Golf polos and athletic shirts are currently available to purchase from the Rugby Athletic web site - www.rugbyathletic.com.

For orders, visit the official Rugby Super League Online Store - http://rugbyathletic.com/default.aspx?p=viewitem&item=RSL001&subno=&showpage=7&subcat=.

Job Description:

Candidate must be able to prepare a squad of players to compete successfully in the RSL
Candidate must be eligible to live and work in the USA
Must be able to motivate, drive and further improve the performance of his squad.
Responsible to build upon the success of BIW past seasons
Head Coach will manage a team of assistant coaches and other support staff to implement cohesive training and playing strategies for future of the club
Responsible in identifying and developing high performing players within the club

Qualifications:

Candidate must be able to demonstrate a successful track record of performance coaching at the USA Rugby Super League level or a comparable level
This role requires strong motivational and leadership skills as well as excellent communication and interpersonal skills
This candidate should demonstrate a track record of player development
Will understand the requirements of running a senior rugby team and be flexible to change

If you would like to apply for this exciting opportunity please forward Resume/CV and a cover letter summarizing your suitability for this role to jmaloney@dscicorp.com

Alternatively, if you would like to discuss the position in confidence or if you have any questions about this role, please contact:
Jamie Maloney, President, Boston-Irish Wolfhounds - Cell: 617-699-5406 - Work: 781-861-4604 - Email: jmaloney@dscicorp.com

RSL T-Shirts are currently available to purchase from Rugby Athletics’ web site - www.rugbyathletic.com

In the coming weeks RSL Golf Polo’s as well as RSL Stadium Jackets should be available to the general public for the first time in the League’s history.

Rugby Athletic is a full service rugby supplier and distributor for Canterbury of New Zealand, Union & Barbarian Merchandise. They also offer a private label ‘RA’. RA has been in business for over 10 and is the number one supplier of custom apparel in the US.

Recently Rugby Athletic & Madak (Design Company) joined to create the perfect one stop shop for all your rugby needs. They will custom design for the rugby field as well as your social apparel.

Contact Rugby Athletic today to get your project started or visit them on the web at rugbyathletic.com or at 1-800-749-0822.

Visit the official Rugby Super League Online Store - http://rugbyathletic.com/default.aspx?p=viewitem&item=RSL001&subno=&showpage=7&subcat=

TJ successfully picked the winners of the RSL Quarter Finals as well as the Semi Finals and he also named the player who holds the record for the most points scored in a Rugby Super League season - Ben Martin, NYAC (2004).

Congrats to TJ who won himself two 2 VIP Tickets to the RSL Final in San Francisco this coming Sunday as well collecting 2 RSL Jerseys (2010 RSL Champs) 2 RSL Rugby Athletic T-Shirts and 2 RSL Gilbert Rugby Balls…

Well done…

"Some parents throw footballs and baseballs," said Michael Petri Sr. "We throw rugby balls." He laughed. "All the people are like, what are they doing?"

Something else now distinguishes the Petris from the other families playing catch in Bay Ridge: national championships.

Mr. Petri's 18-year-old son Chris won the national championship with Manhattan's Xavier High School in May. A week later, his older son Mike, 25, notched a national title in the country's premier rugby league and is currently a star on the U.S. national team, with a newly signed contract to play professionally in England.

Saturday, both brothers will be honored as Mike represents the United States in the conclusion of the Churchill Cup, an international rugby tournament being hosted at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, N.J.

The Churchill Cup finals-which will feature teams from six countries in a possible preview for the 2011 World Cup-caps a stunning year for rugby in the eastern United States, with New York at the center.

It will be the first time the Churchill Cup finals have ever been held on the East Coast. Xavier's win over Gonzaga (Washington, D.C.) was rugby's first all-eastern high school championship game in the United States.

This year, New York overtook Pennsylvania to boast the second-highest concentration of registered rugby players in the country, with close to 7,000, behind California. And in March, New York City became the first public school system in the country to offer rugby as a high school sport, according to USA Rugby, building on an extensive middle school program.

