Charleston Outlaws RFC

Start of the Spring 2009 Season 

Happy New Year to everyone - I hope you all had a great holiday.

09 is upon us and the start of the new season is just around the corner. We have some 4 weeks before our first game - plenty of time for us to prepare.

First practice will be this Thursday commencing at 7pm sharp at West Vaco.

It is important for all players that you attempt to make every practice. The more players we have out, the more productive the practice will be. Selections will be based on dues paid and practice attendance. Competition for team selection needs to be at its highest level if we are to improve on last season. An outline for the season ahead and what is expected from you the players, will be discussed by the coaches on Thursday - please make every effort to attend.

We can and will exceed the goals we set ourselves last season if we all commit up front and be honest with both ourselves and our team mates. Dedication means different things to different players - however we all know deep inside what dedication it takes to be champion in this division and beyond.

Posted By: Taffy

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Directions To West Vaco Pitch 

For the ''Web Site-Navigation'' challenged. (CLICK HERE)

Posted By: Webmaster

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Outlaws Open with a Solid Victory 

The Charleston Rugby Club began their Spring season with a warm-up victory over The Citadel on Saturday. Despite a slow start and some strong defending from the young Citadel squad, the Outlaws eventually won the game 71-0 with tries from Chris Sigmund, TK, Jay Baker, Mike Fussell, Mat Lee and Rick Cutlip. We begin our chase for a National Championship with a South Championship Matrix Match against Old Grey in Columbia this Saturday the 7th. Kick off is at 2:15pm at Owens Field. There will be a B-side game at 3:40 pm. (Direction to Columbia - Owens Field)

Posted By: Irish Dave Gleeson

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Charleston Rugby Networking Happy Hour 

Charleston Rugby is pleased to announce our first ''Networking Happy Hour'' on Wednesday, February 4, at the Banquet Room of Mad River Bar and Grill (corner of Market and East Bay Streets) from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM. There will be some free food and other food and drink specials.

The event is geared to allow our sponsors, associates, and team members learn a little more about what Charleston Rugby is about, on and off the field, and to establish any possible working/networking relationships among those that attend. We hope that both team members, our sponsors, and all that attend will get a chance to see what the others do professionally, not just when we are in uniform, covered with mud and sweat. The Charleston Rugby team is comprised of working professionals and students who take part in positive community activities like the Adopt a Highway Program, Youth Rugby, Fundraising events, and other activities. Between the 50 (+or-) active and social members in Charleston Rugby, the Charleston Warriors Youth Rugby Program, the Charleston Hurricanes Women's Rugby Club, and the four Local College teams, there are a lot of rugby players, coaches, fans and family in the area.

Please feel free to bring any business cards, information about your company, or other hand-outs. We will have name-tags for all to fill out (with name, company, affiliation w/ rugby team, etc.) Please also forward this to any other members in the rugby or business community that you feel may benefit from attending.

Professional/ Business Casual attire is recommended.

We look forward to seeing you all there and hope that the event is a success, as we are sure that it will be a good time and will try to do again on a regular basis.

Posted By: Andy "el-Jefe" Pelland

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Well, We Always Start Slow 

And this year is no different. Saturday's match against Columbia was a tough 11-12 loss. The Charleston squad flashed their brilliant style of rugby at times, but failed to string together enough offensive pressure to squeeze enough blood from the scoring stone. 11-12. It was exciting and suspenseful rugby to watch. But in the end, it was disappointing as the Outlaws failed to make the last pass, the final break, that fateful push that would edge the team to victory. The Charleston faithful had to watch as the club, boiling with talent, slipped under the icy surface of defeat. One must not take anything away from the Columbia squad. They played their brand of rugby, and capitalized on Outlaw mistakes. Enough to sliver out the one point victory. The silver lining? As pointed out by an astute Olde Grey veteran... ''It's the best kind of loss for Charleston. A one point loss and we have to come to Charleston. We will have to beat you at home.'' So take heart Chucktown fans. Look for the rematch in March. A rematch at home. On to victory this weekend lads!

