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#7 Ranked USF Rugby in South Regional Championship this Weekend (Sweet 16)

Guest nybullsfan

By Guest nybullsfan
in USF South Florida Bulls Athletics

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Ruger7mmmag Toro Magnifico

Ruger7mmmag

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Posted

Thanks for staying on top of it.  This is where USF ought to send a message through the listserve to alert the student body.  It wouldn't take much of a turnout to dwarf the other squad probably and really make a difference.  I let a number of the parents on the team know about this site so hopefully we'll see a few of them drop in as they were taking some pics as well.

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Guest nybullsfan

Guest nybullsfan

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Our next opponent is Bentley University (Boston) on Saturday April 16

http://bentleyrugby.com/

Go Bulls!

Here's the article From Rugby Magazine

Sunday' date=' March 27, 2011

DII Men's Playoff Update 

By Pat Clifton

Three territorial champions were crowned in DII this weekend, filing six of the remaining 11 Sweet 16 seats. Of those advancing, two are returning from a season ago.

In the South, South Florida and ECU met in a rematch of the 2009 South title game, with the Bulls winning 29-11 and extending their dream season, in which they’re undefeated against DII competition.

USF fired out of the gate by taking the lead in the third minute, which they wouldn’t relinquish the rest of the day. They carried a 19-3 lead into halftime and led 29-6 with about a minute to play, when ECU notched their first try.

“They’re thrilled. This is a championship match, and they’ve busted their balls getting there,†said USF coach Gordon Campbell of his Bulls. “They’re thrilled, but also looking forward to the next challenge. A lot of our guys are seniors, so this is their last shot, and they’ve got to put everything on the table, not leave anything left in the reserves, so I’m hoping they’ll do it.â€

In the Mid-Atlantic, favorite Salisbury walloped St. Joe’s 61-5. This game was never in doubt, as the 2004 national champs did their homework by watching St. Joe’s in their semifinal against Towson.

“We watched their game yesterday a little bit and saw what they were doing, and they did the same things today, and we were kind of ready for it,†said Salisbury assistant Bill Creese of the Hawks’ affinity for running from deep inside their own end of the field.

“They even had a penalty on like the two-meter line on their end and did a quick tap instead of kicking it up and doing a lineout there, so we knew we wanted to put it on their back three. They run one phase of offensive play, and they ran it probably 40 times in the game. They’d get it out to their inside center and then pop it back into the forwards and we just kept somebody in that gap.â€

Despite the lopsided loss, St. Joe’s advances to the Sweet 16 as MARFU’s second seed for the second time in three years. Salisbury is back in the dance for the third-straight year and fifth in six. Though the Sharks have been so many times, reaching Nationals never loses its luster.

“It’s weird, because each team you kind of get your own environment with each team and it’s just as exciting,†said Creese. “A lot of these guys it’s their first one…I think we have three seniors that are playing on our team, and the rest are sophomores, juniors and freshmen.â€

In the West, Saint Louis defended its title, downing Texas champ Rice 23-12. For the second year in a row, SLU reached the final by defeating Arkansas. This time the Razorbacks were tougher, falling 34-21. Rice downed Colorado College 27-7 in the other semifinal.

[u']Kissimmee, Fla. April 16-17                                                            Pittsburgh, Pa. April 30-May 1

Salisbury (MARFU #1)

Michigan State (Midwest #2)

                                                                          Round of 8

ECU (South #2)

William Paterson (Northeast #2)

                                                                                                                Semis

USF (South #1)

Bentley (Northeast #3)

                                                                        Round of 8

St. Joe’s (MARFU #2)

Middlebury (Northeast #1)

                                                                                                                                    Final

San Diego, Calif. April 16-17

UW-Whitewater (Midwest #1)

SoCal #2

                                                                        Round of 8

Pac Coast #2

St. Louis University (West #1)

                                                                                                                Semis

SoCal #1

Rice (West #2)

                                                                          Round of 8

SoCal #3

Pacific #1

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Ruger7mmmag Toro Magnifico

Ruger7mmmag

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Posted

I know.  You can write about practice being rained out but not about a South Championship in Rugby where our school was represented in fierce competition against ECU who is our football coaches ex school and who is wanting to join the Big East? 

It's a shame that it's treated like an IM sport when it's much, much more than that obviously as seen by the pictures.  These guys are well run, organized and are doing a great job fighting/bleeding for USF.  Definitely worth a few sentences.

Here's the email trail I had with Greg.  Read from the bottom up.  I think there's a little confusion about the "D1" aspect of things I'd like looked into.  Is it possible to compete against other D1 programs but not be a scholarship sport?

______________________________________________________________________________________________

Hi. Called to make sure, but USF has no plans to field a scholarship rugby program. Congrats on this win though ...

Greg Auman

----- Original Message -----

  From: [suprgrupr1@aol.com]

  Sent: 03/27/2011 10:39 PM GMT

  To: Greg Auman

  Subject: Re: USF Rugby wins South Championship.

That's what one of the players told me. Since we have a D1 football team we have to be d1 in rugby starting next year.