It's all part of a broader push by USA Rugby to increase the sport's presence in advance of its reinstatement as an Olympic sport at the 2016 Games.

"Now we can start developing Olympic rugby athletes, which is a lot more exciting than saying 'let's just play rugby,'" said Nigel Melville, CEO and President of Rugby Operations for USA Rugby. "Now there's a goal."

Still, despite its popularity around the world-the most recent World Cup attracted an estimated 4.2 billion television viewers and the sport is played in more than 100 countries on five continents-rugby remains an alien sport to many Americans. The name evokes violent clashes and crazed barreling down the field. The positions sound odd to American ears, with names like "half scrum" and "hooker." ("Obviously that caught a bit of grief" among his friends in Bay Ridge growing up, Mike Petri admitted.). Some rules-like not being able to pass the ball forward-seem counterintuitive.

But many in the sport are hoping the Olympic Games will trigger rugby's ascension in the U.S. the way the 1994 World Cup catapulted soccer into Americans' consciousness. Some signs are there: On Thursday, NBC Sports and the Universal Sports Network announced that they had signed a contract to broadcast the next two World Cups in 2011 and 2015 in the United States.

Then there is the Petrie family. Mike Petri had barely heard of rugby when he enrolled at Xavier high school in 1998. He noticed the rugby banners in the school, the rugby trophies in the trophy case in the front lobby. But Mr. Petri was a basketball player, a soccer athlete. Rugby didn't register.

Then one day, the coach approached him after basketball practice and asked if he'd like to give the sport a try. Mr. Petri stared back at him, baffled.

"I think that's the last thing he expected to hear," recalled the coach, Mike Tolkin, laughing.

Mr. Petri went home that afternoon and tentatively told his parents about the offer. What did they think?

His father listened in amazement. There was something he'd never told his sons: despite earning a football scholarship to Villanova, he'd developed a passion for rugby, his off-season sport. But there were no athletic scholarships for rugby and so his memorabilia and memories had long been tucked away.

Over the next few days, the senior Mr. Petri dug up his old box of rugby photos and his old frayed jersey, as Mike listened rapt to stories about traveling to the British Isles and competing around the world, drilling his father for hours on every detail. There were no other high schools playing rugby at the time, Mr. Petri recalled, so they played all their games against adults.

"The first time my mother saw me play I was 14 playing against 30 year olds," Mr. Petri said. She cried, so frightened was she by the brutality of the sport.

When it came time for his son to don his uniform for the first game, "I think my wife thought the same thing, that we were all crazy," he said.

Mike's mother refused to watch him play until his junior year-then she was hooked. The Petri parents packed their younger son Christopher into the jeep and drove across the country watching Mike compete and win. That first season Michael carefully jotted down a list of all his goals: become captain, be an All-American in college, play for the U.S. National team, earn a spot on the World Cup team. He has since done every one.

In fact, only one achievement eluded him: the one his brother netted in May, a high school national championship.

Mike was playing in the rugby super league national championship later that week. Both teams were coached by Mr. Tolkin. "My brother said we should get two national championships for Tolkin this year," Mike said, laughing.

Mike Petri held up his end of the deal: he was MVP of the championship game.

On Saturday, both Petri brothers will be on the field - Mike to compete for the United States in the third-place match against France, and Chris with his high school team, which is being honored at halftime. Mr. Tolkin, who in addition to his other coaching duties is also a defensive coach with the national team, will be torn between the halftime huddle with Mike and Chris's celebration at the center of the field.

Meanwhile, the senior Mr. Petri will sit in one of the dozens of seats he has bought for friends, family and some of his old rugby teammates who have gotten back in touch-"I think he would have bought the whole stadium if they let him," Chris cracked-and watch his sons being honored in an unusual sport for Brooklyn boys, the day before Father's Day.

"For a family from Brooklyn," he said, "it's hard to believe."

