[Vision2020] Rugby News

[Drew Hicks]

Sunil,

You're right on there. I'm simply not willing to accept that we can't
develop the way soccer has. Soccer is newer to America than rugby is, so
that may just be an issue of pride with me. We've actually met. You were out
at Mt. View when we were practicing last Fall.

I too played under a Kiwi, who was a star for the Eagles in the late 70s and
early 80s, Doug Park. Coach Park has been extremely vigilant with his
efforts towards the development of rugby and seen tremendous success, in
Texas (high school football capitol of the world) of all places. So advances
are being made. We certainly have a long way to go though. One of my desires
is to foster a few teams in the Palous region.

Our club, St. Andy's RFC, is going on it's fourth season and we have had
victories over Boise State, Whitman College, Univ. Idaho, Lewis Clark and
Western Washington U. Our coach is from SA, where he played at the college
and regional level. We'll join PNRFU this year and hope to be a contender
for the DII championship in the future.

I'll let you know when we get together for 7s practice so you can come out
and play.

Would you be interested in coming to Edmonton with our  club  to see the
Churchill Cup finals next week. You can check out details by visiting the
website at www.standysrfc.com and clicking on the "road trip" banner. Let me
know.

Drizzle

On 6/8/06, Sunil Ramalingam <sunilramalingam at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> If we cared about rugby the way they do in New Zealand and South Africa,
> and
> still had these results, then I'd agree with you.  Yes, present and former
> players care, but few others do.
>
> My old coach was from New Zealand, and everything about the game was in
> his
> DNA.  Most of the guys I played with started in college.  This was at UC
> Davis, and high school rugby is present in Northern California.  We'd get
> some players from Jesuit High in Sacramento, and the Marin schools and a
> few
> from Berkeley High, and they had the basics already.  But then we'd get an
> exchange student from England or Wales, and they were so much faster.  So
> were the Cal Bears, but that's another story...
>
> I think one of the problems we may run into even if we grow high school
> rugby is that parents who prefer their kids playing soccer to football
> won't
> want them to play rugby.  The other problem is that football coaches may
> not
> allow them to play a club sport.
>
> You guys playing touch anywhere this summer?
>
> Sunil
>
>
>
>
> >From: "Drew Hicks" <drizzle.hicks at gmail.com>
> >To: "Sunil Ramalingam" <sunilramalingam at hotmail.com>
> >Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Rugby News
> >Date: Thu, 8 Jun 2006 18:02:20 -0700
> >
> >It was the Irish A's, 28-13. And no, I don't think we could've done much
> >better. It's still rather embarrassing that a country of 300 million
> can't
> >compete with the commonwealth countries in a sport that we have been
> >playing
> >as long (or at least nearly as long) as they have. Wales XV destroyed us
> >last June 88-3. USA rugby has to re-configure. They must put more into
> the
> >development of youth rugby than the already decimated Eagles team. But it
> >won't happen over night. I'm certainly trying to do my part. I always
> >welcome any help though.
> >
> >Looking forward to more.
> >
> >Drizzle
> >
> >On 6/8/06, Sunil Ramalingam <sunilramalingam at hotmail.com> wrote:
> >>
> >>Drew,
> >>
> >>Even if the coach hadn't just quit, do you think we could have done much
> >>better?  We had a respectable loss to either the Welsh A's or Irish A's,
> >>but
> >>the real squads would have beaten us soundly.
> >>
> >>Sunil
> >>
> >>
> >> >From: "Drew Hicks" <drizzle.hicks at gmail.com>
> >> >To: vision2020 at moscow.com
> >> >Subject: [Vision2020] Rugby News
> >> >Date: Thu, 8 Jun 2006 14:42:28 -0700
> >> >
> >> >The USA national rugby team lost its second match of the Churchill Cup
> >>last
> >> >night. They fell to the New Zealand All Black Maori side 74-6. This is
> >> >extremely embarrassing for the Eagles. My Churchill cup final
> prediction
> >>-
> >> >NZ Maori vs. Scotland. You can also expect the USA to face Canada in
> the
> >> >consolation final.
> >> >
> >> >Drizzle
> >>
> >>
> >> >_____________________________________________________
> >> >  List services made available by First Step Internet,
> >> >  serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
> >> >                http://www.fsr.net
> >> >           mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
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> >>
> >>
> >>
>
>
>
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