PRU U23 All-Stars 2007

Guys. Guys. Did I ever tell you how rugby is my favorite thing ever? And ruggers are my favorite people ever?

This weekend I went down to UVA in Charlottesville to play for the PRU U23 All-Star team in the MARFU tournament. For those of you to whom that means very little, basically I got to play select-side rugby with some totally awesome girls.

AU had eight girls selected (six plus one alumni plus one alternate), so we set off together in Garthie and Petrides' cars early in the morning Saturday. Once to the pitch, we engaged in (true to AU form) spooning and karaoke, before doing a walk-through with the whole team. Then we kit up and watched EPRU beat VRU2.

Once that game was over, we warmed up and prepared for our game vs. VRU1. I started at flanker, and played for a half. I was... well, not really happy with how I played. I cleaned it up somewhat before I was taken out at the 40, but still wasn't very happy with myself. The whole team was a little off, I think largely due to the fact that we didn't get any practice time together (last tryout was last Sunday, and it's logistically difficult to get girls from all over the area together for a weekday practice). The more we played, the better we look, but we basically got rolled over.

Not too disheartened, however, we all showered up at the hotel and then met at the Mellow Mushroom to fuel up for Round 2 vs. VRU2. In the evening, a bunch of us hung out and watched Free Willy 2 (that movie is surprisingly dirty, if you watch it with the right people). Afterwards, we tried to go hot-tubbing, but it being closed, a group of us ended up sitting in the "exercise room" just chatting for an hour or two before bed.

Sunday dawned bright and a little warmer than Saturday, and we rolled out of the hotel at 9am for our game playing VRU2. I didn't start (I was not surprised, considering how I'd performed the day before), but all the AU kids that hadn't started yet were in the starting lineup (even our alternate!). The game was much closer and much better played than the day before, but we still lost by two tries. I got in for the last 20 minutes and (go figure) played about ten times better than I did on Saturday.

And as Tosan said after the end of that, "Losing ain't a loss unless you don't learn from it." There's a lot I have to work on before the beginning of next season and before I go to MARFU tryouts in the spring, and a lot for the team to work on together. Definitely not a loss.

Then it was kitting down, a flurry of pictures, and back in the Garthmobile for the trip home. And my season is officially, completely over - I won't get to play rugby again until February. Depressing.

But I'll still get to play with ruggers! This weekend was an amazing experience not just for the gameplay, but for all the awesome girls I got to hang out with on and off the pitch. I'm totally looking forward to seeing them at games and tourneys and socials in the spring, and hopefully hanging with some of them before then!