Crazy fun rugby

I love this quote from a California State article, UC Berkeley shuts out short-staffed Chico rugby team. I think it sums up rugby pretty well!

"This sport had to be invented by someone who was drunk," Kieren said. "But even though it's crazy, it's still crazy fun to play and watch."

As a bonus, there's a pretty good video of some gameplay with interviews with the coaches at the bottom of the page.

WNT MARFU camp

This Sunday I had the opportunity to attend a MARFU camp led by Women's National Team coaches Kathy Flores, Candi Orsini, and Krista McFarren. It was a great experience to be exposed to some very high-level coaching with a group of high-level players. The group was mostly Maryland, DC, and NOVA, with pretty good representation from Philadelphia. I have to admit, it was a little intimidating to be out there with such a talented group of women – I had to keep reminding myself that I'm a Division I A-side athlete, too, even if I'm nowhere near the same level as most of the players!

We warmed up with a game of double-touch and stretched before splitting into backs and the forwards. We forwards spent our entire split time on the same drill - running it, stopping and discussing, then running it again, over and over. It was incredibly rewarding to learn so much from a very intensive session with one simple drill.

Next, backs and forwards recombined to do a tackling drill working on body position in the tackle, with the tackled player trying to pike or lay full-out to provide the smallest gate possible and the tackler attempting to get up facing forward ready to poach the ball as soon as possible. Eventually one offensive supporter was added to protect against the poach by staying low and directly over the body of her tackled teammate. Then our last drill before lunch worked with different decision making in a wide field versus a narrow space.

After lunch, we warmed up with a game of ruck touch before spending the afternoon working on defensive alignment. We focused a lot on defending against an overload - Kathy introduced the concept of setting up a slightly staggered defensive line, so that the defender on the outside would be able to watch her teammate on the inside, who focused on "pushing" the line out.

We then did a few drills on the defensive alignment around a ruck, focusing on positions I've previously called "post, guard, runner"; that Kathy called "post, X, Y"; and that the Furies called "anchor, guard dog, ATTACK DOG!!" Regardless of your terminology, the first position focuses on the ball and the channel directly next to the ruck; the second takes care of forwards on a punch, the scrumhalf on a scoot, or the flyhalf; and the third position guns it for "one" or the flyhalf position. Finally, we combined these concepts with our earlier drills on overloads and "pushing."

All in all, it was an extremely educational day. I took a lot away about how to improve my personal performance and about new ways to think about my team on the pitch, and went home full of a love of the game - and a strong desire for a nap!

Locking body position

When I first started locking - that is, when I first got dragged over from wing to be a flanker, and occasionally got thrown in to lock during practice - I learned to start on my knees. Put my head in low between my front row, then go up and make eye contact with the lock across from me.

Then I went to a MARFU scrum clinic with Lisa Rosen, and we talked about good body position and the advantages of second rows starting in a stable body position on her feet. Putting the head straight between my prop and hooker, and keeping it in a neutral position, looking through my eyebrows and "over the sunglasses".

After that, I felt much more comfortable when I needed to step in at lock, whether during practice or in games. I was more stable starting on my feet, instead of frantically trying to pop up and readjust my body position in the seconds before "Engage!" So I became a huge advocate of starting in that crouched position, stabilizing myself with my prop and ready to power forward instead of just resting on the ground.

That is, until I started locking for Maryland. We're short on second rows so I've primarily been playing there rather than in the back row. However, I've been having trouble getting stable - the front row has a different cadence than I'm used to, and it gets them lower, but has been throwing me off.

Until last night, when Maria suggested that I start on my knees, and wait to get up into good scrumming position until after the front row had dropped - but well before the ref starts calling the cadence.

And wouldn't you know, it worked! I guess there are advantages to both methods; now I'm just trying to figure out what, exactly they are, so I can begin using both more intelligently depending on who I'm second rowing behind.