 02/18/2017
Sacramento Amazons 31 – All Blues 71
Referee: Godfrey, Mark

No report received

Date: 02/18/2017
Sacramento Blackhawks 31 – Fresno 24
Referee: Richmond, Jeff

After a 45 minute delay waiting for Fresno jerseys to arrive, play began on a very soggy but lush field in South Sacramento. The Blackhawks were off their game; the wet conditions and determined Fresno defense kept them from getting any rhythm. Frustration began to show on the Blackhawk side and several yellow cards were issued as their composure frayed. Fresno was able to exploit gaps in the Blackhawk back line and keep the pressure on. With time expired Fresno drove within a few meters of the Blackhawk goal line but a knock-on ended Fresno’s chance at an upset.

Date: 02/18/2017
San Joaquin 33 – Google 48
Referee: Taueva, Favor

Straight from work to the pitch. Had two hours of rest inside my car before 1 pm. I still felt a little tired from work, but managed to enjoy my game. Google club starting dominating the first 20 minutes of the game. Google scored two tries less than 15 minutes into first half of the game. San Joaquin seems to be not on the right tune during the first two tries scored by Google. I awarded a penalty try to San Joaquin for Google #7 intentional offside to avoid a try by San Joaquin #13 quick tap and go. Very clean and aggressive game. Seems to me Google did their homework for a game plan which was well played out. Good come back from San Joaquin, but it was too late into the game. Thanks to both coaches and team players for the fun rugby day. Hope for the best for both clubs .

#alwaysfavor

Date: 02/18/2017
San Jose 10 – Vacaville 12
Referee: Pescetti, David

What a barn burner in the suburbs of San Jose.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Independence High School is a suburb of San Jose? It is less than 4 miles from the City Hall and downtown.

This match was a nail biter. These two teams were evenly matched. San Jose had the first threatening of the match but were unable to convert. Each team attempted a Penalty goal and both were unable to put it through the posts, that San Jose winds rivaled Santa Ana this day. The stalemate was broken by Vacaville with 6 minutes remaining in the first half. With those being the only points of the first 40, they lead 5 – 0 at the half. The second half lead off with Vacaville scoring a converted try with 26 minutes remaining. This seemed that this lead, 12 – 0 would put the game out of reach, if the previous 55 were to remain true. However, San Jose came storming back, six minutes later put up their own, hard earned try. The wind played havoc all day with the kickers. With 15 minutes left Vacaville lead 12 – 5. The exciting play of the game happened with 7 minutes left. Vacaville was passing it wide, attacking on the San Jose 22. The last pass to the winger was a bit behind. He reached up and tapped it forward. San Jose’s winger jumped up and snatched the ball clean out of the air and we were off to the races. Sprinting to his life, with a Vacaville play closing in, but San Jose players screaming to center it. San Jose’s winger leaped and was able to touch the ball in the corner. And with 6 minutes left the pressure was on the SJ kicker, but again that pesky wind pushed his kick wide. San Jose down, 10 – 12, but was not out. They had possession, and an ill advised high tackle with 20 seconds left gave San Jose an option. The pressure on, time winding down. They rushed the kick, and unfortunately it went out into touch-in-goal. And that is how the game ended. A dramatic. Great game.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is hands down the greatest writeup of the season. English is a wonderfully varied language and expert practitioners can create poetic dissonance with such inspired use of sentence fragments, mismatched tenses and awkward sentence construction. Think Walt Whitman. Think Ezra Pound. Mr. Pescetti may be the first Rugby Dadaist.

Date: 02/18/2017
San Jose Women 0 – SFGG Women 79
Referee: Carmody, Martin

SJ were short players so SFGG lent them a few. Played 4 x 20 minute periods on a soft grass field. The first few minutes of the game were sloppy with 3 penalties given up within about 2 minutes for basic mistakes. After a brief warning to both teams the game progressed nicely with no incidents and lots of good multi phase open play.

Date: 02/18/2017
Santa Clara 19 – Cal Poly SLO 50
Referee: McDougall, Grant

No report received

Date: 02/18/2017
Santa Clara B 31 – Cal Poly SLO B 22
Referee: Stockton, Andrew

It was a great day for rugby at Santa Clara on Saturday. The sky was grey and gloomy for both of the matches, but thankfully, the weather held, and we were able to stay dry. SLO the scoring 8 minutes into the game with a try and a conversion kick. 4 minutes later, Santa Clara scored their first try, but missed the conversion. Then, on a penalty just inside the Santa Clara half, SLO gained three points at 16 minutes into the game. Santa Clara pulled ahead with two tries in quick succession and one conversion. They would retain the lead for the remainder of the game. The second half started to get chippy. At 62 minutes, I awarded a penalty to Santa Clara very near to their own goal line. Santa Clara took the tap quickly, and, without any attempt to retreat, a Cal Poly player made a large tackle and popped up whooping and hollering at the player he had just hit. I immediately awarded another penalty for not retreating and then issued a yellow card under section 10.2 of the law book. Santa Clara scored moments later, using the advantage they had gained. The match ended with a final score of 31-22, in favor of Santa Clara. It was an exciting match, and overall, a wonderful day for rugby.

