The Angry Ref - "You Like Me. You Really Like Me. Don’t You?"

Have you been reading this?  Are you taking this advice to heart?  I think maybe you might be because I haven’t had much to write about lately.  I’ll be honest, a lot of my previous columns have been drawn from experiences early in my refereeing career.  In an unguarded moment you may even catch me admitting that some of my frustrations were related to being new.  But I’d never admit that here.

Besides, if you look back most of what makes The Angry Ref angry is when players focus more on being clever than on playing rugby and that has little to do with my previous newness.  So many of you divide your focus in such an inexplicable way.  Imagine if you focused solely on the game?  Imagine the heights to which you could rise.  Are you imagining it?  Can you see yourself using that cleverness to figure out how to play to what the ref is or isn’t calling and exploiting it to your advantage rather than running around whining?  I can see it.  It’s beautiful

Help a young rugger go down under

Since starting a rugby life, I've been able to meet a lot of ruggers who embrace the sport with passion.  One such player I recently met hopes that his will take him to great heights.

Jordan Torres is a 16 year old lad who plays for New York Rugby Club on the U19 team. He lives in the Bronx with his mum, a single parent.  He had a rough year or two at school, but through his natural perseverance and hard work, he turned his grades around - and made the honor roll in all his classes!

NYC: Annual Four Leaf 15s Rugby Tournament, this Saturday 27th March

The Village Lions RFC will be hosting their annual Four Leaf 15s Rugby Tournament this Saturday over on Randalls Island. With 60 teams competing, its one of the biggest rugby tournaments in the USA.

Matches are running all day, kicking off at 8 am.  With Mens Club, Mens Social, Womens, Mens College and Womens College Divisions, there are a lot of games to see and its free to spectate.

I'll be at the tournament on coaching duties looking after the Lions Womens team.  Swing by the games and see hi!

Also, for the second year in the row we'll celebrate the Four Leaf 15s with an epic rugby pub crawl through the Lower East Side.  Hit the bars as soon as games finish and enjoy drink specials everywhere.