All players interested in rugby for the Fall, 2009 should come out on Thursday August 20th, to the IM fields between 5:00 and 8:00, where the men’s rugby club will be greeting will all prospective players. The Club Sports Expo is new to 2009, as it replaces club sports day in the Brickyard. Instead, clubs will have a spot on the IM fields to put on a demonstration, and pass out information about their clubs. The Men’s and Woman’s rugby club have teamed up, and are sharing a space to put on a demonstration for rugby, by playing 7s rugby and rotating out every half. The woman’s team will play 7 minutes, then the men’s team will play 7 minutes, and so on. While the woman are on the field, our players on the sideline can talk to you about our club, and give you all the necessary information to come out and play. You are encouraged to hang out and chat with us, get to know us better before that first practice.
Now if you have played rugby before, BRING your BOOTS to the field on the 20th, we will be happy to let you play. We will be playing the equivalent of a friendly 7s match, so it wont be too intense or too rough, since we will just be coming back from the summer.
Additionally, practice will be starting the Tuesday after this, August 25th, so it is advised you start doing a little running before school starts if you are interested in playing. Regular practices times will be EVERY Tuesday and Thursday(rain or shine) on the IM Fields by Dan Allen Dr, from 5:30 to 7:30. Bring boots and mouth piece everyday, and try to get to field as close to 5 as possible. Practice will start at 5:30, so have your boots on before then and be ready to go.
I look forward to meeting all of the prospective players, and I hope to see you at the Club Sports Expo on August 20th.
Phillip “Yoshi” Burcal – President/ Captain
Wolfpack’s 2010 matrix season re-arranged to play UNC, with the start of the Carolina’s Rugby League
The Wolfpack, a D2 team now has an exciting opportunity to now play our rival UNC, a D1 team, in matrix spring 2010. How is this possible? The creation of the Carolina’s Rugby League.
Traditionally, a fundamental problem has held back the potential of many college rugby clubs in this state, money. Money and our associated school’s support was the key factor that kept D2 clubs in D2 and allowed D1 clubs to continue in their division. D1 clubs in more recent times have had long distances to travel during matrix season, such as UNC having to travel to Arkansas State University, once every two years. D2 clubs, in just about all cases, feel they can hang with any D1 club in the area, only they cannot afford to travel. The solution? The Carolina’s Rugby League, organized by Andy Richards, former UNC Rugby head coach, and current NC Collegiate Allstar coach.
Andy got the ball rolling and has organized everything, following him receiving support from the majority of the affected clubs. The Carolina’s Rugby League has taken all the D1 and D2 teams in the Carolina’s, and allowed them all to play each other, while still allowing a D1 and two D2 teams to advance in the men’s collegiate championship tournament. The affected teams are D1 teams Clemson, UNC, and USC; D2 teams NCSU, Wake Forrest, ASU, and ECU. What this will effectively do is shorten overall travel distances for the D1 teams, while increasing collegiate rugby competition in the Carolina’s. The matrix season will now be 5 games long, effectively creating the schedule in the spring.
The proposed schedule for NC State is as follows:
-January 23rd NC State @ UNC
-January 30th App State @ NC State
-February 6th NC State @ Clemson
-February 13th USC @ NC State
-February 20th NC State @ Wake Forrest
-February 27th ECU @ NC State
NC State is excited for this opportunity, although it will force us to start very soon after we get back from winter break. We are especially excited about a season opener at UNC, our long-time rivals. This up and coming spring matrix season will be the trial run for the League, and hopefully will gain more support from the region, and the South. American Rugby News has posted an article which mentions our new League. Click on the link for this additional article.
http://www.americanrugbynews.com/artman/publish/college/FSU_USF_step_up_to_DI.shtml