TODD Clever, the first American to play in the Super 14 competition, has expressed interest in playing in Australia.

Clever, who is the captain of the US national team, is in his second season with the Johannesburg-based Lions and has captured attention with his trademark long hair and dynamic athleticism.
 
With Australia's four Super rugby teams allowed to recruit two foreigners -- and Super 15 expansion club Melbourne Rebels permitted to sign 10 imports for 2011 -- the US looms as pool of talent as yet untapped here.
 
There is no professional rugby in the US so international players such as Clever have to travel overseas to make a living from playing the game. "I think Australia is a great country," Clever said. "Weather-wise, people-wise and especially the rugby. I definitely would show some interest."
 
A 193cm backrower, Clever grew up in San Jose, California, and took up rugby as a 14-year-old in high school. "I just followed my brother Chris's footsteps," Clever said. "He played rugby and (American) football and I played soccer. I picked up rugby after I saw him travelling and going on tours and stuff like that. "I wanted a piece of that action."
 
"We played USA under-19s together. Some of my best memories are playing with my brother on the USA under-19 team." "In 2000 we actually toured Australia. We stayed at the AIS and played nine games from St Josephs all the way to Penrith."
 
Clever played rugby at the University of Nevada and was a three-time All-American. While there he made his international debut against Argentina in 2003 at the age of 20.
 
After graduating from college Clever moved to New Zealand and played for North Harbour in the national provincial championship for two years. Clever played for the US in the 2007 World Cup in France and then decided to pursue a career as a professional rugby player.
 
"After the World Cup I played a bit in California, but I wanted to play fulltime rugby," Clever said. "I put myself on the market basically. It looked like I was going to go to England or France and then I got a call from the Lions. Four days later I signed and I was on a plane to South Africa. "I'm enjoying it. There are changes in management from last year to this year. We are playing a running style of rugby. That suits me. I enjoy running with the ball and playing open rugby."
 
While Clever is travelling the world, he is hoping to see the game develop in his homeland. It should receive a boost following the admission of rugby sevens to the Olympics because it will increase funding, especially at the college level. "Rugby has already made huge leaps and bounds in the states," Clever said. "Once it got introduced (to the Olympics) it was on the front page of every newspaper. Everybody was asking what's rugby sevens? What's rugby 15s?
 
"USA rugby has a big challenge to spread the knowledge of the game to everybody in America." One way for rugby to grow in the US would be for an American team to play in an expanded Super 18 series. "We'd love the opportunity to have a team based in the States," Clever said. "It would be tough on the travel and everything. I grew up watching Tri-Nations and Super 12s. That was the only rugby I got.
 
"It's popular and people know this tournament. That's one of the reasons I wanted to play Super rugby. I dropped making the pound and euro to make the (South African) rand because I always had a goal to play Super rugby.
 
"Having my opportunity with the Lions is a dream come true."
 
Courtesy: The Australian
 

Fellas,
The match this weekend has been cancelled per Charlotte's request due to poor field conditions and horribble weather that they are having / will be having.  We will keep you posted on the new match date, but it will likely be on one of the current open dates.
Cheers,
Will

Guys,
 
  You must be registered with USA Rugby to play. There is no other way around it. Get to USA Rugby and get registered. The site is: https://membership.usarugby.org/default.aspx
 
  Do this so you can help us have an awesome season. Also don't forget to pay your dues to the club. Ashley will be showing up on Thursday practices to collect, and if she isn't there you can give your money to me. Let's get this done. We make the club run, and that takes money.
 
Cheers,
 
Luke
The Prez

Movie Plot:
"Invictus tells the inspiring true story of how Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) joined forces with the captain of South Africa`s rugby team (Damon) to help unite their country. Newly elected President Mandela knows his nation remains racially and economically divided in the wake of apartheid. Believing he can bring his people together through the universal language of sport, Mandela rallies South Africa`s underdog rugby team as they make an unlikely run to the 1995 World Cup Championship match."