Taken from the Wall Street Journal

Written by Sean Kelly
Provided by Emerald Rugby

NYAC was perfect throughout the regular season, and it took them until the final week to not gain the maximum league points.  But at that point, they were in the process of sewing up the No. 1 seed in the East and had little to gain from going for the win.  NYAC has continued to roll through the playoffs, taking advantage of home field advantage by defeating Old Puget Sound Beach and Boston over the last two weeks.  NYAC will be trying to reclaim the title they last won in 2008.

Reigning Champion SFGG has been unstoppable in the West, fourteen points was the smallest margin of victory during the season.  The wins have continued since then, with victories over Old Blue and a much closer win against Life University, where SFGG was forced to come from behind to pull out the victory.  So the stage is set for the last two teams remaining to give it their all on Sunday.  Intriguing battles loom all over the field: young NYAC # 8 Ryan McTiernan against powerful SFGG # 8 Samuela Manoa; scrumhalves Mike Petri and Mose Timoteo who share nearly 50 USA caps between them; hard running backs on both sides….the list goes on.  

To give us an idea of what we might expect, we asked two coaches who had the pleasure of playing both teams during the season to give some thoughts about the game.  Evan Haigh, player-coach of Old Puget Sound, feels home field will be a big advantage to SFGG.  “NYAC’s style is to play a forwards dominated game relying on gaining good field position and wearing down their opposition. Whilst SFGG have a really nicely developed style of play which allows their incredible athletes to gain space and attack at a broken defensive line”.  But perhaps the big question for Haigh is whether NYAC can starve SFGG of enough ball to ensure that they do not get into their rhythm.  If SFGG cannot hold their own against NYAC’s set pieces, they are going to have to play off scraps and NYAC will be able to apply that pressure they are so good at.  But overall Haigh feels SFGG are just too dangerous out wide in this one.

Guillaume Cieutat of New York Old Blue continues the theme of the game being a confrontation of styles: “NYAC is very well organized and structured; SFGG has big units and run the ball with confidence in all areas of the field”.  Cieutat feels there isn’t a single team in the competition that can handle SFGG’s physically, hence that is SFGG’s main asset.  But, he cautions, “NYAC is smart enough not to engage SFGG on this field and manage to have these big boys frustrated with long periods of time without the ball”.  Regardless, he expects a good game from the two best sides in the competition.

The game will be carried live on the website link shown below.  Game time is 3PM on Sunday May 30th. Brian Lowe from Americanrugbynews.com will be doing the commentary.

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/live-from-rocca-field      

Tickets can be purchased at the following link: http://rslfinal.eventbrite.com/   and further information can be found on SFGG’s website at http://www.sfggrugby.com/

The Rugby Super League is organized and sanctioned by USA Rugby as the Premier Level of Men's Club competition in the USA.

Still in the Big Apple, Old Blue coach Gui Cieutat is also fresh off a successful trip to Florida where he took a young squad to play a couple of games against Miami based opponents.  He feels the squad is getting ready to gel and step up to the Super League level, and with a renewed focus on homegrown talent, he is looking forward to taking on what he calls a “red-hot” Boston team.  
That Boston team had a great Fort Lauderdale tournament, with wins over Boca Raton and a noteworthy win over NYAC, the latter game played in horrific weather conditions.  Boston has a young and eager squad, bolstered by a couple of recruits with Division 1 experience in Ireland.  With their focus on fitness and conditioning and game preparation, this is a team that continues to improve.  Boston is certainly a team to watch in 2010.

Boston’s cross-town rivals, the Boston Irish Wolfhounds will surely be looking to improve on last year’s  1-6 record. Another team with a number of new faces on their roster, new Wolfhounds Coach Adam Lewis seemed to be playing his cards close to his chest, trying out various combinations.  Perhaps their final run-out in West Point against Army will give an indication of we can expect for 2010.

Further South, PAC will also be looking to improve on last year’s standings.  Their first week’s opponent, Charlotte Rugby will be looking to continue the club’s solid results from the fall season.   Charlotte has struggled with getting preseason games in because of the weather, relying on mostly in-house preparation.  Joe Crowley and Dutch Jones are two promising young backs that are expected to contribute to Charlotte’s run this season, complementing veterans such as hooker Jason Hinchmann.