Posted By: Webmaster

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Home Rugby This Weekend! 

All right local rugby fans, the Spring rugby season kicks off this weekend for the greater Charleston area. Saturday will see your Charleston Outlaws take the pitch for the first home Matrix match this season. The Outlaws will take on the visiting Augusta Maddogs. This match should be a great test! the Charleston squad will look to bounce back from last week's tough loss and the Maddogs will look to stay undefeated in Matrix play. Kick off is set for 2 PM on the Citadel Parade Deck, but come early to see the Citadel Bulldogs take on perennial favorite Furman University and stay late to watch the Charleston Killer-Bs tackle the Augusta B side! (Directions)

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A Win is Still a Win 

It wasn't the prettiest of wins, but as is said, it's better to win ugly than not win at all. The Outlaws have righted the ship with an 18-5 victory over the visiting Augusta Maddogs. It appears that although the sinking of the Outlaws has been averted, the ship is still taking on water. While the Charleston defense stepped up their efforts this weekend, the offense seems to be misfiring. The Charleston attack again was hampered by missed passes, dropped balls and poor choices at crucial times. The victory can largely be attributed to the tenacious defense. Several attempts to break the gain line proved futile as the Augusta attack was thrown backward by the big hits of Bob Citrolo and Kevin White. Although the offense managed to put together a couple of tries, and Chris Sigmund continued a clinic with his kicks, the Outlaws will need to tighten the offense to compete in an already highly competitive SE division.

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Home Match - Charlotte this Weekend 

Saturday will see your Charleston Outlaws take the pitch for a home Matrix match. The Outlaws will take on the visiting Charlotte B-side at 1 PM at the West-Vaco pitch. The B-side match will follow the Matrix test so there will be plenty of rugby to watch this Saturday. The Charlotte squad will look to get into the win column after two early season defeats. This match-up is always hard-fought, brutally physical match. So don't miss out on one of the most exciting matches of the season! (Directions)

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Decisive Victory Against Charlotte 

Saturday saw your Charleston Outlaws return to form against the visiting Charlotte-B squad. The match lived up to the billing as a hard fought test. The match saw Bob Citrolo use the wind and tactical kicks to pen the Charlotte squad deep in their end of the pitch. Rough tackling and dominant loose play allowed the Outlaws to pressure turnovers and penalties. The constant pressure resulted in a converted charge down try by Tyler Kurkiewicz and three penalty kicks from ''The Ice Man'' Chris Sigmund. The half-time score tallied 16-nil. The second half saw the visiting squad apply some pressure of their own and put together some nice ball handling for a very quick unconverted try. The Outlaws rallied the the defense, stiffened the gain line and shut down the Charlotte squad for the remainder of the game. With a couple of converted tries and another penalty kick, the Outlaws left the pitch victorious 33-5. Man-of-the-Match honors go to Bob Citrolo with an honorable mention to ''dead-eye'' Sigmund who decided to not miss a kick.

With this victory, the Outlaws have certainly returned to last year's National Contender form and hope to have quieted the skeptics as to the quality of rugby played here in Charleston. The Outlaws will take this well earned victory and it's momentum into next Saturday's match against visiting Cape Fear. See you at the match!

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Victory Over Cape Fear 

44-17. Details to follow.

Posted By: Webmaster

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It's Rubber Match Time! 

Tomorrow, March 7th, 1PM, Westvaco pitch! (Directions)

Your Charleston Outlaws will look to avenge their only loss this season by taking on the visiting Columbia Olde-Grey squad. The Outlaws lost their opener to Columbia by one slim point. One I tell you! The Outlaws are on the hunt to even the score. The Charleston squad will look to take their tremendous momentum and winning streak onto the pitch and pound out a victory to take command of the competitive SE Matrix.

It should be a beautiful day, so make sure to get there early and cheer your Outlaws to victory!