Movie Cast:
- Matt Damon as Francois Pienaar, the captain of South Africa`s rugby team
- Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela, the then newly elected President of South Africa
- Scott Eastwood
- Zak Feaunati as Jonah Lomu
- Grant L. Roberts as Ruben Kruger

The film is based on the book 'Playing The Enemy Nelson Mandela And The Game That Changed a Nation' by John Carlin. Invictus, December 11, 2009.

This is a very good level of rugby but not so advanced that players of our level can't learn from it -- I encourage everyone to watch it if you can!  --Silky
 
2009 ARMED FORCES CHAMPIONSHIP RUGBY TOURNAMENT
Friday, 13 Nov, Ft Benning, GA

11:00EST (16:00Z) - CONSOLATION MATCH
13:00EST (18:00Z) - CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/armed-forces-rugby
 
It's not in the bag yet - still some last-minute-details - but if all goes as hoped, the finals of the 2009 Armed Forces Championship Rugby Tournament, live from Ft Benning, will be webcast on Fri, 13 Nov, courtesy of the very generous support of Tampa Digital Studios and DHS Systems (DRASH). Because of Tampa Digital's high-quality experience producing sports broadcasts, and DRASH's strong commitment to military rugby, this may be one of the best rugby webcasts in the USA. This webcast is especially for the deployed brethren who can't be with us due to deployments and other obligations.

- Get the word out--send to anyone you know who might be interested in watching the matches
- Go to the link and click "RSVP" next to the matches
- Catch the best military rugby action of the year

 
Home games are in bold...
Also expect additional games to be scheduled on January 23rd and/or 30th.

2/6
Augusta @ Charlotte B

2/13
Charleston @ Augusta

2/20
Cape Fear @ Augusta

2/27
Augusta @ Columbia

3/6
Augusta @ Greenville

3/13
Savannah Tournament

3/20
Charlotte B @ Augusta

3/27
Greenville @ Augusta

4/3
Easter

4/10
OPEN

4/17
RugbySouth Quarterfinals

4/24
OPEN WEEKEND

5/1
RugbySouth Finals

5/8
OPEN

5/15
OPEN

5/22
Rugby Round of 16 and 8

5/29
OPEN

6/5
Rugby Finals

The Augusta Rugby Club has its origins as a brainchild of Jim Macmillan (A.K.A. “Jim Rugby” - now a family practice physician in Asheville, NC.) 1973 was Jim’s freshman year at the Medical College of Georgia.  Having played scrumhalf for Clemson University Rugby Club, Jim’s idea was that a rugby club at MCG would serve as a needed diversion for medical students, many of whom were former collegiate athletes bogged down in studies. Jim joined up with his classmate, Danny Ferguson, a former Princeton University rugger in the Fall of that year to organize and coach the club.

The first match was against Clemson, at Clemson, in December of that year. The second match was against the University of GA in Athens. Despite its recent creation, the team made a good showing in both matches. Recruits were added over the Christmas holidays and by the Spring of 1974, the MCG “MD’s” (Mad Dogs) fielded a respectable team. Most of the original team was made up of MCG medical students. Mike Harrison, Clay Smallwood and Bill Welsh were part of that original team and still play with our Old Boys team. In those formative years practice was held on the back side of the baseball field at Paine College. Our colors were Navy Blue and Gold.

The Spring season brought our first home game which was played at the Augusta Prep soccer field. The field was converted to a rugby pitch by the felling of six young, relatively straight pine trees to fashion goal posts. However, the Prep principal wasn’t too happy about the felling of the saplings from the surrounding woods. The fact that someone unrelated to our team had “spun doughnuts” with a car on the field the night before the match also didn’t help and that ended our first home pitch. We lost that spirited match 12-15, but the members of the team were so enthusiastic about how we played that a dynasty was in the making.

