| 2009 Fall |
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Fall is Matrix Time
Watch this web site for news about the upcoming Fall season!
Posted By: Webmaster
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The 2010 National Championship
The road to the 2010 National Championship starts NOW! The Charleston Rugby Football Club, The Outlaws, will begin training on Tuesday September 8, 2009. This year's Fall season will be the first time in a long while where there will be QUALIFYING TEST MATCHES (Matrix) in the Fall Season. We are hoping to hit the ground running with large participation the entire season, carrying through the Winter Holidays to the Spring Season. The first matches will be on September 26 with plenty of competition, the Palmetto Cup tournament in early October, Matches against Division I, II, & III squads to make sure everyone gets a chance to compete and improve.
Be ready and get excited about this great season, More announcements to follow:
Schedule:
Charleston RFC 2009 Fall Schedule
9/8 - First Training Session (Recurring Tuesday & Thursday @ 7:00 PM)
9/12 &/or 9/19- Rugby Camp - Home
9/26 - Black Rose Tourney - D2/3 - Statesboro, Ga
10/3 - Sumter - D3 - Sumter, SC
10/10 & 11 - Palmetto Rugby Union Tourney - Test - Greenville, SC
10/17 - Triangular (w/ Charleston, Sumter & Duke Grads) - D2 & D3 - Home
10/24 - Atlanta Old White - D1 & D2 (if we bring numbers) - Atlanta, Ga
10/31 - No match for Halloween
11/7 - Cape Fear - D2 matrix match & D3 game - Wilmington, NC
11/14 - Atlanta Renegades - D2 - Home
11/21 - Columbia - D2 matrix match & D3 game - Columbia, SC
11/28 - No match for Thanksgiving
12/5 - Toys for Tots Tourney - D2/3 - Home
Posted By: AndEE PellHund!
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Welcome Back to Rugby!
The Fall season is just around the corner and perhaps like me you are asking where the hell did the summer go?
I personally love this time of year as we get into preseason and the world begins to play rugby again. A chance to start new and refreshed, meet up with old team mates and welcome those new players to the club who will be starting on their first ever journey with this great club of ours, the Charleston Outlaws.
While the summer has been a time to rest and recuperate, it should also have been a time to reflect on the past season and attempt to put some structure and substance onto the reasons for our successes and out shortcomings.
As you would expect, both Coach Dave and I spent a considerable amount of time post the end of the Spring season discussing a whole host of issues concerning both the playing performances of the teams we selected to play and the performances of us both individually and collectively as coaches. We concluded that perhaps two words summed up the season - Under Performance!
We never really played up to the level of standard and performance we are capable of on a consistent basis or clicked as a talented team. Rather, allowing the will of the individual to dominate rather than the will of the team to reign supreme.
One can argue that there are many reasons for this but I think you would agree that our collective commitment was at times in question. That the ''Outlaw Way'' of playing, that has won us so many games over the years was at times non existent even forgotten.
As with all new beginnings there are opportunities. What we have to decide as a team is which door we are wanting to walk through next week as we begin training. Will it be the door of commitment to change and improvement and a willingness to push ourselves to be the best that we can be? Or will it be the door of complacency? You as players must decide - both Dave and I are confident of the door you will choose.
Unless you have not heard, this just in: THE FALL SEASON COUNTS TOWARDS OUR MATRIX. We have 2 matrix games as well as 2 tournaments. So, we need all players to come out to practice from day one. You have my personal commitment that EVERY PLAYER will get a serious look for first team selection.
There are 4 key areas that I would like you to concentrate on in the coming weeks and make a commitment both individually and collectively to work hard on and improve on.
1. Personal Fitness:
We want to play a high tempo open game - we have to be fit to execute our game plan
2. The Basics:
Master and execute the basics in all phases of play
3. Personal Responsibility:
When things go bad or mistakes are made - make a difference by working hard to rectify the mistakes collectively as a squad instead of allowing the individual to drag the team down
4. Listen and Learn:
Respect the coaches, control aggression, keep your discipline and encourage those around you in everything we do
We have much to be proud of and much to look forward to over the coming weeks and months. Let us all set our goals of not only being the best that we can be, but to go through this Fall season undefeated playing a brand of rugby that is fun and quite frankly will scare the hell out of any opponent we face.
