Rugby News

Women’s Division II National Championship

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The Spring Season for CCWRC kicks off this weekend. We hope you are all ready for some amazing rugby. As you are out there practicing in the cold and the wet; we thought we would share some motivating news with you!

USA Rugby has announced the dates for the National Championship (Locations are coming in the next 3 weeks)

USA_Rugby_Logo

Click on me for more info from USA Rugby

Selection Announcements: April 7
“Play-In” Round of 32 (If deemed appropriate by USA Rugby): April 12-13
Round of 16: April 25-27
Semi-Finals/Finals: May 9-11

A few things explained

Who goes and who stays?

The CCWRC Conference Champion team will have an automatic bid into play off rounds.

How will we decide the Champion?

USA Rugby requires (with some provisos of understanding) that all teams play 5 games to qualify for post-season. As we get scores from the last season and this seaon, CCWRC will discuss with all teams what the conference championship will look like, where it will be, and how many teams will be involved. Check your emails as the season progresses.

What if you are 2nd in the conference?

This is where the (Possible) Round of 32 comes in. If you do not get an automatic qualify bid (i.e. first place) you can submit an At Large Selection. Depending on what USA rugby feels this may qualify you for post-season play.

What does this mean for you right now?

Keep playing hard and schedule friendlies with teams that will challenge you.

Start fundraising for travel!

Send your unnoficial scores to vicepresident.ccwrc@gmail.com. While these won’t be final scores it may be a quicker way to keep our page updated.

Still have questions or are just super confused?

Email your President! president.ccwrc@gmail.com

Technical Difficulties–Scores

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Hello CCWRC. We apologize for the delay in scores. The PNRRS has switched over to a new ref reporting system. This has caused delays in getting officials scores to CCWRC.tumblr_myv58iYDYl1qiyjaeo1_500

If you have scores from your games please email them to vicepresident.ccwrc@gmail.com

We will post unofficial scores until we have the official scores.

Thank you!

CCWRC Execs

CCWRC Team Headed to the Final Four!

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CCWRC Team Headed to the Final Four!

As we all know the Washington State University Women’s Rugby Club has recently been leading the D2 post-seasons. With multiple appearances in Post season play and lots of hardware to boot, these Cougs are set to continue on the tradition again this year.

Go Cougs!

Go Cougs!

CCWRC couldn’t be more proud to be represented by these Cougs at the USA Rugby D2 National Championship.

Read about the Cougs journey in the Spokesman-Review article here  and if you are in the Stanford area come out to cheer on the Cougs this weekend!

 

 

Way to represent and Go Cougs!

On the road again!

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Here at CCWRC, we are happy to see that we have two amazing teams representing CCWRC in Play-Ins. WSU and UW are both in the top 32 DII teams in the nation. Exciting!

We are proud of all our teams this year and are excited for the amount of growth we are seeing in Pacific Northwest Women’s rugby!

Go Cougs!

Go Cougs!

Woof!

Woof!

As the number one seed in CCWRC; WSU will be hosting Colorado Mesa University on April 6th. As the second seed UW will be packing up vans, pillows, and water to make the 15 hour drive to UC Santa Cruz on April 6th as well. The winner of these Play In games will then head to Regionals on the Stanford campus in Palo Alto California.

Here is hoping that all our Cougs and Dawgs get a chance to work on their California Tan!

Petitions, Appeals and Rugby Family

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“Any change, even one for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomforts.” When I read these words by Arnold Bennet, I thought to myself, “He must have been a rugger.”

Over the last few months your CCWRC President and the coaches from UW and WSU have been learning all about drawbacks and discomforts of the awesome change that has been happening within USA Rugby.

In January, USA Rugby informed WSU and UW that they would be moving up to DI in order to align with USA Rugby’s mission of Collegiate Athletic alignment. As always, they could petition to stay in DII. Both teams petitioned and both teams were denied. This denial made both teams ineligible for the DII postseason. USA Rugby gave both teams the opportunity to appeal. Ruggers are always up for another scrum down so appeal they did.