We played many venues those first two years until 1975 when unrelenting MCG administration arm twisting resulted in the acquisition of a home pitch right there on campus. The pitch was located between the site of the present day Mullins Lab off Walton Way and The Radiation Center on Saint Sebastian Way. That area, formerly a residential area known as “Frog Hollow,” had been leveled by the City of Augusta to allow for expansion of the Medical Center. We had to clean up glass and debris to make the field playable. The Pitch was named after “Jim Rugby”. It only lasted one year, however, before MCG claimed it back. We changed our colors to Royal Blue, Grey and White and adopted our first team patch - a royal blue background with a Skull (from our class rings) in front of a Staff of Aesculapius (from our yearbook.) Being on campus exposed the team to the School of Nursing which produced a stream of fairer sex fans and ensured the recruitment of new players from the medical school.  During those years “Squeaky” Johnson’s Tip Top Grill on Central and Monte Sano Avenues served as our unofficial clubhouse and watering hole.

Around that time Edouard Servy returned to Augusta from an OB-GYN practice in Bayonne, France to begin his residency at MCG. Edouard had played with Aviron Bayonnais - one of France’s top teams. Once Edouard agreed to coach our team, the quality of our play skyrocketed. We entered our first Rugby Tournament - The Hilton Head Classic in 1976 and WON! We beat the University of Maryland team in the Final. Edouard introduced top level techniques to our team which eventually were to be copied by the teams we routinely beat.

We played wherever we could find a vacant field after that - including Richmond Academy’s far southeast field which now has a softball field, and the field that was then in front of University Hospital and is the current site of University’s Outpatient Surgery Center. We then moved our matches to Richmond Academy’s football practice field which we used for several years. That field with its dim, but present lights served as our Tuesday and Thursday 7:00 -9:00PM practice field for many years as well. Thursday night practices were always well attended as everyone would end up at Squeaky’s to get “tanked up” for the weekend matches!

The Richmond Academy Field was the best we could do, but it was not laid out for Rugby. Being a high school football practice field the goal posts are set at the back of the end zones rather than at the front as are Rugby goal posts. The result being an inter-post distance of 120 yards instead of 100 meters. That would have been acceptable except that at the eastern end of the pitch the goal posts were situated almost on the running track which made for hard landings in the try zone. Attempting to limit injuries, the try line was moved 10 yards in front of the goal posts. That resulted in many missed trys over the years with players running to the posts only to realize they had run through the try zone and out of play - NO SCORE! It was a slight home pitch advantage though!

To add to the team’s woes - at the southwestern 22 meter line there was were several sink holes that we had to make sure were filled with sand to prevent broken legs. There was also a manhole cover just about in the same location for which we had to shorten the width of the pitch. The manhole was just outside the touchline and so we had to cover it with carpet remnants to make sure no one being tackled on the sideline would end up with a cracked skull. At that time a new, better quality patch was designed with navy blue and gold design on a royal blue background.

In the early 1980's the player composition of the team began to change. The medical student mix began a decline while the number of rugby playing Fort Gordon soldiers and engineers being transferred into the area’s nuclear plants augmented our team. It was decided to change the team name to the Augusta Rugby Football Club. The mascot continued to be the “Mad Dogs.” The name change necessitated a new blazer crest. The design incorporated the original logo to the left, but added an azalea bloom on the right side to represent the Garden City. The two are separated by a golf club signifying the importance of that sport to the community. The crest sits atop a rugby ball. The banners are gold with navy lettering. Our competitiveness rose to higher levels. In 1984 we went 12-0 for the first time beating all the Atlanta and South Carolina teams. We were winning the Palmetto Union Championship and the Jim Duffy Tournament every year.

Between 1980 and 1991 the team made five European tours playing in England, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, France, Belgium and Spain. We also twice hosted teams from France and once from Wales here in Augusta. In the early 1980's we were able to negotiate an agreement with Aquinas High School where we would help the school maintain its football field and repair its pressbox if we could play our home matches in that stadium. The stadium was ideal. There was plenty of room for try zones beyond the goal posts and the sidelines could be extended 5 meters on either side to make for the regulation 65 meter Rugby pitch width as opposed to the 55 yard football field width.

