Archive for the ‘USA Rugby /IRB’ Category

To:Secretaries/Chief Executive Officers of Unions and Regional
Associations in Membership of the IRB

From: David Carrigy

Head of External and Member Relations
Date: August 19, 2008

Re: Dangerous Play

There is a growing concern amongst the medical profession, coaches, players, administrators and judiciary about the conduct of players when entering rucks and mauls and when clearing out players on the fringes of tackles, rucks and mauls which is considered dangerous. A DVD has been produced that demonstrates such actions and includes examples of illegal and/or foul play.

The DVD will be circulated with a hard copy of this correspondence.The relevant parts of Law are very specific as detailed below:

Law 10.4 (i)

Players must not charge into a ruck or maul without binding onto a player in the ruck or maul.

Law 16.2 (b)

A player joining a ruck must bind onto the ruck with at least one arm around the body of a teammate, using the whole arm.

Law 17.4 ( c ) Players joining the Maul

Players joining a maul must do so from behind the foot of the hindmost teammate in the maul. The player may join alongside this player. If the player joins the maul from the opponents side or in front of the hindmost teammate the player is offside.

In addition the Aide Memoire for the IRB Panel referees enacted at RWC 2007 stated:Zero toleranceto players who charge into rucks and mauls without binding. Zero tolerance to players who clear out opponents not involved in ruck and maul.

Match Officials, Citing Officials and Judicial Officers are requested to be vigilantand apply Law and appropriate sanctions when players are involved in dangerous play of this nature.

Yours sincerely,
David Carrigy
Head of External and Member Relations

USA Rugby boss Nigel Melville will come to Wellington this week and tell Sanzar executives his nation is ready to be part of Super Rugby.

The former England halfback and coach of Wasps and Gloucester says the USA is flexible enough to base a franchise on either the East or West coasts and that there are investors and broadcasters ready to fund an American Super Rugby team.

Read entire article here: NZ Herald

Dear IRB Trainer/ Educator,

Please find attached an ELV Guide in English. This Guide forms part of a 3 pronged ELV educational promotion and the basic development & distribution headlines are:

ELV Guide
22nd May - English version in PDF circulated to Union CEO’s/ Secretary’s/ IRB licensed Trainers & Educators and Union Coaching & Refereeing contacts
French, Spanish, Italian, Chinese, Japanese & Russian ELV guides distributed electronically on or before June 6th.
The guide has also been uploaded to the IRB Training extranet

ELV DVD
Total Rugby produce English version by 28th May
Duplication of 18000 English copies delivered to Dublin by 12th June
English copies distributed by UPS to English speaking Unions French, Spanish, Italian, Chinese, Japanese & Russian versions produced on 3rd June
Duplication of 12000 language versions delivered to Dublin by 19th June
Language versions distributed by UPS to relevant Unions

ELV WEBSITE www.irb.com/elvs (needs confirmation)
English site live by 6th June
French, Spanish, Italian, Chinese, Japanese & Russian versions of elv site live by 17th June

If you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact me. Meanwhile feel free to distribute this resource as widely as possible

Mark Harrington
Training Manager
International Rugby Board

ATTACHMENT: irbelvguideenfinal

For Immediate Release
May 21, 2008

USA Rugby Names the Eagles Squad Competing in the 2008 Barclays Churchill Cup

BOULDER, Colo. – USA Rugby officially announced today the Eagles squad set to compete in the 2008 Barclays Churchill Cup held throughout Canada and the USA in June.

The Barclays Churchill Cup, an alliance tournament between the rugby unions of England, USA and Canada, is the biggest international rugby tournament in North America.  Six teams will participate in this year’s Barclays Churchill Cup – USA, Canada, England Saxons, Scotland A, Ireland A and Argentina A.

“In terms of development, this tournament is very, very important to us as it gives us the opportunity to play against top players from around the world,” USA Rugby’s CEO and President of Rugby Operations Nigel Melville said. “The way to develop teams is to play against the best players in the world and in this tournament the U.S. play against teams hosting full-time professionals. It is just a great opportunity for our players.”

Entering its sixth year, the Barclays Churchill Cup, which has been held across Canada, California, and England in the past, will feature its pool play matches in Ottawa on June 7, Kingston on June 11, and Toronto on June 14, before teams converge on Chicago for the final day of the tournament on June 21.  The Finals will feature all six international teams in a triple header of final matches at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, Ill.

The U.S. Eagles will be coached by Scott Johnson. Johnson, the Sydney born former fly half/center, who most recently held the Attack Coach position for the Australian National Team, has signed on to a four year contract as the new U.S. Men’s National Team Head Coach and will mark his debut as the head coach for the USA Eagles at the USA’s first match against the England Saxons at 2:30 on June 7 in Ottawa. Johnson will be backed by an experienced U.S. coaching staff of Marty Wiggins (forwards), Adam Friend (backs), Bill LeClerc (scrums) and David Williams (strength/conditioning). 

“This first match should be an interesting test for the U.S. Team,” Melville said. “The Saxons boast a very tough squad with several players possessing a lot of international experience. The U.S. squad also includes a number of players with international experience, in addition to a few fairly new names. We expect it to be another tough match.”

Of the 26 players named to this year’s squad, 16 represented the U.S. in the last Barclays Churchill Cup tournament in England and an impressive 18 were a part of the USA’s 2007 Rugby World Cup squad that went to France.

For more information on the Barclays Churchill Cup, please visit www.barclayschurchillcup.com. For more information on the U.S. Men’s Team, visit www.usarugby.org/goto/mens_eagles. To buy tickets to the USA’s portion of the Churchill Cup visit http://www.ticketmaster.com.