I look forward to seeing you all again next week - look out for a final update first part of next week as to the location for Tuesday's practice.
Have a fun Labor Day.
Posted By: Taffy "Your Singing Fool" Greenslade
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Unexpected Delay, but Keep Your Pants On!
Outlaws practice will begin on Thursday, September 10 at 7:00PM. Location will be announced on Wednesday via e-mail and web site posting. We are meeting with the City of Charleston Rec Department on Wednesday to finalize plans for our new pitch. Stono Elementary has been our long-term fallback location, it is a lighted facility, but we have to deal with school trailers and a mucky baseball diamond, WATCH OUT FOR THE AIR CONDITIONER- We have a chance to work with our great city as a host of our new pitch/ practice facility that should provide better exposure for our club and our growing youth program. Keep your fingers crossed that the meeting goes well.
In addition to this Thursday's practice, we will be having our first mandatory training camp this Saturday from 9-3. This is a non-contact, non-cardio session to review the basics before we move any further. It has been stated by our Coaches that we will not let poor execution of fundamentals be a factor anymore- so plan on attending- it will good for players of all experience levels. This session will be held either at the Citadel or McMahon playground at Hampton Park- this is open to ALL players in the Charleston Area, Highschool, collegiate, men's & women's. If you are not a member of the Outlaws and would like to attend, please contact the web master via e-mail or call Andy so we can get an accurate head count.
Posted By: Andrew J. Setphanopolis Pelland Esq.
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PRACTICE FOR THURSDAY IS A GO Charleston Rugby is looking forward to working with the City of Charleston Recreation Department on the further development of the Youth Rugby Program and spreading awareness of the sport in our area. We are thankful for the new practice and game facility, but we are even more excited at the potential growth of the youth program given the combined efforts of Charleston Rugby, Charleston Rec, and USA Rugby. By having a central location within the city of Charleston, the sport of Rugby will continue to get great exposure and continue gaining momentum. Following the successes of our own Charleston Outlaws, who, in pursuit of the National Men's Championship have attained multiple Palmetto State Championships, Division 3 South Champions, and perennial Division 3, and division 2 Final 16, 8, and 4 appearances. We know that the future of our club and our ability to improve will require the proper training, and a broad base of talented players.
PRACTICE FOR THURSDAY IS A GO! am both proud and very happy to report that the Outlaws has a new field to call home for the upcoming season and if all goes well for the foreseeable future. McMahon Field at Hampton Park off Rutledge Avenue across the street from Moes Taven has been recently re-seeded, has new lights and is in pristine condition ready for our use.
Myself, Andy and Logan met with the Parks and Recs earlier this morning to seal the deal. Not only do we have their full support, but they are also looking to support our efforts re the development of Youth Rugby in the area. In addition they are not going to charge us for the rental of the field or for the use of the lights and have even offered to help maintain and line the field. All in all a great day for the Outlaws.
It is now up to all of us to ensure that we don't do anything stupid to jeopardize this opportunity. We must all protect and respect the venue and ensure we make it a central feature of the Charleston sporting calendar where families and curious bystanders can come out and watch this great game of ours and perhaps feel included to possibly want to be a part of the club and supporting us over the coming months. So much work by so many current and ex players has gone into arriving at this day. So thanks to you - you know who you are.
Let all of us make sure we keep the language to a minimum, pick up all of our trash, abide by the parking regulations and embrace everything that is good about this opportunity.
FIRST PRACTICE WILL BE THIS THURSDAY (9/10/2009) BEGINNING AT 6 PM (WE DON'T HAVE THE LIGHTS UNTIL NEXT WEEK). WE WILL PRACTICE UNTIL IT GETS DARK.