1986 was the founding year of our Old Boys club - The Archiball Association, USA. The Association had its origins in La Rochelle, France in the 1970's, but has since expanded to Bordeaux, Biarritz, Toulouse, Tahiti, Guiana, the Antilles and Argentina, as well as our USA branch.  As the Association was originated by a group of architects, the mascot is nature’s architect - the “Beaver”. To maintain the tradition, our first president was Ricky Clanton., an architect in Hilton Head, South Carolina.  Our Archiball team won the first tournament it entered: The Citrus Bowl Tournament in Orlando. It also twice won the Annual St. Patrick’s Tournament in Savannah. Lately, the team has toured France, Ireland, Brazil, Argentina and New Zealand. A tour is planned for 2010 to South Africa. An annual Archiball versus the Augusta Men’s Club has become a tradition. The Archiball, USA blazer crest is a beret wearing Beaver on a red, white and blue banner.

The arrangement with Aquinas High School persisted through the 80's and the 90's, but somehow in the new century we were negotiated off the field and were once again homeless.

We were back to Richmond Academy and the aforementioned adverse conditions. The next several years had us in search of the ideal replacement. We thought we found it in the soccer field at the Augusta State Athletic Complex on the Wrightsboro Road ASU Campus.  The pitch was regulation size, but necessitated moving the soccer goals, erecting goal posts before each match and taking them down afterwards. If any other event was scheduled at the Complex, the University did not want us playing at the same time - even though the Pitch was on a different field than the other event. Those conditions have necessitated playing matches as far away as Aiken’s polo fields at times - not good for the Augusta Rugby Club!

A few years ago Mike Harrison began negotiating with the Augusta/Richmond County Recreation Department about a lease to the Club of an underused softball field on Woods Street near Lake Olmstead Stadium. Though Mike was able to negotiate the lease, raising the funds necessary to renovate the softball field into a Rugby pitch was difficult. The renovations were finally begun in 2008 after start up funds were raised.

Finalization was ensured by the intervention of the Don Bray family in their desire to be a part of a Rugby pitch dedicated to their son and brother, Larry Douglas Bray, who was tragically lost in an automobile accident June 9, 2007. Larry, a Westside High School athlete and graduate was a second row player for the ARFC. A Mentor Corporation Regional Sales Manager, Larry was transferred from Augusta to Jacksonville, Florida where he played for that city’s Rugby Club.

DUBLIN, Ireland - The International Rugby Board has established the Americas Rugby Championship, which will kick off on September 7, 2009.

The Americas Rugby Championship (ARC) will build on the success of the North America 4 tournament that it replaces, and is a key component of the IRB's Strategic Investment Program, which includes significant investment in USA, Canada and Argentina.

The new tournament features six teams, including four provincial sides from Canada joined by the Argentina Jaguars and USA 'A'. The format unites Rugby in North and South America in a high performance sub-international structure for the first time.

“The Americas Rugby Championship is a huge step forward for elite rugby in North and South America,” said Mark Egan, IRB Head of Development and Performance.

“Canada, USA and Argentina are priority Unions for our High Performance Investment Program and their domestic based players and coaches require a tournament format that exposes them to high level cross border competition on a more regular basis.”

“The tournament is currently structured to primarily focus on our High Performance Unions in the region, however, it is hoped that it will expand over time to include other countries such as Uruguay, Chile, Mexico and Brazil.”

Canadian Regional teams Atlantic, Ontario, Prairies and British Columbia will re-ignite traditional rivalries in a round robin pool taking place in September. The top four will qualify for the semifinals held on October 10, with the finals taking place on October 17 in Toronto.

“The ARC competition is key to developing the link between our domestic rugby structure and our national team program. The competition will provide our domestic based athletes with high performance structures and competition pathways that will be used to strengthen our domestic player base on a annualized basis,” said Graham Brown, Rugby Canada Chief Executive Officer.