Posted By: Webmaster

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Charleston Takes Down Olde Grey 

Charleston avenged their opening day loss at Columbia by beating Old Grey 21-16 at Mead-WestVaco field in Hanahan. Despite being down 13-11 at halftime the Outlaws rallied to go up 21-13 with fine kicking from Chris Sigmund ''Grandpa'' and two well-taken tries by Brian Wilson and Kenny Puckett respectively. Columbia closed the gap with a penalty late in the second half and almost got the tying/go ahead score when they tapped and went on four penalties in a row from our 5 meter line at the end of the game. Depsite being down to 11 men because of injury and yellow cards, the Outlaws defended heroically, eventually winning the ball over and kicking to touch to end the game in the 8th minute of injury time! The result moved the Outlaws into a first place tie with the Greenville squad.

Posted By: David "I'm a Rockstar in Munster" Gleeson

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Outlaws Earn Top Spot 

After a break for the St. Patrick's Day Tournament in Savannah, Charleston continued their winning ways and returned to the top of the matrix with a hard-fought 32-25 victory at Greenville. Again, good kicking and a try from Chris Sigmund put the Outlaws ahead early. Greenville's rally was snuffed out by man-of-the-match Jake Fraser's kick block and chase to touch down in the Greenville try zone and by a great team-effort try late in the game. Again, as in the Columbia game, Charleston made heroic goal-line stands at the end of the match to deny Greenville any chance of a comeback. The great victory was topped off by witnessing Ireland defeat Wales to win the Grand Slam later that evening! (Sorry Taff and Dave!) A great time was had by all! A win against Cape Fear in Wilmington next week will clinch the division, and a home quarter-final on April 11, for the Outlaws.

Posted By: Dave "Munster is the Bomb Baby" Gleeson

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Charleston Rugby Clinches DII East Matrix 

The Wilmington weather was unpredictable, but the Charleston Outlaws were right on the mark, taking a convincing 22-0 half time lead over Cape Fear in Wilmington NC. Charleston started the day with an early try off the opening kickoff and maintained control for the next 40 minutes. The Outlaws made smart kicking decisions to position themselves on the field, and took advantage of mishandled balls on either side. Charleston's pack could not be contested as they easily won back scrums resulting from some early match jitters. As the half closed, the match appeared to be headed for a Charleston blow-out victory. However on the Cape Fear squad took the second half kick, and marched down the pitch for a quick try of their own. The Outlaws tried to regain control of the match, but it appeared that Fear had found a weak spot in the defense and capitalized on the weakness; the margin grew as close as 29-24 in the middle of the 2nd half. Some fresh substitutions and the great Outlaw spirit helped Charleston wrest control of the match again, and as the second half closed, the Outlaws added a final try and conversion. The final result was 36-24 victory to the Charleston squad. Both sides fought a very physical match with teeth-rattling tackles and very physical rucks. It was clear that neither side wanted to end their regular season with a loss.

A lively and entertaining B-side match followed, as many of the worn-out first side played intentionally out of position, both sides played with vigor and the Killer B's took victory at 39-14. Special thanks to Chris Davis who traveled (and even kitted up with a broken hand) to be the Coach for the Day in Taffy and Dave's stead. Charleston will be playing the # 2 seed from Florida in the first round of South Playoffs on April 11, at the Citadel Parade Deck in downtown Charleston.

Posted By: An-Dee Pell-Hand (El Jefe)

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Playoff Rugby This Weekend! 

That's right! Your Charleston Outlaws are the #1 seed in the East Pool. They will take on the #2 seed for the South Pool, Krewe RFC. The match is to be held at the Citadel, on the parade deck (Directions). Kick off is slated for 1PM sharp! This will be the last, and most exciting home match of the season as your Outlaws battle Krewe, in a ''winner take all'' match for the right to move on to the USAR South Championships! Get to the pitch early and grab yourself a prime patch of grass to root your Charleston Outlaws onto to victory! (Citadel Parade Deck).

Posted By: Webmaster

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