Week in Review 10/24-10/30

Nov 07

Madison United Rugby - Week in Review - 10/24/11 - 10/30/11

WRC vs Lincoln Park; Sat 10/29/11; WRC won 48 to 13.  Saturday was a crisp fall day at the WRC Sports Complex, a midst the Mens Collegiate Divison 3 playoffs, those in attendance saw the WRC defeat Lincoln Park RFC 48-13 to finish it’s league season undefeated (8-0) with 8 bonus point wins. A scrappy match that was close early but got blown wide open mid way through the 2nd half.  This Saturday 11/5 the WRC will face off with the 7-0-1 Eastside Banshees for the 1 Seed in the Western Division. 4 other Mens D2 teams will also be competiting at the Sports Complex Saturday and Sunday. Milwaukee will play Des Moines while the South Side Irish will
face off vs. Bremer County.

WWRFC; 10/29 and 10/30; The WWRFC finished 2nd in the Midwest Championships after beating Buffalo 15-12 and then losing 28-10 in the final to Pittsburgh. Great weekend of rugby despite really horrible field conditions in a snowstorm and swampy muddy fields.

UW Men vs UNI; Sat 10/29/11; UW Men won 54 to 5.  The UW Rugby team greeted this match with great anticipation with victory creeping them that much closer to their ultimate goal that being a spot in D1 national finals in the Spring 2012, defeat however would mean that it would come down to their final away game vs. Uw Stout.  UW Madison had played UNI twice last fall and both times UNI came out full of running with some big athletes especially in the centers. So the Madison team was ready and somewhat nervous as they realized what was at stake here.  The game started with the normal flow with UW capitalizing on a UNI mistake with an early try to Ryan Jones (one of 3 for the day for the big lock).  The conversion was missed as we led 5-0 .  An error resulted in a turnover and a 70 yard run from the UNI center resulted in UNI hitting back straight away with a good try to make the score 5-5.  Two penalties to fly half Jordy Heginbottom pushed the score to 11-5, and the Badgers were starting to extend their domination in set-piece giving them greater possession than UNI and capitalized with tries to Steve Link, Andrew Hanske and Jones the score pushed out to 28-5 at the half time break.  Still at that stage coach Callen,was somewhat nervous thinking that we had not played to the levels of previous week.  We subbed some players in with John Bezak a loyal servant of UW rugby playing his last home game at UBay field making an impact straight away with some telling runs.  A clever chip and chase and a lucky bounce from Heginbottom resulted in a try 15 mins into the 2nd half and then the gates opened with multiple tries once again with the final score being 54-5.  Best for the Badgers were Ryan Jones, Andrew Hanske and hardworking lock Paul Michalowski who did some really nice work in the tight and around the rucks.  Flyhalf Heginbottom was solid, all subs got in and that is where the momentum really started to shift our way. The beauty with this rugby program at present is that there are 25 players who all would not be out of place in the starting side.  The Blacks played there last official game and it was one to remember for quite some time with a victory to the Blacks 108-5 against a Chicago D3 college side. It was great way to finish their campaign and the future looks good with many of those players ready to push their cause over the upcoming 7’s Nationals in December side and the Spring 15’s Nationals should we make it.

UW Women; 10/29 and 10/30; Midwest Sweet 16; After an undefeated season (despite its loss of the Division and State Champsionship to UW-LaCrosse last weekend), Madison secured a place at the annual Midwest Play-offs. Madison met its match against the University of MN - Duluth and Northern Illinois State University Halloween weekend. Although Madison played its best defense all season and the games tested the endurance and skills of all three teams, it lost both games. Great games, UMD and NIU!  Final results: UW-Madison 10, UMD 20 and UW-Madison 5, NIU 12.  UWWRFC had a great season!  Practices will start-up again in January, with our spring season commencing in April.

Minotaurs; Sat 10/29/11; Oshkosh Halloween 10s Tournament; No game info due to story provider shuttling a teammate to the hospital for observation and missing the action.

Other News: WRC got a nice write up in Rugby Magazine, http://www.rugbymag.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2478:wisconsin-dayton-eastside-lead-in-final-weekend&catid=61:mens-dii-clubs&Itemid=234 

WRC Hosting Midwest Collegiate Rugby Showcase on Nov 12 and 13 in Cottage Grove.  Go to http://www.wisconsinrfu.org/finalfour/ for more details.  Times are tentative.

• Saturday, November 12th
  10:00 AM (Field 1) - D2 Women's Semi 1 - UW-Lacrosse vs. Pittsburgh
  10:00 AM (Field 2) - D2 Women's Semi 2 - Grand Valley State vs. Winona State
  12:00 PM (Field 1) - D1 Women's Semi 1 - Ohio State vs. Minnesota
  12:00 PM (Field 2) - D1 Women's Semi 2 - Northern Iowa vs. Michigan
  12:00 PM (Field 3) - NSCRO Semi 1 - Wabash vs. UW-Parkside
  2:00 PM (Field 1) - D2 Men's Semi 1 - UW-Whitewater vs. UW-Milwaukee
  2:00 PM (Field 2) - D2 Men's Semi 2 - Ohio University vs. Northern Illinois University
  2:00 PM (Field 3) - NSCRO Semi 2 - Franciscan vs. St. Thomas
• Sunday, November 13th
  10:00 AM (Field 1) - D2 Women's 3rd Place
  10:00 AM (Field 2) - D1 Women's 3rd Place
  12:00 PM (Field 1) - D1 Women's Championship
  12:00 PM (Field 2) - D2 Women's Championship
  12:00 PM (Field 3) - NSCRO 3rd Place
  2:00 PM (Field 1) - D2 Men's Championship
  2:00 PM (Field 2) - D2 Men's 3rd Place
  2:00 PM (Field 3) - NSCRO Championship