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Kurt Oeler
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American rugby: 'battleship in dry dock'
Over at Rugby Wrap Up, Jake Frechette has struck a blow for clarity, the more valuable as TV programming expands. Decrying sloppy descriptions of 'crossover' players, the distinction between USA Rugby and rugby in the USA, and other muddles, Frechette has simultaneously provided a positive alternative to the worst analogy... Continue reading
Posted Mar 15, 2016 at Gainline.us
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Weekly rugby reaches American TV
Weekly rugby is at last coming to American television, maybe just as TV begins to bow out. NBC's obtaining rights to the English Aviva Premiership fulfills longstanding hopes of top-flight rugby union reaching the US sporting public. In a three-year pact beginning fall 2016 -- previewed this weekend in conjunction... Continue reading
Posted Mar 11, 2016 at Gainline.us
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Cal 27 St. Mary’s 14 (halftime: Cal 10-0)
(Moraga, Calif.) Saturday’s match between two of the college game’s perennial top five masked the best of St. Mary’s while revealing something more of Cal. Cutting to the chase, the visitors fell behind 14-10 just before the hour, but stayed with the plan to run out 27-14 winners, five tries... Continue reading
Posted Mar 8, 2016 at Gainline.us
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SFGG Rhinos 39 Olympic Club 17 (halftime: SFGG 13-10)
(San Francisco) Center Pila Huihui's pair of tries paced the SFGG Rhinos to a workmanlike 39-17 win over the Olympic Club Saturday at Sheeran Field. The center's 37th-minute score, culminating the Rhinos' best first-half sequence, brought the hosts to within 10-8 while seeming to drain the last of O Club's... Continue reading
Posted Feb 29, 2016 at Gainline.us
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Super Rugby's Japanese expansion matters to the US
by Matt McIlraith In Japan, Fukanō [不可能] is the wo... Continue reading
Posted Feb 26, 2016 at Gainline.us
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Clever, Eloff join elite crew but US squad misses out
Skipper Todd Clever and and debutant JP Eloff joined elite company in Saturday's Canada match, but the match squad missed out on first-of-a-kind honors. Clever, who scored three tries in eight minutes, becomes the ninth Eagle to record a hat trick -- and the only forward. Gary Hein was first,... Continue reading
Posted Feb 17, 2016 at Gainline.us
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Feb 15, 2016
Cal: the Eagle forward factory
Cal produces the most persistently excellent Eagle forwards, judging from the roster of cap leaders by position. Eight Bears stand amid the 23 men who rank in the USA's top 5 at prop, hooker, second row, flanker, or number eight. Two claim honors at more than 1 position. They are... Continue reading
Posted Nov 19, 2015 at Gainline.us
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Dartmouth, Harvard in Ivy shootout
Harvard invades Dartmouth's Brophy Field tomorrow in a battle of unbeatens likely to decide the Ivy Conference title. The Big Green are favorites to claim an 9th consecutive crown, judging by comparing scores against 3d- and 4th-placed Cornell and Brown. Only a few years ago, the Ancient Eight were urged... Continue reading
Posted Nov 13, 2015 at Gainline.us
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Pro league, Eagle coaching decision on tap
USARFU is renewing its quest for a professional league and a winning XV. PRO Rugby is today expected to announce details of a 6-team competition beginning play in April 2016. The New York startup has been sanctioned by Boulder, similar to the license granted Bill Tatham last decade. Meanwhile, over... Continue reading
Posted Nov 9, 2015 at Gainline.us
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Ideas for a productive USARFU
Everyone wants to be proud of American rugby, and so should want USARFU to succeed. But the governing body is unloved. For Boulder to become productive and even admirable, what kind of organization should it aspire to be? Three things come to mind: strategy, entrepreneurship, and transparency. Strategy USARFU’s 2013-15... Continue reading
Posted Nov 1, 2015 at Gainline.us
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What happened to 2012's championship U20 team?
Argentina fielded 7 players aged 23 or less in Sunday’s semifinal, all of them training at home. Whatever happened to their American contemporaries? None of the 27 who won the 2012 Junior World Rugby Trophy made the USA’s World Cup squad. Over the past 8 seasons, as more teenage players... Continue reading
Posted Oct 26, 2015 at Gainline.us
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National team audit due in three weeks
USARFU intends to complete a performance review of the 2015 World Cup campaign within three weeks. High performance director Alex Magleby is leading the inquiry, along with chief executive Nigel Melville. Findings are to be presented to the board of directors on November 7. The report is not likely to... Continue reading
Posted Oct 22, 2015 at Gainline.us
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Wither the American playing style?