Date: 02/18/2017
Santa Rosa 13 – Life West 54
Referee: Bertolone, Cary

It was close in the first half. The score was 21-13, Life West, at half time. In the second half, Life took control and scored 5 tries to none and won 54-13.

Date: 02/18/2017
Silicon Valley 33 – Sacramento Capitols 46
Referee: Santiago, Roberto

An overcast Saturday afternoon saw the Sacramento Capitals make the long trek down to San Jose to face the new-to-D2 Silicon Valley…Microprocessors? I don’t know what Silicon Valley’s mascot is, or if they have one. To no one’s surprise, Sacramento jumped out to an early lead. The score was 17-0 for the visitors who showed cohesion in the back line and domination in the scrums. Silicon Valley never hung their heads, and put over two score before half time. The score stood at SV 12- Sac 24 at the half, when Sacramento made wholesale changes, nearly emptying their bench. That’s when things got particularly interesting. Sacramento put one over just 01:35 into the second half to go up 19 points. But the home standing Microchips weren’t done. They answered with two converted tries to pull within 5. The Capitals responded with an unconverted try, which was met in kind by a converted try for Silicon Valley. With just a 3 point lead it looked as though substituting en masse may backfire on the first place Capitals. Then an intercepted pass turned into a 50 meter try, the defense stiffened, and another score sealed the deal for Sacramento. After the final whistle, both teams showed appreciation for a match that turned out to be more competitive than either side might have foreseen. In the end, Sacramento showed why they’re at the top of table, and SV showed that they made a good decision in moving up to D2.

Date: 02/18/2017
SJSU 5 – Chico State 29
Referee: Tiatia, Nome

No report received

Date: 02/18/2017
Sonoma St 10 – SRJC 41
Referee: Labozzetta, Chris

Hard hitting match with two disciplined and fit sides. SRJC’s #5 proved too strong against Sonoma st. His multi try performance was the difference.

Date: 02/18/2017
St. Mary’s College 27 – BYU 12
Referee: Bryant, Lee

No report received

Date: 02/18/2017
Sierra Foothills 71 – UOP 10
Referee: Tucker, Chris

And not getting the close game this afternoon either.

Curious point where the UOP coach pulled his captain and scrum-half after about 50 minutes, for no obvious reason. Since they were playing with no subs on the bench, this was not a replacement. 5 minutes later the coach asked if he could bring him back on. Law 3.13 provides for a player leaving the field “for any other reason” to rejoin when the ball is dead with the referee’s permission. Since he couldn’t be substituted, I said sure, come on back. Always amusing to me using the obscure bits of the lawbook.

Date: 02/18/2017
UC Davis Women 107 – Humboldt Women 3
Referee: Tucker, Chris

One of these days I’ll get a close game, but not this morning. They were pretty happy with getting the 3 in the second half.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is what you get for showing off and winning the referee fitness test.

Date: 02/18/2017
UC Davis Women B 32 – Fresno St Women 29
Referee: Davis, Austin

It was the perfect evening to smell the methane emitted by the holstein cows on UC Davis’ Dairy Field right next to their famed university dairy. Both teams were looking to improve their play due to the amount of new talent on the field.

Before the game, both teams came together to practice scrums. Afterwards, only 5 scrums were contested until the scrums became messy for both teams. At that point forward, all scrums were uncontested.

The game was a back and forth game for the four quarters the teams elected to play. UC Davis kept sending fresh shirts onto the pitch while Fresno had the ability to continue building their confidence. Throughout the game, I saw numerous minor infractions but nothing a warning did not fix. Both captains lead their teams very well and both teams shared many moments of camaraderie. Overall, it was a great game to referee and work with the coaches to help the new collegiate players understand the game of rugby.

Date: 02/18/2017
UNR 26 – Stanford 15
Referee: Ulibarri, Phillip

A close fought physical match.

Date: 02/18/2017
Lamorinda 19 – San Francisco Golden Gate Varsity 31
Referee: Bretz, Paul

SFGG Varsity High school visited Lamorinda and were pushed to the limit in this game. Up until the 65th minute the score difference was 1 point. Lamorinda controlled the scrums Lineout while SFGG were more adept at using their backs. Enjoyable game with intelligent players.

Date: 02/19/2017
Chico State Women 20 – California Women 0
Referee: Mulholland, Matthew

No report received

This Week’s Photo

From the “Better Late Than Never” file we have our NCRRS 2015 Rookie Of The Year Andrew Bailey receiving his trophy from Pelicus Pedem Referre. Apparently a free meal at the NCRRS Banquet isn’t enough to get people out.

 

Hail, Pelicus!
For the Senate
Pelicus Pedem Referre