LETS HAVE A GOOD SHOWING.
Carrying the momentum from being in the National spotlight as hosts of this year's Rugby World Cup Qualifier match between the US & Canada, and last year's match between US & Clermont Auvergne, we now have the backing to place Charleston SC on the map as a Premier Rugby Town. As the youth program grows, and we work with the city to host training events, and look at options on hosting additional USA Rugby or other international matches, regional championships, and national tournaments. 9/9/9 is banner day for Charleston Rugby and the future of Rugby in the area- take pride in being a member of the Charleston Rugby Outlaws and make it to practice this week as we start on the path of the 2010 National Championship.
Posted By: TAFFY!
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PRACTICE FOR THIS WEEK 9/15 & 9/17
A big thanks to Andy for his efforts this past weekend for organizing the training camp and to everyone who helped behind the scenes and participated on the day. The session was extremely helpful - much of which will be repeated over the coming training sessions.
Practice this week will be from 7pm - 9pm (Tuesday & Thursday and every week from this point forward) at McMahon Park at Hampton Park off Rutledge Avenue across the street from Moe's Tavern. (directions)
We had a great turn out last Thursday lets keep it going for this week - first game is a week on Saturday against Hilton Head and Sumpter so 2 squads will travel to Hilton Head.
See you all on Tuesday.
Posted By: TaFFY!
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The Season Thus Far...
With a healthy influx of new players joining the club over the summer, competition for places has been at an all time high. Traditionally the Fall Season has provided the club with an ideal opportunity to blood new talent, change around some player positions and prepare game plans for the Spring. With the welcomed incentive of now playing two matrix games in the Fall the season has taken on a new meaning.
Our first opponent was the spirited Hilton Head Rugby Club. Not our finest hour by any means, but we did manage to squeak a victory in the last few seconds. Congrats to Aaron our feisty scrum half who while being the smallest player on the field, played a giants role in securing the win. Sumter Rugby Club played the role of the third team in a round robin format. A combo of Sumter, Hilton Head and some players from Charleston played a spirited and hard fought game against the Outlaws, with the Outlaws running away with the victory in the last 10 minutes.
Next up the Palmetto Tournament. As defending champions we traveled to Greenville with a repeat on our minds. Both Myrtle Beach and Asheville provided a reasonable test for the Outlaws, but both teams faded in the final quarter of the game, meaning that the Outlaws would face their rivals from Columbia, Old Gray in the semi finals. In a typical tight match, Columbia scored in the last 10 minutes to gain a deserved victory. Sunday's consolation game saw a swine flu depleted Outlaws ground out a victory over Augusta.
With our first Matrix game approaching fast, a much sterner test was both needed and provided for the Outlaws by Div 1 heavy weights, Old White of Atlanta. With the score 15 - 9 to Atlanta and 10 minutes to go, Atlanta scored a couple of soft tries much to the disappointment of the squad to win the game. On the positive side, the team played very well and showed glimpses of better things to come.
So, on the eve of playing Cape Fear we have played 9 games with 7 wins and 2 losses. Watch this space.....
Posted By: Tsffy!
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Outlaws Gain Impressive Matrix Win Against Cape Fear
Charleston Outlaws 55 - Cape Fear 17
With the addition of matrix games to the fall schedule, the season has that extra edge built into it. Cape Fear, has traditionally always been very strong when playing at home, so the Outlaws knew that nothing but their very best would suffice if they were to get a valuable away win. Prior to departing Charleston we had all the excuses for losing - injured players, players playing out of position, not playing together, rookies playing, a 4 hour drive with too many speeding tickets tickets to mention, an unsettled back line, the list goes on. Yet the coaches were still very confident, but would their faith be misplaced?
We kicked off and after a less than auspicious start Fear scored out wide after 9 minutes. Heads in the clouds perhaps, or simply not switched on! We battled back and Bob fed TK a nice ball in the 10 12 channel and TK rambled over after 25 minutes; Gramps converted. At the 30th minute Bob went over, at the 34th minute Gramps went over, Gramps converted all tries giving us 21 points. Unfortunately at the 40 minute mark they went over out wide making the half-time score 21 to 10 to the Outlaws.