Graham Henry, the 2011 World Cup-winning coach, recently asked 'why are we all looking to play the same game?' One of the clear disappointments of modern rugby is that in the main we have lost our innovation. There are a number of different ways and styles to play, but [teams... Continue reading
Posted Oct 19, 2015 at Gainline.us
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Samoan opener pivotal to World Cup, and more
Tomorrow's Samoan match, long seen as pivotal to America's World Cup campaign, could become the defining contest of Mike Tolkin's tenure. The Brighton opener has seemed the likeliest stepping stone to a two-win tournament. In the wake of Japan's toppling South Africa, the stakes have increased concomitant with unexpected possibilities... Continue reading
Posted Sep 19, 2015 at Gainline.us
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Prospect of English games recalls past US bets
Efforts to bring Premiership games Stateside are consistent with USARFU's vision of 'inspiring America to fall in love with rugby', but may come at the expense of technical development and member services. English teams, most of which make a yearly loss, are seeking new marketing and revenue opportunities but worry... Continue reading
Posted Aug 28, 2013 at Gainline.us
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USARFU board considering another dues hike
Dues could go up again following today's USARFU board meeting, as a result of insurance claims that continue to outstrip the union's medical policy. Chief executive Nigel Melville last week pitched another $10 increase as one of three options for the growingly expensive program, in a memo circulated to the... Continue reading
Posted Aug 6, 2013 at Gainline.us
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College 2d division teams switching seasons
The collegiate division 2 championship is moving to autumn, following the Eastern seaboard and Midwestern conferences which were prepared to organize their own tournament. This year's competition, encompassing 12 established (men's) leagues comprising 144 teams as well as new entrants from the Deep South, Eastern Rockies, and Southern California, is... Continue reading
Posted Jul 9, 2013 at Gainline.us
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For Magleby, 7s World Cup short of career highs
Glasgow not Moscow will go down as Alex Magleby's high watermark coaching the 7s Eagles, after the United States finished 13th at the past weekend's world championship. Following an end-of-season rally which saw America vault Scotland to retain 'core' status for the 2013-14 Sevens World Series season, the US slumped... Continue reading
Posted Jul 2, 2013 at Gainline.us
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Varsity Cup, USA 7s parent, NBC in landmark pact
The USA 7s' parent company has obtained commercial rights to the Varsity Cup and simultaneously landed network broadcasting for the collegiate championship, confirming United World Sports and NBC as predominant players in American rugby's business landscape. The Peacock network will showcase the 12-team competition's 2014 semifinals and finals, the three... Continue reading
Posted Jun 21, 2013 at Gainline.us
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'Crounch, bind, set' scrums due in US in August
A revised scrum sequence, 'crouch, bind, set', is expected to debut in America this summer, at the beginning of the 2013-14 season. Earlier this month, the International Rugby Board announced worldwide rollout for competitions commencing 'on or after' August 1, citing a successful trial during the spring's Pacific Rugby Cup,... Continue reading
Posted May 22, 2013 at Gainline.us
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Graham Downes (1957-2013)
In the character of an athletic champion lies the makings of civic distinction. So thought the ancient Greeks, inventors of democratic society, and so we are reminded by last month's senseless slaying of Graham Downes, the OMBAC test prop and noted San Diego architect. The second of four boys, Downes... Continue reading
Posted May 15, 2013 at Gainline.us
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Scrum trial sign of Pacific success
A burgeoning tournament for Pacific Ocean A sides includes scrums that maintain front-row contact between the 'touch' and 'set' phases, as the International Rugby Board seeks to remedy serial setpiece collapses. After referees call touch, props permanently bind their outside arms on one another, theoretically reducing the distance and speed... Continue reading
Posted Mar 5, 2013 at Gainline.us
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Where are the overseas internationals?
Chris Wyles' 74th-minute try clinched Saracens' 32-27 win over Leicester Saturday, a match which saw the visitors score 4 second-half touchdowns. With European interationals away for Six Nations games, scores of reserve players were thrust into Premiership lineups. The contest between 2d- and 3d-place teams produced one of the bigger... Continue reading
Posted Feb 25, 2013 at Gainline.us
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Small colleges get 7s national title
Small colleges are joining the 7s craze, pursuing a national crown in conjunction with the Collegiate Rugby Championship. Following regional qualifiers to be staged in April and May, eight teams will contend for what amounts to the division 3 title at the June 7-8 1-2 event in Philadelphia, the National... Continue reading
Posted Feb 6, 2013 at Gainline.us
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