Nigel Melville, USA Rugby Chief Executive, said: “The ARC will provide Eagles head coach Eddie O’Sullivan and his coaches with an opportunity to observe and work with domestically based potential Eagles players prior to the important November international window. The introduction of Argentina and possible expansion to include other teams in the future is an exciting expansion of our cross border aspirations for the event.”

Porfirio Carreras, Unión Argentina de Rugby President, added: “The Americas need to grow in the practice of our sport through competition. Argentina is determined to do everything possible to help this happen, and in conjunction with the USA and Canada we support the IRB initiative in introducing this tournament to further expand and develop the Game in our continent.”

South Africa held off a spirited revival from the All Blacks to register a 28-19 win in their Tri-Nations showdown at Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein.
 
The Springboks powered ahead with a stunning first-half performance of power and purpose, fly-half Ruan Pienaar making up for another off-day with the boot by scoring their first try before Conrad Smith, in a superb personal performance, bit back for the All Blacks. Jaque Fourie rounded off the Springboks' effort against the run of play, his try setting down a marker for this Springbok side to justify the hype that accompanied their series win over the British & Irish Lions.
 
Stephen Donald was a steadying presence for the All Blacks throughout, following up his excellent performance against the Wallabies last weekend, but the All Blacks struggled at the lineout and scrum. The Springboks were composed and ruthless at the breakdown, openside Heinrich Brussow going head to head with Richie McCaw and winning their personal battle.
 
Donald settled his nerves early on, opening the scoring with a regulation penalty after an obstruction by the Munster-bound Jean de Villiers. After a great deal of speculation in the build-up, All Black hooker Andrew Hore fluffed his lines at their first lineout. His overthrow didn't hit them on the scoreboard as it did against the Wallabies, but the Springboks were soon back on level terms thanks to a bullet straight penalty from the halfway line courtesy of fullback Frans Steyn.
 
Pienaar's kicking woes continued from the second Test against the Lions, his first two efforts cannoning off the uprights and letting the All Blacks off after a penalty-ridden opening period. Donald was found wanting for distance with his next effort, which was set up by a remarkable steal from McCaw.
 
The sound of referee Alain Rolland's whistle overpowered the All Blacks as the half wore on, their work at the breakdown inaccurate and rightly drawing the ire of the Irish official.
 
Pienaar finally found his range to give the home side the lead after 16 minutes as the Springboks cranked up the pressure. The All Blacks were spared following some strong play in midfield by a knock-on from Fourie, but after Sitiveni Sivivatu had wasted a fine counter attack by hacking the ball out on the full there was nowhere to hide for Graham Henry's men.
 
With a bullying set of drives the Springboks wore down the resistance, the All Blacks tested repeatedly in a fashion completely removed from their physical dominance of Australia. Pierre Spies was held up over the line by McCaw, but their disjointed defence was pierced by Pienaar from the next phase. De Villiers was halted by a stunning tackle from Conrad Smith, but the centre was alert enough to pop the ball to Pienaar who danced over unopposed.
 
The All Blacks fought for every scrap of possession, but were comprehensively outthought by Brussow, whose unconventional body position left McCaw and Co. without an answer.
 
The hosts were handed a blow with Pienaar picking up an ankle injury just before the break, Steyn stepping up to increase their lead with his second penalty while the fly-half received treatment. Pienaar's injury forced him off at half-time, by which time he had missed another penalty as the All Blacks' discipline continued to disappoint. The Springboks trooped in at half-time in a dominant position, but Pienaar's profligacy with the boot had left 11 points on the field.
 
Pienaar's replacement Morne Steyn, schooled in Bloemfontein and cheered on to the field like a prodigal son, landed a penalty straight after the resumption as the All Blacks continued to offer opportunities with sloppy play, this time Smith offside from a Garryowen.
 
Memories of the All Blacks' comeback against the Wallabies in Auckland seemed distant as the Bulls fly-half ran back in to position for the kick-off, but Smith had different ideas following his assist for McCaw's try last time out. It was the Springboks who found their defensive line wanting on this occasion, Smith setting off on a jinking run at the 22 and coasting over unopposed as JP Pietersen and Steyn managed only half-hearted attempts at stopping his progress.
 