Sent from my BlackBerry® by Boost Mobile

From: Auman@sptimes.com

Date: Sun, 27 Mar 2011 18:37:56 -0400

To: suprgrupr1<suprgrupr1@aol.com>

Subject: Re: USF Rugby wins South Championship.

Is the rugby team going D1? Had not heard that at all ...

----- Original Message -----

  From: [suprgrupr1@aol.com]

  Sent: 03/27/2011 06:36 PM AST

  To: Greg Auman

  Subject: USF Rugby wins South Championship.

Check out the thread in the bullspen and a follow up call to Rugby folks for a statement or two would go a long way to generating a little pub for a team that represented USF very well this weekend here in Mobile, AL where my son and I were able to watch our beloved bulls take home the championship.

The Rugby folks will be able to give the specifics of what this means to the team, but this is huge, especially with the Rugby team going D1 next season.

Thanks Greg,

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Greg Auman Grand Bull

Greg Auman

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Posted

Since personal e-mails are being posted here, just figured I'd chime in. We don't write a lot about club sports. Same goes for ice hockey and others at USF. I'd like to do more, but for the paper to be interested, just needs to be an unusual, special story, and success by itself doesn't always qualify as a special story.

The NCAA doesn't have rugby among the sports it sanctions right now, so the "Division II" or "Division I" status doesn't mean the same thing as it means in scholarship sports under the NCAA domain.

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Guest nybullsfan

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Wow, South Region Champions and a place in the National Sweet 16 - just down the road in Sanford on April 16/17 - is not a "special story"? Wow. Whether it's ice hockey, rugby, or badminton, that's news!

Greg, the least you can do is give them a plug in your blog so your readers will know they're playing, and maybe some will go out and support the team.

If we win twice at Sanford, we'll be in the Final Four. That will certainly be news (I hope) but an article then will be too late for anyone to go see them, unless they want to drive all the way to Pittsburgh...

(BTW, I have no dog in this race, I just love to watch rugby!)

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Ruger7mmmag Toro Magnifico

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Posted

We'd hope you chime in Greg as you do a great job covering USF.  Just didn't see why it would hurt for just a sentence or two and that goes for Ice Hockey as well.  Trust me, even if it's a little mention, it'll help pull more folks to your blog. 

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Dogma Toro Magnifico

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Posted

I know.  You can write about practice being rained out but not about a South Championship in Rugby where our school was represented in fierce competition against ECU who is our football coaches ex school and who is wanting to join the Big East? 

It's a shame that it's treated like an IM sport when it's much, much more than that obviously as seen by the pictures.  These guys are well run, organized and are doing a great job fighting/bleeding for USF.  Definitely worth a few sentences.

Here's the email trail I had with Greg.  Read from the bottom up.  I think there's a little confusion about the "D1" aspect of things I'd like looked into.  Is it possible to compete against other D1 programs but not be a scholarship sport?

______________________________________________________________________________________________

Hi. Called to make sure, but USF has no plans to field a scholarship rugby program. Congrats on this win though ...

Greg Auman

----- Original Message -----

  From: [suprgrupr1@aol.com]

  Sent: 03/27/2011 10:39 PM GMT

  To: Greg Auman

  Subject: Re: USF Rugby wins South Championship.

That's what one of the players told me. Since we have a D1 football team we have to be d1 in rugby starting next year.

Sent from my BlackBerry® by Boost Mobile

From: Auman@sptimes.com

Date: Sun, 27 Mar 2011 18:37:56 -0400

To: suprgrupr1<suprgrupr1@aol.com>

Subject: Re: USF Rugby wins South Championship.

Is the rugby team going D1? Had not heard that at all ...

----- Original Message -----

  From: [suprgrupr1@aol.com]

  Sent: 03/27/2011 06:36 PM AST

  To: Greg Auman

  Subject: USF Rugby wins South Championship.

Check out the thread in the bullspen and a follow up call to Rugby folks for a statement or two would go a long way to generating a little pub for a team that represented USF very well this weekend here in Mobile, AL where my son and I were able to watch our beloved bulls take home the championship.

The Rugby folks will be able to give the specifics of what this means to the team, but this is huge, especially with the Rugby team going D1 next season.

Thanks Greg,

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Not cool posting a private e-mail exchange with Greg without his permission  :thumbsdown

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Ruger7mmmag Toro Magnifico

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Posted

Here's what I heard from a pretty reliable source.

USA Rugby has ruled that all schools with a D1 football program must compete in D1 Rugby if they want to play for any of the championships like they just won this past weekend and are competing in going forward.  They can remain in DII, but what would be the point if they can't play for championships?  This change goes into effect the 2011/2012 Rugby season.

It appears to be USA Rugby that is driving this.  Right now there is limited support from the University as they treat it just like any other club on campus, but no doubt this is at a whole different level than paintball, fishing etc. 

If we're going to sustain a great thing, it would be a nice chance for the University to step up and support a successful sport that can drive exposure for the school.  If we even offered half scholarships it would go a long way to recruiting a D1 level roster. 

Cutting a little from the basketball program to support this team would seem to be a smart ROI.  Seriously, if we cut $50-100K from basketball would it really matter?  Yet that money spent on Rugby would set the foundation to have one of the best teams in the country with the athletes we could pull at this school.

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