HAWKINS OUT!

For Immediate Release
Submitted by USA Rugby
June 26, 2014

CHULA VISTA, Calif. – Following a program review, Matt Hawkins will step down as head coach of the Men’s Eagles Sevens Thursday, USA Rugby announced.

Hawkins took over as head coach ahead of the 2013-14 IRB HSBC Sevens World Series and led the Eagles to a combined 14-2-34 record in nine events. The Eagles won four Shields during the Series and finished 13th with 41 points.

As a player, Hawkins scored 280 points in 38 competitions for the Eagles. He captained the team during the IRB Rugby World Cup Sevens 2013 in Moscow and the 2012-13 Series as the Eagles fought to keep core status.

“My career with the sevens program as a player, captain, and coach has been one that will be looked back on with much emotion and pride,” Hawkins said. “Unfortunately I have been asked to step down from my position as Head Coach. There was a real opportunity to make a change and have our program step forward in a new direction that allowed for short- and long-term sustainable success.

“I thank the administration for the opportunity, my staff for their support, and the players for the honor to lead and guide them.”

The goal of the Eagles Sevens program is to take the podium at the Rio 2016 Olympic Summer Games. The Eagles will look to qualify for the Olympics during the 2014-15 Sevens World Series.

“I would like to thank Matt for the outstanding contribution he has made to the Eagles Sevens program as both a player and a coach,” USA Rugby Chief Executive Officer Nigel Melville said. “With just under a year to go to Olympic qualification, we want to make sure that we continue to take the program to the next level and to achieve this we felt it was important to make changes.”

The new coaching staff will be announced in the next ten days.

USA v. Canada thoughts and view.

USA vs CANADA was anything but boring. hard faught battle that really went back and forth, but what really stood out was the fight the Eagles had in them. in Scotland we saw small burst of attack but in the end the scotts had the better team. in LA against Japan USA came out swinging and showed much more life but with the huge upswing japan has been on over the last year the strickness and confident in style play lead to japan peforme better in the end.

Now we welcome Canada who for the most part was playing much better then the Eagles where in against the same opponents. The game from the begging started off the best it could of for USA. taking the penalty points from the begging and going up 6-0 I still believe was smart. in the game against Scotland and in past with Canada usa has always struggled when it came to a scoring war, so why not go up right away with "safe" points versus working it and causing a penalty that would swing the momentum back to Canada. Todd clever really showed up and showed us why he is called Capitan America. as the winding moments came down in the first half, I think its safe to say we all went" Oh no here we go again USA falling asleep and falling in a deep hole" and same with the begging with the 2nd half and usa going down 17 points.

But then the magic started to happen. Wyles kick to make it 35-21 was the spark the players needed. soon the 20 point unanswered run by the Eagles sent the 8,000 sold out Bonney stadium into a frenzy. the last 5 minutes was absolute heart racing, attack after attack Canada sent in the eagles 10 meter was meet by constant iron wall of the defense. finally USA was able to get a hold of the ball and kick it in to touch to end the game. 5 years of frustration was finally meet with loud screams of joy from all around. We have finally beaten our pesky neighbors to the north.

in the end if you where to exam the game from start to finish the one thing I saw that made me happy was, These guys didn't give up. they fraught till the very end, in moments where they could easily roll over and just played simple rugby to keep Canada from scoring more they attacked Canada at every angle and hole they could find. with several deep runs it paid off. I for one think the Canadians where caught off guard and didn't expect this much intensity let alone length of intensity to last the entire game. The core group of eagles needs more playing time with each other and whether that means squeezing in one more match against a T2 or T3 opponent I say do it. in the end the costs would be worth it because you are now getting players more time with each other and a chance to work with coaching staff longer and be comfortable as they go into there "break" and back to there clubs. I also firmly believe that the coaching staff needs to start working on depth with in the "core" group of players so when the day that clever, or wyles or samu finally step down or worse injured there wont be this giant question mark of who will step in. in staid you would have this said player standing by who has experience with the starting squad.

Eagle's Win Over Canada - June 21, 2014

USA beats Canada in Pacific Nations Cup 2014 - Universal Sports

USA vs Canada Pre-match Press Conference

USARL round 3

fallowing my plan to try and pump out a Rugby league article/Q&A every so often , i will be having a conversation with Brooklyn Kings. Stay tuned.

