USA Eagle Phaidra Knight's fund raiser for the Womens RWC

With the Womens Rugby World Cup kicking off in England next month, the USA Eagles are busy getting ready at a training camp held in Brunswick, Maine.  Aside from the preparation needed, one of the challenges facing the players is raising money to fund the team's cup campaign.

Good friend of a rugby life, Phaidra Knight, recently contacted me with details on how you can help.  She has a fund raising campaign at Razoo.com where you donations don't only help her cause, but you can get some great stuff. The goodies include t-shirts and autographed merchandise right up to personal workout sessions and tickets to the world cup in England.   Even the smallest donations get rewarded with love!

In addition to the fund raiser, Phaidra's is documenting her journey via her blog.  You can also follow the teams progress via their website, wewantrugby.com.

And if you missed it, you can listen to my podcast with Phaidra on the mp3 player below or via iTunes.

The Angry Ref - "I’m With the Ban"

So, recently the organizers of the Rugby World Cup came out against vuvzelas. Bravo! Those things are abysmal. Terrible. Awful. Horrible. An abomination. Seriously, I hate them. I was all ready to be a fan of this year’s Copa Mundial until I was listening to early pool play on the radio and marveling at how bad the reception was. I mean c’mon South Africa, get some fiber optics or something! When I found out that the killer bee sound wasn’t ancient S.A. technology but in fact ancient S.A. culture I was done. I hardly paid attention to the rest of the tournament. So bravo to the RWC folks for ensuring that rugby fans don’t have to endure that nonsense. Anything we can do to distance our sport from soccer is a good thing.

Going once...going twice....sold!

Thank you to everyone who bid in the auction for Kevin Swiryn's autographed jersey. Congratulations goes to Mark Brewerton of Austin, TX who placed the winning bid of $118.

That brings the grand total to over $5000 rasied for Jordan and will see him go to IRANZ camp this summer.

Reminder - Play Rugby USA select side take on Durham Uni tonight!

Just a quick reminder that the lads of Play Rugby USA are playing  Durham University tonight on Pier 40 in New York.  Full info. and squad details are as follows (or head on over to playrugbyusa.com).  See you there!

Where: Pier 40 (353 West Street / Houston @ West Side Highway) 

When: Kick off 7pm.

Why: Last match of Durham's East Coast rugby tour before heading to Canada.

Who: The lads below, and tons of friends. This will be a fantastic night of rugby on and off the field.

Social: Post match for all players and fans at Mr Dennehy's 63 Carmine Street, NY, NY, 10014, 9pm.

Cover: There is no charge for match or social although we would welcome donations on the evening to help cover the costs of the event. 

Play Rugby USA Invitational XV Starting Lineup: (* designates PRUSA staff member / volunteer) 1 Andy King (NYAC)
2 Connor Coyne (NYAC)
3 Vincent Duncan-Calandar (Old Blue)
4 James Lik (Old Blue)
5 Jonathan Kaplan (Old Blue)
6 James Denise (NYAC)
7 Mark Griffin (c) (Old Blue)*
8 Jonny Hoehman (Old Blue)*
9 Justin Goonan (Boston)*
10 Christian Mayo (vc) (NYAC)*
11 Tom Hatfield (University of Glamorgan, UK)*
12 Dominic Wareing (Old Blue)*
13 Elliot Rechtin (Old Blue)*
14 Andrew Fern (University of Glamorgan, UK)*
15 Gareth Redding (University of Glamorgan, UK)*

Forward Reserves:
Greg Van Hausen (Old Blue)
Troy Bartley (NYAC)
Justin Ripley (Old Blue)*
Bryan Vale (Village Lions)*
Abe Cohen (Old Blue)*
AJ Cush (New York)*
Cameron Sinclair (NY Magpies)*
Michael Laczkowski (Whiteplains)

Back Reserves:
Willie Dominguez (New York)*
Kirk Miller (Old Blue)
Chris Day (University of Glamorgan, UK)*
Peter Seccia (NYAC)*

Coach: Bruce McLane (NYAC)
Manager: Leo Purtill (PRUSA)
Referee: Jem McDowall (Met Union and National Referee Panel)

PRUSA Invitational XV v Durham University XV next Thursday in NYC

The lads at Play Rugby USA are getting on their boots for a select side match against English visitors, Durham University.  The game is taking place in New York City on Thursday July 15th at 7pm.  Although the final roster won't be announced until next week, the current team will include 15 of PRUSA's male coaching staff and is based off a stringent selection criteria including involvement with PRUSA, availability for game & post match, and good looks!

Current team Roster: 

USA Rugby Women’s National Team on Rugby World Tomorrow

Courtesy of Your Scrum Half Connection

USA Rugby Women’s National Team on Rugby World Tomorrow!

from Alex Williams, High Performance Manager, USA Rugby:
 
The nationwide show Rugby World will include Women’s National Team highlights in tomorrow afternoon’s episode. Here’s what the RW folks just told me will be included in the show:

• Coverage includes footage from both of the recent WNT CanAm matches, including 3 USA tries from the second match.
• Also includes graphics for wewantrugby.com
• Show airs tomorrow afternoon (July 9) at various times on all Fox Sports Net channels across the country. Check local listings for times.

Please send to everyone you know who cares about women’s rugby and help us bump their ratings because they included WNT footage, as it gives us leverage to argue for increased coverage of women’s rugby! Would also be great to encourage folk to write to Rugby World & Fox Sports Net afterward to tell them how great it was to air coverage of the WNT and to thank them for supporting women’s rugby.
 
Go here to check out the Facebook Event, add everyone you know to help spread the word!

Jordan Torres fund raiser update and the auction finale!

As you know, I've been running a fund raiser to help local lad Jordan Torres fulfill his dream to go to IRANZ camp in New Zealand.  The great news is that Jordan has raised $4900 so far, thanks to the kind donations of you, the fans, and one very generous boss!


I'd personally like to give a thank you to the fans and friends who help raise $200 and a big thanks to Michael Laub (Jordan's Mum's boss) who donate a whopping $4700!

To wrap up the fund raiser, I am auctioning off a 2010 USA Rugby IRB 7s jersey worn and autographed by the one and only Kevin Swiryn!

Kevin kindly donated the jersey after hearing Jordan's story and all funds from the auction will help Jordan complete his fund raising.  This would not have been possible without Kevin, nor the wonderful help of Dallen "Pakis Corner" Stanford,  who help mediate for me.  Thank you gentlemen!

The auction is current live at http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250661738963 and I have included photos of the shirt below.  Happy bidding!