At half time we talked about being more physical and driving them from line outs etc. One minute after we kicked off the second half we had a line out on their 22 meter line. We drove that line out the full 22 meters and scored....wait for it. The linesman was their man, Fear complained it should have been their throw in, the ref, who had awarded the try assessed the linesman was drunk and took away the try!!! No matter, after 8 minutes Wes scored from a ruck close to their line. On 11 minutes they scored and converted, making the score 28 to 17.
From there the scoring went.
14 m...Bob try
24 m...Gramps penalty
26 m...Gramps try
34 m...Gramps penalty
36 m...Brian try
In the end congrats to everyone who made the journey. It was a good all round display and we never missed a beat when substitutions were made. Now, can we improve? Yes, and we need to for the next 2 games will define our season. This coming Saturday we face the Atlanta Renegades at Hampton Park. Our homecoming in true Outlaw fashion, should be a great Saturday. The following Saturday we face our old enemy, Columbia Old Grey in our final matrix game away in Columbia. Fireworks? Oh yes. The games are always hard and we look forward to the match with eager anticipation.
One clarification by the coaching staff post the Fear game during the warm down. Coach Dave was misunderstood - to quote Dave, ''I believe you all thought I said we had an Aura when in fact, what I said was we had an Odor''
Excellent win!
Posted By: Taffy & Coach Dave
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Home Rugby Saturday! Dust off the old lawn chairs and make your way to Hampton Park this Saturday because it's rugby day! This Saturday's lineup is slated for three, count 'em, ''one, two, three!'' exciting rugby matches! the First match will see the Charleston Hurricanes Women's Rugby team take the pitch against the Columbia Bombshells. At 1PM the Charleston Outlaws A-side will pit their might against ''Dixie Force 1'', aka General Sherman's Carpetbagging Trail Blazers, featuring the Gentlemen of Sumter. The afternoon 230PM finale will see the Charleston B-side entertain the plucky, visitors (albeit visiting from 1 block away) Citadel Bulldog RFC. After the match, come downtown and celebrate the day's events ''rugby style'' at The Brick! the Brick is located at 213 East Bay St. right off the Charleston Market. Remember fans, no alcohol at the match! Don't be the fool and miss the days fun! See you Saturday!
First Match Kicks Off at 11AM!
Posted By: Webmaster
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2 Impressive Wins in Build up to Matrix Finale With Columbia
Outlaws A: 65 - Atlanta Renegades/Sumter Combined: 0
Outlaws B: 41 - Citadel A: 7
Building upon the momentum from the recent matrix game at Cape Fear, the Outlaws comprehensively beat a Renegades/Sumter combined squad with a display of fast, open and at times, entertaining rugby. We won't dwell on the score, but tries were scored by both forwards and backs, 11 tries in all. The intensity continued into the second game against a very competitive Citadel side where tries were scored from every area of the field. All in all, a very satisfying weekend for the Outlaws who are peaking nicely for their final Matrix game of the season against Columbia in Columbia this coming Saturday.
Posted By: Taffy!
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Who Saw That Coming?
Despite Columbia's elaborate and expensive propaganda campaign, launched in an effort to demoralize the Outlaw squad, the men from Charleston played with pride, executed the game plan, and reclaimed victory in the ''Battle of I-26'' with a decisive 33-11 victory. For once Philly was speechless and Jim Cross smoked himself out of excuses. Cheers to the undisputed heavyweight Champs of the Palmetto State! 33-11! On their home pitch! I think that they should forfeit the cup!
Posted By: Webmaster
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Matrix Wins? - 2 for 2 The Outlaws proved it is possible to go from ''the lightweights of the lowcountry'' to the Heavyweights of the Palmetto by thrashing the Palmetto State Champions 32 to 11. Our 2nd game, I won't say B side because all of these guys will play for the A side, won 32 to 0. A total of 62 points for the Outlaws with 11 against.
