Austin Blacks look to make a mark at inaugural Rugby Gold
Cup Championship
by Bradley Yande
The Austin Rugby Club is taking to the field for the first weekend of play in the
2015-16 USA Rugby Gold Cup, a premiership level tournament featuring the top
men’s’ clubs from the Midwest & Red River. The competition will bring the four
teams together twice during the season, first up this weekend for the Blacks are
the host Kansas City Blues, who narrowly lost to Austin the last time they faced
in a 2013 playoff game. Sunday presents a new opponent in Metropolis Rugby
Club, the two sides will meet for the first time in the two club’s history, which will
certainly deliver the high level rugby the competition hopes to produce.
The Dallas Reds will join the Blacks as the runner-up from the Red River
competition last season, suffering three losses to Austin, where the last of which
came narrowly in the National Semi-Final. The Red River Conference has put
two teams into the Final Four for the last two consecutive seasons that will prove
beneficial for the Texas teams, having played competitively and finding some
success on the road. Dallas and Austin will also play twice during the regular
season where the points will count to the league table and the Gold Cup, giving
those matches an added element that will demand the very best from the two
rival clubs.
The Midwest Conference given the geographical union it plays in has already
been playing their regular season matches, where Kansas City last year’s
champion sits in third at 5-2, leaving Metropolis in the top spot at 9-1 after being
second best in a very competitive matrix season in 2014-15. There is no question
that these teams possess the talent and roster depth required to make a run for
the inaugural Gold Cup Championship.
With the introduction of this new Gold Cup the club atmosphere around the
Austin Blacks has been extremely competitive, we had the chance to ask the
club Captain Timmy Howard how he has been preparing his team and to learn
more about our skipper.
Hometown?
I'm from
Gerringong.
Don't worry
if you can't
pronounce
it. It's a tiny
little dairyfarming
town on the
South Coast
of NSW
about 2
hours south
of Sydney.
How long have you been playing rugby? How long in the states?
I've been playing rugby since I was 9. I've lived away from Australia since 2006. I
played at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver and the Vancouver
Rowing club before moving to San Francisco. I came to the Austin Rugby Club in
the Winter of 2012 and this will be my 4th season with the club.
Through your time here in the states, how much has the landscape of USA
Rugby changed? And how has that influenced the competitions here in
Texas?
When I arrived, I was playing at a club with 17 foreign players. Most of them were
transient and were only in town for the duration of the 6-month season. The Red
River Rugby Competition (that the ARFC plays in) requires that only 5 foreign
players can play on each team each week. When you have 17 players for just 10
potential positions, it puts significant financial stress on the organization and
managerial stress on coaches and players. It's a completely unsustainable model
for an amateur sporting organization.
The change since then has been dramatic. We have only a handful of foreign
players, most of whom will be nationalized Green Card holders within the year.
We've also seen a huge influx of American-born players. Our coaching staff have
recruited effectively out of US colleges and these players now makeup the core
of the Austin Rugby Club. Current or former Club members now occupy the
primary coaching roles at about a dozen local high school and University
programs. Their work, to support the growth of the game at the youth levels, is
the major driver of new club members and players. We weren't able to say that
when I first arrived.
With the introduction of the Gold Cup and its kickoff just days away, what
is the environment like around the Austin Blacks? Any new faces for the
fans to be watching for?
Playing two high-level games of rugby in a weekend is a physical challenge for
all the players competing. The whole squad of 28 will be contributing. It's a
chance for us to blood a whole stack of new guys in different positions. Knute
O'Donnell is one name to watch for. He'll be slotting in at #9 in his first year out of
college rugby. Mark LeGare who has come over from the Austin Huns is another
who will be making up the core of our 2nd row. We've got a lot of new talent, but
this is still very early in the season so right now we're looking to build some team
chemistry with a long season ahead.
Both of your opponents for the Gold Cup are in the middle of their XV's
season, what kind of challenges do you see that presenting? And how have
the coaches prepared the players in the build-up to this Friday night?
KC and Metropolis are both excellent programs. But being mid-season is both a
blessing and a curse. We haven't had our depth tested yet while both their
squads will likely have a few niggling injuries and players playing out of position
to cover for them. They might have played more games this season, but our core
guys were still playing and training together up until in June of this year so we're
not at a significant disadvantage.
In this first weekend of competition, win or lose, what is it you are looking
for out of your players?
We want to see commitment to the game plan and everyone being on the same
page. Mistakes will happen early in the season, the test for our guys will be to
recover from errors quickly and put them behind us so we can focus on the next
play.
“The Reds are
a tough outfit, if
Metropolis and
KC rest on
them, the
wakeup call will
be swift.”
Your Red River counterparts the Dallas Reds have been there every step of
the way challenging the top spot in Texas, how big are those match-ups
now that the Gold Cup is involved?
The Gold Cup is an excellent opportunity for the teams in the middle of the
country to showcase their skills against top competition. We've played some
awesome games against the Reds and NOLA in the past 3 years. This season,
USA Rugby has assigned top-level referees to our RRRC games against the
Reds so the standard will continue to go up. The Reds are a tough outfit, if
Metropolis and KC rest on them, the wakeup call will be swift.
In the grand scheme of things, what kind of opportunity comes with the
new season and USAR Gold Cup for the Austin Blacks?
The Gold Cup represents a huge opportunity for our elite players to get in front of
the eyes of national-panel selectors. We have several guys who are gunning for
USA Eagles caps in the future and some of our newest recruits like Chris
Bauman and Eric Reed have played for the USA repeatedly. This week also saw
the announcement of a Pro Rugby competition in the US to begin in April of next
year. That means there are around 200 paid playing assignments on the line for
the best American Rugby players in the country. The Gold Cup is the first step for
our guys to get themselves on the radar for these new professional sides.
Check out all the event pages, all hyperlinked to each photo *
Rugby is continuing to grow in the states and the introduction of this
Championship Cup will only better the quality of rugby throughout the middle of
the United States. Pro Rugby North America announced its USAR sanctioned
professional competition, which will surely be on the minds of all the players as
this fierce weekend of rugby starts in just two days. Stay tuned for details and
updates as they come available by following the Austin Blacks Rugby Club!
Event info:
Admission to the Rugby Gold Cup is $10.00 at the gate on Friday night, where
fans will receive a ‘Weekend Pass’ that gains them re-entry for all matches including on Sunday. On Sunday, single day tickets will be $5.00 for anyone who
didn’t attend on Friday night. Children under 14 enter free all weekend long.
Brooksider Sports Bar & Grille is a presenting sponsor for the weekend is a
recommended spot for the guys to head on Friday night following the games for
more food, a few beers, etc. It’s close to Swope in a nice neighborhood. Also a
great place to watch college FB games on Saturday. Address is 6330 Brookside
Plaza, KCMO 64113. IF you guys are planning on heading there on
Friday or Saturday, try to give me a head’s up and I can let Management know
that you are coming.