Pos	North East	Pld	W	T	L	Game Points	Pts
2	Boston Thirteens	3	2	0	1	194 - 44	4
6	Brooklyn Kings	3	1	1	1	68 - 94	3
7	Rhode Island Rebellion	3	0	1	2	70 - 146	1

Pos	North Atlantic	Pld	W	T	L	Game Points	Pts
1	D.C. Slayers	3	3	0	0	178 - 60	6
4	Philadelphia Fight	2	2	0	0	88 - 34	4
8	Northern Virginia Eagles	2	0	0	2	54 - 88	0
11	Baltimore Blues	2	0	0	2	6 - 192	0

Pos	South	Pld	W	T	L	Game Points	Pts
3	Jacksonville Axemen	2	2	0	0	76 - 16	4
5	Central Florida Warriors	2	2	0	0	57 - 36	4
9	Atlanta Rhinos	2	0	0	2	24 - 61	0
10	Tampa Mayhem	2	0	0	2	28 - 72	0

Seeds for playoffs are based on the following:
1) Total number of wins. 2) Head-to-head if teams are tied – if tied for-and-against points. 3) For and against points of combined games.

Week 3 Results
D.C. Slayers (46) vs vs Northern Virginia Eagles (24)
Boston Thirteens (68) vs Rhode Island Rebellion (18)
Atlanta Rhinos (10) vs Jacksonville Axemen (34)
Tampa Mayhem (22) vs Central Florida Warriors (30)
Philadelphia Fight (40) vs Brooklyn Kings (12)

Roster for Round 2 of PNC

Kickoff at StubHub Center Saturday is scheduled for 7:30 P.M. PT on Universal Sports. Get live match updates on Twitter with @USARugby.

Men's Eagles | v Japan 

1. Nick Wallace 

2. Phil Thiel 

3. Olive Kilifi 

4. Samu Manoa 

5. Scott LaValla 

6. Danny Barrett 

7. Todd Clever 

8. Cameron Dolan 

9. Mike Petri 

10. Shalom Suniula 

11. Tim Maupin 

12. Seamus Kelly 

13. Folau Niua 

14. Blaine Scully 

15. Chris Wyles

Men's Eagles | Reserves 

16. Tom Coolican 

17. Eric Fry 

18. Titi Lamositele 

19. Louis Stanfill 

20. Kyle Sumsion 

21. Chad London 

22. Thretton Palamo 

23. Miles Craigwell

Japan | v USA Eagles 

1. Masataka Mikami 

2. Shota Horie 

3. Kensuke Hatakeyama 

4. Shoji Ito 

5. Luke Thompson 

6. Justin Ives 

7. Michael Leitch (C) 

8. Holani Ryu Koliniashi 

9. Fumiaki Tanaka 

10. Harumichi Tatekawa 

11. Kenki Fukuoka 

12. Yu Tamura 

13. Male Sau 

14. Akihito Yamada 

15. Ayumu Goromaru

Japan | Reserves 

16. Hisateru Hirashima 

17. Takeshi Kizu 

18. Hiroshi Yamashita 

19. Shinya Makabe 

20. Hitoshi Ono 

21. Hendrik Tui 

22. Atsushi Hiwasa 

23. Toshiaki Hirose

Apology- United Youth Rugby

I would like  to publicly apologize to Chris Fisher and the entire United Youth Rugby organization. Recently I posted a Q&A I had with Chris about United Youth Rugby and the status of youth rugby in NorCal and moving forward. It should be noted some of  my answers where inaccurate and the questionnaire was rushed. I did not verify the facts with Chris or even get his permission to publish said answers. Many parts of the Q&A were simply not true. United Youth Rugby is a great organization that has forged long lasting relationships with other NCYRU clubs. I retract the entire interview and ask United Youth Rugby to forgive this review

USARL Round 2

The Brooklyn Kings notched there first ever win over what will diffidently be a great rival as the years go on and because of that they are now sitting 2nd in standings.

Pos	North East	Pld	W	T	L	Game Points	Pts
2	Brooklyn Kings	2	1	1	0	56 - 54	3
3	Boston Thirteens	2	1	0	1	126 - 26	2
7	Rhode Island Rebellion	2	0	1	1	52 - 77	1

Pos	North Atlantic	Pld	W	T	L	Game Points	Pts
1	D.C. Slayers	2	2	0	0	132 - 36	4
5	Philadelphia Fight	1	1	0	0	47 - 22	2
8	Northern Virginia Eagles	1	0	0	1	30 - 42	0
11	Baltimore Blues	2	0	0	2	6 - 192	0

Pos	South	Pld	W	T	L	Game Points	Pts
4	Jacksonville Axemen	1	1	0	0	42 - 6	2
6	Central Florida Warriors	1	1	0	0	27 - 14	2
9	Atlanta Rhinos	1	0	0	1	14 - 27	0
10	Tampa Mayhem	1	0	0	1	6 - 42	0