Donald converted and added another penalty moments later; his aim excellent as boos rang around Free State Stadium. The All Blacks, in the unfamiliar position of being outmuscled, attacked the breakdown with renewed vigour after their mini revival, but thanks to a superb pickup from fly-half Steyn the Boks were able to extend their lead. After the All Blacks flew off their feet to halt his progress he hit an ugly-looking penalty that nevertheless restored a seven-point advantage.
 
A harsh call against Brussow allowed Donald to claw three points back as the All Blacks positioned themselves for a late surge for the line - testament to their staying power after they were bludgeoned in the first-half.
 
The hosts lost de Villiers to a painful-looking leg injury, a development that would have been greeted with groans in Limerick, before two mistakes by Piri Weepu ended the All Blacks' spirited fightback. First the Wellington scrum-half was guilty of slow reactions at an attacking ruck, his looping delivery breaking to Spies who hacked the ball clear and set off in pursuit. Smith rescued the All Blacks by swatting the ball back to a retreating Weepu, but his delivery was again poor and McCaw could only paw the ball down in to the arms of an onrushing Fourie. The centre, roared on by the crowd, made no mistake as he raced over in the corner.
 
Donald kept plugging away and notched another penalty to draw the All Blacks back in to bonus-point territory, but Steyn was on hand to crush any small victories for the visitors with a monster penalty in the dying embers of the game.
 
From ESPN's Scrum.com

The Stars and Stripes are flying proudly as the US has taken the first step towards clinching the vital Americas 1 seed for RWC 2011 with a gritty 12-6 win against Canada on Independence Day in Charleston, SC.

The American win also snapped a four-game losing streak to Canada dating back to 2006.

There were no tries in the match, all the points came from the boots of Eagle MVP Mike Hercus and Canada’s James Pritchard.

Hercus slotted a drop goal in the 29th minute to get the Eagles on the board first and then followed up with a successful penalty shot in the 35th minute. Pritchard kicked two penalties, one in the 32nd minute, the other in the 38th.

The scores were locked up at 6-6 at the half.

The Canadians were shut out in the second half, while Hercus potted two more penalty goals in the 45th and 78th minutes to seal the American victory.

In front of a somewhat disappointing crowd, the US forwards dominated for most of the 80 minutes.

Time of possession was evenly split, as were both teams’ opportunities in the red zone although the Eagles had a slightly better ratio at 14 to Canada’s 10.

The game was played in searing 95 degree heat with 70% humidity, forcing the heat index into triple digits, but the sweltering conditions did little to wilt the home team’s enthusiasm.

Indeed, the scoreline could have been much bigger in the USA’s favor had there not been as many missed opportunities as there were throughout the match.

Many times the ball popped loose just as an Eagle was making a final pass to a teammate that would have sprung him free for a score. The flipside was that the American defense was rock solid all afternoon long.

Canada had a golden opportunity late when they were down by three and pressing the US goal line, but were driven back with typical USA tenacity and eventually coughed up possession.

Kevin Swiryn, back in the lineup after suffering a concussion in the Churchill Cup, was outstanding, particularly on offense. The former St Mary’s All-American was always dangerous with the ball and constantly looked for work off his wing.

Center Paul Emerick ran hard and straight in his customary trademark fashion, while prop Mate Moeakiola was a force to be reckoned with up front.

John van der Giessen, Nic Johnson and Todd Clever were all over their Canadian counterparts in the loose and Louis Stanfill turned in his usual aggressive performance.

All in all the Eagle coaching staff should be pleased with the start to this important RWC qualifying series, but it will mean little if the US doesn’t go on with the job next week in Edmonton.

In this home and away series, the overall points differential is the determining factor, meaning that while the USA is in the driver’s seat, it can’t afford to take its foot off the gas.

USA scoring:
Pen: Hercus (3)
Drop goal: Hercus

Canada scoring:
Pen: Pritchard (2)

By ARN staff writers