Last but certainly not least, we have Life University.  Following their spectacular return to the Super League last year, Director of Rugby Dan Payne will surely want to go one further in 2010 and win it all.  With a solid D1 and developing undergraduate programs, Life should have no problem maintaining depth and will likely be the team to beat in 2010 in the East.  

General admission tickets are being sold for $10.  VIP tickets can be purchased for $100 and include parking, beer, wine, food, a gift bag, and a chance to win prizes on the day.

Discounted group packages of 30 tickets are also available.

Get yours now at http://rslfinal.eventbrite.com/

"This is another example illustrating the amazing level of support our university and athletic department provide for the game of rugby and our program specifically," said Life director of rugby Dan Payne.

"I'm excited for our alumni, fans, players, their friends and families, our opponents fans, and all of the additional individuals that will be able to enjoy our matches as a result of offering this service.

We were hoping to get things in place to be able to begin webcasting for our first full season of undergraduate competition, set to commence this fall. Fortunately, things went a bit quicker than expected and we'll be able to web cast our match this weekend and all of those moving forward.

We're even going to webcast the final day match for our High School summer camp this summer so those parents that can't attend will be able to take in the action from wherever they reside."

Kick off this weekend is at 2 pm EST

Go to - WWW.liferunningeagles.com - and click on the watch live tab to view this weekend's match

As you may know Michael Jones ‘Jonesy’ recently suffered a life threading spinal cord injury while playing in the Ft. Lauderdale Rugger Fest, in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. This serious and life altering injury left us all of us concerned for his well-being and the long term financial challenges his family will face in years to come.

We can only imagine what his wife and family are going through at this time. The overwhelming concern and desire to help by so many speaks volumes about the character of the man that we all know and love.

Doctors say the immediate concern, is to stabilize him, then he can be physically moved to a spinal injury center. This might take several weeks. It is impossible to predict what the future holds but there is no question that an injury of this nature is a drastic life-altering event.  Changing daily family life and creating significant financial Challenges.

Our first concern is to ensure that Michael’s family can be at his side to offer support and comfort, now. The next step is to help in establishing assistance to meet the financial burdens his family will face in the future; these will be significant and most likely for the rest of Jonsey’s life.

The team is establishing a supplemental needs “Trust” for Michael and his Family.  Funds will be used first to immediately help the family with travel expenses, then ongoing family medical and other supplemental cost that the family will incur beyond what is covered by insurances and other assistance.

The Albany Knickerbockers Rugby Football Club is accepting contributions to be used by Michael’s family to face the challenges ahead.  Many initiatives will be forthcoming but we are asking for your generous contributions, now to deal with the already mounting pressures.

Contributions can be made payable to:
Michael Jones, Supplemental Need Trust

and send to:
Albany Knickerbockers R.F.C.
P.O. Box 1654
Albany, NY 12201

Thank you for your concern and support,
Albany Knickerbockers Rugby Football Club
Charles I. Colley,
President

Home team and defending titlists San Francisco Golden Gate will host past champions NYAC on Treasure Island.

The game is set for a 3pm PDT kickoff on Sunday, May 30th at Rocca Field and you can catch all the action ‘live’ online right here on ARN.

Just click on this link and you won’t miss a minute of what promises to be a pulsating championship decider.

ARN’s Brian Lowe will bring you every minute of what shapes up as one of the most evenly contested Super League championship games in years.

Make sure to come right back here at 2:50pm on Sunday as we look forward to your company for the pregame show.

The broadcast will be presented by Gilbert, makers of the official ball of the Rugby Super League and by Rugby Athletic, official apparel supplier to the Rugby Super League.