USA v. Scotland post game press conference

Eagles Could Be Set For Strong Financial Year

Eagles Could Be Set For Strong Financial Year

United Youth Rugby

In 2010 i was approached by chris fisher who at the time founded Los Gatos Youth Rugby, a program that has youth clubs from u8- u19, and now he and his wife run United Youth Rugby that runs 2 clubs ( Los Gatos & Santa cruz) and will now encompass South Valley Youth Rugby and begin two new clubs in neighboring towns to los gatos. in total beginning 2015 season United will be running 5 clubs .
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LLR- care to share your past and present Rugby background

CF-  45-years in rugby. Started play at 5. In the USA, started up clubs in Juneau, Alaska; Santa Clara University women's club: Santa Clara Youth Rugby; Los Gatos, Santa Cruz.

LLR- what is united youth rugby Bay Area and what can we expect from united in the coming years?  

CF- A self contained league in the South Bay

LLR- Santa cruz  just finished its 2nd year of competition, whats in store for the next few years of that club.? CF- Massive growth

LLR- Los Gatos finished on a high note with some of its youth programs taking the championship in nor cal and high school program being able to field two sides for the first time, what can we expect from the lions going forward?

CF- Win more titles and grow big

LLR- most common event that falls after XV's is 7's summer season, will any of the clubs be taking part in any seven tournaments? 

CF- Yes, lots of club will be playing 7's

LLR- one of the issues most people forget to talk about when speaking about new clubs is the financial risk taken, can you share what the finances look like for the clubs and pricing for Practice and playing fields.?

CF- Be on top of everything. Try not to give away too many scholarships.  Biggest expense is to NorCal Youth Rugby that take roughly 1/3rd of money and provide absolutely nothing back in return. A big rip off.

LLR- is rugby in a healthy place in the Bay area?  

CF- Yes, but the idiots running it are doing a terrible job. About 10,000 plus player in NorCal.

LLR- a few questions questions about rugby globally and nationally, do you think Super Rugby should expand to America?

CF- Yes, absolutely. 

LLR- whats your opinion on the USA mens national team?

CF- They try hard but that's about it.

LLR- who will win RWC 2015 and what is your guess for the potential attendance and final score for the november test game between ALL Black and Eagles?

CF- Can't pick a winner. Too many viariables. Most people would say that NZ, OZ, SA, England and France can win. I always support the All Blacks no matter what. Eagles will be thrashed but not by as much as expected. The NZ "B" side will probably run up 50-60 points.

* it should be noted that moving forward united will be breaking away from NCYRA in the under age department and stage games amongst them self's and other local clubs along with a few clubs from the central valley and two new youth programs said to be created in danvile, ca area. united will be using a few IRB laws with its younger programs to introduce physical contact at a younger age that way as the kids move up to the u19 programs the amount of injury and preparation will go down due to the body already use to the "hits" and training of proper form when it comes to, scrumming, rucking, and tackling. the u19 programs will still participate in the NCYRA. if you wish to get into contact with Chris Fisher and learn more feel free to contact him via email @ kiora2u@msn.com or info@unitedyouthrugby.com

USARL ROUND 1

* I would like to take the time and just let everyone that my content has gone down a bit this past month due to my new daughter being born and fatherhood taking the front seat. but I will be trying to get more Q&A's and other articles out as the weeks and months go on.

After round 1 of the 2014 USARL season there's was a bit of both major blow outs and very close games. this is the first year of three conference formats and with 5 new clubs. as the season goes on it will be interesting to see who can keep up with who and if the new clubs can hold there own.
*taken from USARL website

Pos	North East	Pld	W	T	L	Game Points	Pts
1	Boston Thirteens	1	1	0	0	102 - 0	2
4	Rhode Island Rebellion	1	0	1	0	30 - 30	1
4	Brooklyn Kings	1	0	1	0	30 - 30	1

Pos	North Atlantic	Pld	W	T	L	Game Points	Pts
3	D.C. Slayers	1	1	0	0	42 - 30	2
4	Philadelphia Fight	0	0	0	0	0 - 0	0
9	Northern Virginia Eagles	1	0	0	1	30 - 42	0
11	Baltimore Blues	1	0	0	1	0 - 102	0

Pos	South	Pld	W	T	L	Game Points	Pts
2	Jacksonville Axemen	1	1	0	0	42 - 6	2
4	Atlanta Rhinos	0	0	0	0	0 - 0	0
4	Central Florida Warriors	0	0	0	0	0 - 0	0
10	Tampa Mayhem	1	0	0	1	6 - 42	0

Seeds for playoffs are based on the following:
1) Total number of wins. 2) Head-to-head if teams are tied – if tied for-and-against points. 3) For and against points of combined games.