The USA Eagles Squad for the Barclays Churchill Cup:

Forwards:  
Mark Aylor (Life University)

Henry Bloomfield (Belmont Shore)
Todd Clever (Old Mission Beach Athletic Club)

Mark Crick (Potomac Athletic Club)

Saimone Laulaupealu (San Francisco Golden Gate)

Jason Lett (Boston Irish Wolfhounds)

Mike MacDonald (Leeds Carnegie)

Matekitonga Moekiola (Pukekohe - New Zealand)

Alec Parker (Gentlemen of Aspen)

Kort Schubert (Olympic Club)
Chad Slaby (Chicago Lions)

Louis Stanfill (University of Cal - Berkeley)

John Van der Giessen (Denver Barbarians)

Jon Vitale (Chicago Lions)

Ben Weidemer (Belmont Shore)

Backs:            

Mike Petri (New York Athletic Club)

Mike Hercus (IBM - Japan)

Valanese Malifa (Belmont Shore)

Paul Emerick (Newport Gwent Dragons)

Salesi Sika (Beziers - France)

Albert Tuipulotu (Beziers - France)

Vaha Esikia (Las Vegas Blackjacks)

Mike Palefau (Petrarca - Italy)

Takudzwa Ngwenya (Biarritz - France)

Chris Wyles (Old Mission Beach Athletic Club)

Gavin DeBartolo (Eastern Suburbs – Australia)

Inspiring America to fall in love with Rugby

For Immediate Release

May 21, 2008

USA Rugby Announces Select XV to Play England Counties at Columbia University

BOULDER, Colo. – USA Rugby, in partnership with New York’s Old Blue Rugby Club, will host two matches between its Select XV and the England Counties XV on Friday, June 6 and Monday, June 9 at Columbia University’s Baker Field Athletic Complex.

Both matches between the U.S. developmental side and the England Counties XV, the representative flagship of the County and Community game outside the Guinness Premiership, are slated for 7 p.m. (EDT) kickoffs.

England Counties will play the Select XV as part of its three-match North America tour in June, which also features a stop in Canada. This addition to the men’s schedule provides an excellent opportunity for the USA team to cultivate an expanded player pool leading up to the summer competition season. 

“We are obviously delighted to host England, but with the Barclays Churchill Cup being played at a similar time, we need to create a squad to fulfill these fixtures and challenge for NA4 positions in July,” USA Rugby CEO and President of Rugby Operations Nigel Melville said.

The player pool for the Select XVs was initially named following the USA Rugby National Guard Senior Men’s National All-Star Championships (NASC) in December. Melville and a panel of U.S. National Team selectors have continued to observe athletes throughout the spring Rugby Super League and Senior Club seasons. The final squad for the New York City matches is soon to be named.

“This is a great chance to take players from the All-Stars event and challenge them at a higher level,” Melville added. “Not only is this a playing opportunity, it’s also a refereeing and coaching opportunity. We intend to take any opportunity that comes our way to improve on every level.”

Admission to the matches on June 6 and 9 is free, but donations will be accepted to support Play Rugby Inc.’s youth development program in NYC. In the week leading up to the USA matches, from May 31 – June 7, Play Rugby USA will host National Rugby Week, featuring free non-contact rugby activities and competitions in nearly 50 schools throughout New York City, with hopes to expand to more cities in the coming years.

The Rugby Week events for girls and boys ages 8 to 14 culminate in the inaugural Mayor’s Cup Rugby Festival, also at Baker Field Athletic Complex from 12-4 p.m. (EDT) on June 7. The event will feature 24 youth teams representing all five boroughs of the city all competing for the Mayor’s Cup, which will be housed in the Sports Museum of America in Lower Manhattan. For more information on Play Rugby USA and the Mayor’s Cup, visit www.playrugbyusa.com.

For more information on the USA Rugby Select XV’s matches, visit www.usarugby.org.

Inspiring America to fall in love with Rugby
Ashley Voss | Communications Coordinator | USA Rugby

Dear Territorial Chairs,

Two Rulings are attached. Please ensure distribution to all referees, teams and Unions in your area. Take particular care to reach teams involved in playoffs this weekend.

The first (# 2) is more for Union management, and how they choose to deal with teams that fail to meet the requirements for “suitably trained and experienced” front-row players. From the referee end, if the game situation requires non-contested scrums then that’s what happens. Don’t artificially impose other sanctions.

The second (# 3) addresses the binding of players at scrum engagement.
An engagement strategy has become popular over the last year or so. The technique involves the # 8 not fully binding prior to the referee giving permission to engage. Instead the # 8 grips the shorts of the second-rows without any other contact. When the scrum goes in to engage, the # 8 joins the back of the scrum forcefully, acting as a pile-driver to increase the impact at engagement.

The Ruling makes it clear that this is not legal. All participants in a scrum must be fully bound prior to engagement (penalty kick). The bind must involve the entire arm of the player up to and including the shoulder.

Referees should be observant for this prior to giving permission to engage, and should manage the players to bind properly.

Peter Watson
Chair USA Rugby Laws sub-committee

Folks,
I know you are all full of questions regarding the ELV’s which go into effect August 1. I have been in contact with the IRB and they have told me that by mid-June they will have:

• ELV guide - downloadable pdf in 7 languages
• ELV section of www.irb.com with streamed video demonstrating each ELV again in 7 languages
• ELV DVD will be sent to each Union. You will receive approximately 1000 DVD’s in English via Ed Todd’s office

Please hold off on the barrage of questions until we get these resources and can answer accurately.
All the best,
Peter Watson
Chair, USA Rugby Laws Sub-Committee