FYI…

It will also be accessible thru the link below from SFGG:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/live-from-rocca-field

I have had a fantastic welcome from everyone involved with the Boston Irish Wolfhounds. The generosity and the help that the players, coaches and the administrators have shown me has been unprecedented to date in my entire professional rugby career. Michael Carey (51) still playing rugby, a Westmeath man who played with Edenderry before emigrating to Boston (and whom we both reckon played against my dad) gave me the loan of his car (Audi A6). He himself drives a beaten up work-van, he’s ‘some man’. Sean McNamara, a former Shannon hooker and Limerick man cooks and feeds me nearly every day which is a mammoth and expensive task (ask my wife or anyone else who knows me). The positivity of the Yanks is infectious and I haven’t heard a word about a recession mentioned once since I’ve been here.

The USA Rugby Super League (RSL) is the top Men’s Rugby competition in the US. It is divided into two divisions, an Eastern and Western. The wolfhounds play in the Eastern division. There are two seasons per year (spring and fall). Weather stops play over the winter. The Rugby Super League runs during the spring from the first week of March through the last week of May. There are only six regular season games and three playoff games if you make the final. The standard of rugby would be on a par with that of the AIL Division One. The players are generally bigger than those in the AIL but not as technically as good. They love to run with the ball in hand so there is virtually no kicking which makes the games fast and furious but very enjoyable. It is rugby at its most basic and purest form. Players run hard and straight and the hits are huge. All their players tackle well, probably because most have a background in American football. The rucks are a free for all. It’s like watching a herd of bullock’s fighting over the last few calf nuts. Player’s launch themselves into rucks from all angles and distances. In the two games I have played so far I have yet to see someone stay on their feet. Its savage craic!

Teams train twice a week and play on Saturdays. It’s a pleasant change from the stress, intensity and workload of a professional set-up although personally I am still training like a professional (because I’m hoping for another contract next season when I return from Boston). There is no boring stuff such as team meetings or video analysis which makes a nice change! The coaching team at the wolfhounds is excellent. Adam Lewis (formerly of Clongowes Wood) is the head coach assisted by Colin Jones (Forwards coach). A lot of top notch coaches/players have passed through the Wolfhounds over the past few years and all have left their mark. Blair Larson, former all black coached last season and even Michael Lynagh did a stint a few years back.

I am helping to coach the forwards, especially at the scrum. I am also running a few specialised scrum clinics throughout the New England area while I am here which helps as I am going to set up scum clinics once back in Ireland so the practice I am getting here is good. I have started a company called ‘The Scrum Doctor’ so if any teams are interested in improving their scrums they can email me at thescrumdoctor@hotmail.com or check out my website www.thescrumdoctor.com I arrived in Boston in early March and played my first game against the United States Military Academy at WestPoint, NY. What a place to play a rugby game. They have a state of the art facility (four hours south of Boston) and it was my first time playing on an artificial turf 4G surface. It was an excellent game; the turf was hard and fast but made for perfect rugby. The Army’s set-up (fields, dressing rooms, gym, bar) would put some professional clubs to shame. We lost but I enjoyed the trip and the bus ride home to Boston was memorable.

For our next game and our first RSL League game we travelled to NYAC (New York Athletic Club), New York and played in the most horrendous weather conditions I have ever seen. It made the sports ground’s in Galway on a wet day look good. We played on another artificial field but this time in a mini hurricane. We saw felled trees on cars and houses on our way back to Boston. As a prop even on the coldest days once you get warmed up you are fine, but I could not get warm even though constantly on the go during the game. It got colder as the game wore on and some of the forwards where shivering. I can’t imagine how the backs felt, it was some battle but unfortunately we lost. Amazingly, there are over 260 rugby clubs in New England and thousands throughout the US. The potential for rugby is phenomenal, especially now that 7’s rugby is an Olympic sport. The USA is taking 7’s very seriously and that should transfer to 15’s hopefully. The US recently recruited two National Football League (NFL) players as potential rugby converts. The potential is huge but the money is not here yet. The US is trying to copy the Argentinean model with as many players playing in Europe and overseas as possible in order to gain valuable experience for it is difficult for a US player to step up and play at the international level because they don’t have the experience or playing time that teaches them how to ruck and scrummage correctly.