The appeals were both based on the fact that USA rugby had communicated with CCWRC that divisional alignment wasn’t required until 2015.After submitting appeals, evidence and attending a phone hearing USA Rugby did what ruggers do, they supported their rugby family. Both appeals were upheld and WSU and UW were allowed to finish out their seasons at the DII level.

The real story here isn’t the petitions or appeal but the amazing work on USA Rugby’s part to not become a faceless bureaucratic system where no voice can be heard. USA Rugby was incredibly honest and helpful during the entire process. Scrum caps off to you USA Rugby!

At CCWRC we were also excited by the amount of support from competitors that UW and WSU received. The teams that would have benefited from an ineligible decision, stood up said these teams deserve their spot in the post season.This is the magic of rugby.

I can assure you that USA Rugby is changing for the better. Through this growth they have not forgotten they are rooted in the hopes and dreams of every rugby player out there. Here at CCWRC we are excited for the future and our ready to put in the work to make it happen.

Thank you to WSU and UW for being amazing teams. We are proud of your fight!

Flamesfest!

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The Western Washington University Flames will be hosting their annual Flamesfest tournament in Bellingham, WA. Flamesfest has been a staple of the Puget Sound Rugby Scene for years now and CCWRC is glad to see it at full force this year!  If you are in the Bellingham area on Feb. 2nd bundle up and watch some amazing teams battle it out in the cold of the far north. Game Schedule is below and if you want more Flames in your life check them out WWU Flames

Flamesfest 2013 Schedule

Time

Playing

8:30

WWU v EWU

9:30

SU v Breakers

10:30

UW v Chuckanut

11:30

EWU v Breakers

12:30

UW v SU

1:30

WWU v Chuckanut

2:30

3rd spot v 2nd spot

3:30

1 spot v 4 spot

4:30

5 spot v 6 spot

5:30

Champions!

Flamefest Team Bonding

There will be a tournament gathering in Bellingham following a long day of rugby. This is a great chance to meet the women you pummeled (or got pummeled by) and continue the strong tradition of growing the Rugby Family!  Details will be available at the tournament.

For the 21(+) crowd the local Chuckanut Bay Rugby club is also having an event that evening that is worth staying to enjoy: Live music from 6pm – midnight, Boundary Bay Beer and McKay’s Pizza.  Details will also be available at the tournament.

SATURDAY’S A RUGBY DAY

CCWRC-Our Way

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As I look back at the last months here with CCWRC I am excited by the growth and competition I have seen in such a young organization. There have been bumps along the way. The schedule has been changed more than once, getting our first bank account wasn’t easy, the website is still a work in progress, and the piles of paperwork seemed endless. Nonetheless CCWRC is here; a rugby conference created by collegiate women ruggers with an executive board of women ruggers. Women ruggers.

Not that long ago women’s rugby was something that made eyebrows rise and mouths drop. Ok so maybe it still does sometimes but now women’s rugby is on the international stage. It is leading the pack in new collegiate sports and driving the way for men’s rugby here in the U.S. The amazing truth is women’s rugby is growing and growing fast. It is growing because of all of you ruggers out there on frozen pitches, wiping the sweat out of your eyes and saying “Again!” It is growing because of all of you brave women who saw a flyer on campus and decided to try something completely new. It is growing because of all of you women who are sitting up late at night working on budgets, schedules, and little/big events.

It is your hard work that is paving the way for the generations of women to come. You are saying that you are not content to be a girl playing a man’s game. You are putting in the work to say I am a rugger. That is all the matters. We don’t ask for different rules or a smaller ball. We just ask for you to get out of our way. Our way.

Women ruggers are doing this our way; making our own conference, devising our own goals and our own voice. You are saying to the world that women can play contact sports and excel. Whether you realize it or not you are part of a movement and for that we thank you all. We thank the teams that are building to become a true part of CCWRC. We thank the teams that will one day grow to leave us for DI. We at CCWRC thank you for your tenacity in 2012 and are excited to see what tries you score in rugby and in life for 2013.