Outlaws Win BIG Against Columbia
As coaches we are extremely proud of your efforts and appreciative of your time. Hard work at practice will, and always will, pay off. There is no gain without pain, and it showed against Columbia. We felt that we could have gone another half while Columbia were spent after the first half. It is a game of two halves and the team that can finish stronger will more than likely win. Are there areas we can improve on? Yes, and we intend to work on them. Just remember, that hard practices make for easier games and that is what we aim to achieve.
Thanks to our overseas contingency, Dave Gleeson and Jaime Sherlock for supporting us and to everyone who has been a part of the fall season - players, sponsors, fans and family - you are appreciated.
Have a blessed Turkey Day, come back in a week for practice and lets finish the season by winning the Toys for Tots tournament. - Congratulations,...Taffy and Dave H
Posted By: TaaaaAAAAAaaaafy!
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Rugby on the Rise in the Lowcountry
WHAT CAN YOU DO TO GET INVOLVED???
Most people that look at this web site are involved in the Charleston Outlaws Rugby Football Club, this is going to be changing. Rugby is gaining popularity in the lowcountry, and we are really privileged to be at the forefront of the excitement. There is a lot of buzz around Rugby related to the growing youth program, the Outlaws early success in their matrix and plans for the National Championship, and events like the 9th Annual Memorial Day 7's Tournament and the FIRST EVER South Division 2 & 3 Championship in Charleston.
YOUTH PROGRAM: There has been a lot of interest in youth rugby and starting teams in the various High Schools in the Charleston Area. This year, with the assistance of the City of Charleston Recreation Department, we hope to have 4-5 new programs underway. Separately, the Charleston County School of the Arts (SOA) has taken there own initiative and have a very promising start for their inaugural program, with the interest of close to 100 high school boys and girls, we can see them getting off to a great start in representing Charleston, officially in SCHSR. We hope to see programs in other schools take of as swiftly as this and need help in doing so. If anyone has contacts in local schools that would be interested in helping get a program underway, please contact the WEB MASTER and let us know. We are in need of coaches, players, and parents who can get these clubs established. Rugby has touched so many of us in a positive way, and we need the full support of the Outlaws, friends, family, etc. in order to see the sport prosper for the younger generations. Think of the possibilities for having hundreds of young ruggers representing Charleston and working their way to success at the collegiate and national levels.
SOUTH TOURNEY 2010:
It's Official! Charleston, SC will be the site of the 2010 Division II & III Senior Men's South Championship on May 1st & 2nd at Ansonborough Field, next to the Aquarium. What a great way to showcase our great city and our rugby programs. We will need help from our support structure as we plan for the event. The Outlaws have a goal of regaining the South Championship and will be focusing on Matrix Play. With 2 solid victories under our belts, the Outlaws will be training hard to prepare for winning the matrix outright, and advancing to the South Tourney. If you are an Old Boy, an inactive player, or just want to help in any capacity, we will need help to make this tourney a success. As Charleston Rugby has helped to put on National Events like the Eagles Matches, and the Memorial Day 7's Tournament, we know it will be a great event to attract others to our beloved sport and our great city. Please contact the WEB MASTER if you are available to help with setting up the tournament, arranging sponsors, T-shirt sales, concessions, EMS/ health Services, advertising and promotion, food and drinks for players & referees, Hotel and other travel accommodations, television coverage, or any other type of donation of services or supplies that will help. We hope to see all the local men's & women's, high school, collegiate & senior clubs take advantage of this first time opportunity to support upper level rugby in Charleston!
With these two massive events on the horizon, we expect great things in the near future to be coming out of Charleston Rugby. Thanks in advance to all who made this possible, and whose help we will need to see our plans come through.
Recent Post & Courier Article (click here)
http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2009/dec/04/rugby-on-rise-in-lowcountry/
Posted By: Andrew Pelland - President CORFC
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