The American tradition is to watch sports on TV but as Rugby is still classed as a foreign game it has not taken off here yet. Also advertisement rules TV so a sport without ad breaks for 40 minutes does not appeal to main stream TV. CBS broadcasted the Las Vegas 7’s during primetime this year which was a big step forward for the sport. People here say that the US should convert college footballers who do not make the NFL into rugby players. It is a good idea but in practice it would be difficult. Someone would need to pay these guys but there is little or no money in the game. They are superb athletes but they lack the knowledge, skill and application to jump into the game, they do need experience. There is also the factor that these guys are used to being top of their game beginning at the bottom for some of them might be hard to take. There are a lot of challenges facing US rugby but there are dedicated people working hard to improve things and if rugby takes off the US have the potential to dominate the rugby world. To play rugby in the states would be an extremely worthwhile challenge for any player. I would highly recommend it. It’s a great life experience and I guarantee you’ll be looked after well, especially by the wolfhounds. We are travelling to Charlotte, South Carolina this coming weekend to play our next league game in the RSL and I am looking forward to experiencing the Deep South. Next month I will be interviewing Matt Kalapinski (Wolfhound winger) who played with the Miami Dolphins. That should be interesting.

Good bye from Boston for now…

PS: Matt really does know the owner of the Miami Dolphins!

The RSL having been requested by USA Rugby to bring their final forward a week so as not to conflict with the Churchill Cup in Glendale agreed but after further consideration and a request from a member club to host the final the decision was taken to move the venue now.

The RSL were happy to accommodate USA Rugby’s request for a date change but felt that as the RSL Final now fell on memorial weekend and was no longer being held in conjunction with the Churchill Cup in Glendale that San Francisco would prove to be a better venue for the final.

San Francisco Golden Gate (SFGG) Rugby Club has been awarded the final which will take place at their home ground on Treasure Island in the heart of San Francisco Bay on Sunday May 30, 2010.

The San Francisco Golden Gate Rugby Club was formed in 2001 via the merger of two Northern California clubs, San Francisco RFC and the Golden Gate Rugby Club.

SFGG was formed with the intent of creating one of the strongest clubs in the USA, and through the course of their short history they have already accomplished that goal. In the seven seasons since SFGG was formed, they have not missed an RSL postseason place. In their first three seasons in the Rugby Super League they made it to the quarterfinals. In 2004 SFGG went undefeated in regular season play and advanced to the RSL Final narrowly losing to Belmont Shore. In 2007 SFGG reached the semi-finals before being defeated by Belmont Shore and in 2008 they lost to the eventual champions New York Athletic Club. In 2009 SFGG advanced to the final and defeated Life University to win the Rugby Super League for the first time in their history.

The RSL is looking forward to a successful final hosted by San Francisco Golden Gate on Sunday May 30 on Treasure Island.

Want to go the Super League championship game in San Francisco?
Would you like a couple of brand new jerseys?
How about RSL rugby balls and T-Shirts too?
We’ve got you covered.

Thanks to our friends at the Super League you can be the proud recipient of all that cool swag, but you’re going to have to polish up your picking skills to get it.  We want you to pick the winners of the League’s quarterfinals and semifinals.

And just as we’ve done before, we’ll have a tiebreak in case there’s more than one correct entry.  The tiebreak is to correctly name the player who holds the RSL’s single season point-scoring record, which club he played for and in what year he set the record.  And if after that there’s still more than one correct entry, all of those entries will go into a random draw to produce a final winner.

Here’s what you can win ($500 value):
2 VIP tickets to the Super League championship game
2 Jerseys from the championship-winning team
2 RSL rugby balls
2 RSL T-Shirts

Send your entry to editor@americanrugbynews.com by 5p Pacific Friday, May 14.  One entry per person only!  ARN will announce the winner the week of May 24.

Now get to it and good luck.

See full article on ARN's website: http://www.americanrugbynews.com/artman/publish/super_league/RSL_Picks_Comp.shtml

Discussion includes the future of the league and why the final was moved to San Francisco.

To hear the interview, check out ARN's podcast page: http://www.americanrugbynews.com/artman/publish/podcast/index.shtml  Podcast number 123.