The online store is up and running. We are working to get the kinks out of the homepage link but it should be good to go in the next couple of days. For now, go to http://www.cafepress.com/dallasrfc to check out the gear.
Attention active players,
Submit your player profiles to Fil at lonestarclassic@dallasrugby.org to be added to our player profile section. Check out Fil’s profile on the profile link on the left to know what we need
Practice will start on Saturday Sept.8th with a 3mile team “fun” run… which judging by our antics for the majority of the Summer, probably won’t be much fun at all. After the walk… I mean, run, we will go to watch the USA vs. England World Cup Match. Everyone is invited to watch the game, but we ask for a $10 donation to the club to cover the game fees. Further details soon…
Put a fork in the 2007 Seven’s season, it appears to be done.The inaugural Red Pirates campaign logged an overall 24-7 on field record in which the team never saw tournament elimination prior to the quarter finals and won two Championships (Zeekers and Tornado Alley). Not to be outdone, the second team won the Plate division at one of only three tournaments that it entered (Tornado Alley). Off the pitch, the team enjoyed an undefeated season, winning “most honored side” at the Lone Star Classic as well as unofficially winning every tournament social other than Austin (the party was back in Dallas that night). The long-term objective of our Seven’s program is to qualify for nationals next year (top 14 teams in the country qualify) and enter a side in the 2008 Easter invitational tournament in the Bahamas (information below) while placing equal importance to success on the pitch and the social aspects of the game and spirit of going on tour.
Now to mudfish: Due to wine club scheduling mandates and a general lack of discipline by all but one of the players (ironically, the youngest member of the squad), we arrived at the tournament in a state that could effectively be described as sluggish, unprepared and incomplete (3 players have since enrolled in alarm clock management courses). This was very evident during our first two matches in which the team played the poorest it has played all season. The first game of the day was played against Alliance I, a team that is not generally known to be strongest in sevens. Luckily, the Pirates were able to eek out a victory to avoid what would have been a disastrous first round elimination.
We were not so lucky in the second game of the day where simple mistakes and poor tackling caused us to lose to the Harlequins.
Losing a winable match cleared the fog and the Pirates began to play their style of rugby in the next game against Denton. The focus paid off in the form of a commanding victory which allowed us to play Alliance again in the match for Third place - no one is really clear on how the seeding was done for the playoffs but popular theory seems to suggest that it involved reading tea leaves, an abacus and a magic 8 ball. In reality, the Pirates were looking forward to another chance to play Alliance after the poor display in the first match. The tables were completely turned this time and the Pirates won the third place match by 4 or 5 tries.
Everyone stuck around to watch the U-12 exhibition game which was incredibly fun to see and serves as a great testament to the commitment of the TRU to growing the youth divisions. After the match, everyone regrouped at the Tipperary Inn and in the spirit of our club, managed to be the last ones to leave the bar… thus winning yet another social. A special thanks goes out to Jim Cott for organizing our Mudfish side (over 220 lbs.) and leading them to a third place finish in their division. I am sure we will be seeing a seperate write up for those games as well (scroll down).
I would like to express my gratitude to all of the guys who came out to play sevens this Summer and would like to recognize Jose, Doc Steve, Lubers, Danny Dunlop, Chris Herzog, and P. Hobbs for their commitment to attending just about every tournament that we entered this season as well as D. Ross who, though unable to play this year, always adds to the spirit of any tour with his unique brand of flair while filling the role of “that guy.”
Put a spork in the 2007 Red Heavies Mudfish season it appears to be done, and Chad needs to head over to KFC on a regular basis to ensure there is no question in regard to his eligibility for Super Mudfish next year.
Saturday was a hot day
Super Mudfish (250+) kicked off the day with 4 Reds participating. The highlight of the exhibition was Clang breaking down the field at an astonishing 4.7 mph speed with Mateo closely on his heels at 4.72. After about 30 seconds Mateo closed the 5 meter gap and saved his team from a humiliating Clang try. Chad also took Jim (who somehow ended up at wing) down on the 5 meter line. There may have been additional scoring by Reds in this match, but unfortunately I must have sweated those memories out. Congrats to Chad , Mateo, Clang, and Jim for being overweight.
Thanks to a couple of 5 pound weights and heavy Vaseline in strategeric positions we were fortunate to initially field a 14 stud mudfish team.
Our first game was close but was lost to DARC. The referee was retarded to put it nicely. Strong performances by CJ, Scott, Kevin, Montoya, and Chad kept us within 10 points the entire game.
Our second game was lost to the Quins 220 – 225 pound just out of college side. The Antaki duo provided much sweat and effort and were fun to watch as well. Strong defense by David Chang and Kurt Newman kept the Quins from completely running away with the match.
The third game was the C round decider. The heat dwindled our side to 8 players which was the case as well for our Denton opponent. Strong performances by Owen, Bay Area Dan, CJ, and Jim allowed for the eaking out of a 21-19 victory.
Congrats to a strong effort by guys that pretty much haven’t played sevens before and performed with gusto!
We are planning to enter one of two Sevens tournaments in the Bahamas in 2008. The first option is the Easter Festival Tournament in Freeport and the second choice is the May Bahamas International sevens tournament in Nassau. In both cases, two packages will be offered for the tournament. The vacation package will be designed for players and supporters who intend to spend a few extra days on the island to take in all of it’s offerings and the second package will be for people that prefer to go for just the weekend. The goal is to make the trip available for approximately $500 per person.
