THE Ohio State University women's rugby team caused a stir when they stripped off their jerseys during a T-shirt promotion on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. But now they have been suspended from playing while the University investigates the matter.
Source Citation
"Rugby Union: Rugby girls are torn off a strip." Mirror [London, England] 3 Nov. 1999
Showing posts with label USA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label USA. Show all posts
Wednesday, 3 November 1999
Monday, 18 May 1998
World Cup fina: report
JOHN WALES IN AMSTERDAM
New Zealand 46 USA 12
FROM the moment the All Blacks arrived here 16 days ago their desire to lift the women's rugby World Cup has been as overwhelming as their performances. Their invincibility did not, however, create a sense of anticlimax as they disposed of the United States 46 12 in the final.The match was a personal triumph for the All Black wing Vanessa Cootes, who came to the World Cup with the most prolific scoring record in women's international rugby. She scored five tries in Saturday's match to take her tally for the competition to eight and increase her record to 35 touchdowns in only nine games.
The defending champions England made up for their defeat by the All Blacks in the semi-final by securing third place with a 81 15 victory over Canada during which the Wasps full-back Sue Day scored four tries. The Five Nations champions Scotland lost the consolation Plate final, going down 25 15 to Australia.
Such is the interest in the women's game in New Zealand that the final was televised live. Other countries, including South Africa, have voiced a desire to participate in the 2002 tournament.
The New Zealand captain Farah Palmer said: 'We are absolutely ecstatic; I don't think this will ever sink in. The support from New Zealand has been unbelievable and we've been inundated with faxes and calls of best wishes.'
The United States' French coach Franck Boivert, who leaves the Eagles to coach Fiji's men's side, said: 'No matter how hard your own team tries to take the game to the All Blacks, they are faster, fitter and better. I don't believe anyone can stop them; they are unbeatable.'
Source Citation
"Rugby Union: Cootes crosses five times in a one-woman walkover: Women's World Cup Final." Guardian [London, England] 18 May 1998
New Zealand 46 USA 12
FROM the moment the All Blacks arrived here 16 days ago their desire to lift the women's rugby World Cup has been as overwhelming as their performances. Their invincibility did not, however, create a sense of anticlimax as they disposed of the United States 46 12 in the final.The match was a personal triumph for the All Black wing Vanessa Cootes, who came to the World Cup with the most prolific scoring record in women's international rugby. She scored five tries in Saturday's match to take her tally for the competition to eight and increase her record to 35 touchdowns in only nine games.
The defending champions England made up for their defeat by the All Blacks in the semi-final by securing third place with a 81 15 victory over Canada during which the Wasps full-back Sue Day scored four tries. The Five Nations champions Scotland lost the consolation Plate final, going down 25 15 to Australia.
Such is the interest in the women's game in New Zealand that the final was televised live. Other countries, including South Africa, have voiced a desire to participate in the 2002 tournament.
The New Zealand captain Farah Palmer said: 'We are absolutely ecstatic; I don't think this will ever sink in. The support from New Zealand has been unbelievable and we've been inundated with faxes and calls of best wishes.'
The United States' French coach Franck Boivert, who leaves the Eagles to coach Fiji's men's side, said: 'No matter how hard your own team tries to take the game to the All Blacks, they are faster, fitter and better. I don't believe anyone can stop them; they are unbeatable.'
Source Citation
"Rugby Union: Cootes crosses five times in a one-woman walkover: Women's World Cup Final." Guardian [London, England] 18 May 1998
Sunday, 26 April 1998
World Cup: USA in line for third final
EVEN though England and New Zealand are the favourites, America must be in line to reach their third successive World Cup final, writes Stephen Jones. They will avoid both sides until the final if results go with seedings.
Women's rugby has thrived in America for de cades. They have 10,000 reg istered adult women players, more than any other compet ing nation.
Only England, with 9,000, and Canada with 8,000 have remotely near that number.
Sweden, with only 100, have the smallest playing base.
The Americans featured in both the first two World Cup finals. They won the inaugu ral tournament in Cardiff in 1991, beating England 19-6 in the final, thanks to the bril liance of their backs.
Three years later in Edin burgh, England cashed in on scrummage power to gain revenge, winning 38-23.
The dark horses among the home countries are Scot land, who completed a memorable grand slam in the recent home nations champ ionship, beating England in Edinburgh.
Wales, who ran England closer than the 29-12 scoreline suggests in their home na tions match, face a tough opening assignment against Spain, who have recently beaten both Ireland and France.
The Irish have also to negotiate a strong pool, which includes France, Australia and Kazakhstan, a team comprising chiefly of army personnel.
Australia and Germany are the two teams playing in the World Cup for the first time.
WORLD CUP Pool A: England, Canada, Holland, Sweden.
Pool B: America, Spain, Wales, Russia.
Pool C: France, Australia, Ireland, Kazakhstan.
Pool D: New Zealand, Scotland, Italy, Germany.
FIXTURES May 1: Opening ceremony and Holland v Canada May 2: England v Sweden; US v Russia; Spain v Wales; France v Kazakhstan; Australia v Ireland; New Zealand v Germany; Scotland v Italy.
May 5: Remaining pool matches:
May 9: Quarter-finals May 12: Semi-finals May 15: Plate and Shield finals May 16 : Final.
All matches take place at the Nat ional Rugby Centre, Amsterdam
Copyright (C) The Sunday Times, 1998
Source Citation
Jones, Stephen. "America in sight of third cup final; Rugby Union." Sunday Times [London, England] 26 Apr. 1998
Women's rugby has thrived in America for de cades. They have 10,000 reg istered adult women players, more than any other compet ing nation.
Only England, with 9,000, and Canada with 8,000 have remotely near that number.
Sweden, with only 100, have the smallest playing base.
The Americans featured in both the first two World Cup finals. They won the inaugu ral tournament in Cardiff in 1991, beating England 19-6 in the final, thanks to the bril liance of their backs.
Three years later in Edin burgh, England cashed in on scrummage power to gain revenge, winning 38-23.
The dark horses among the home countries are Scot land, who completed a memorable grand slam in the recent home nations champ ionship, beating England in Edinburgh.
Wales, who ran England closer than the 29-12 scoreline suggests in their home na tions match, face a tough opening assignment against Spain, who have recently beaten both Ireland and France.
The Irish have also to negotiate a strong pool, which includes France, Australia and Kazakhstan, a team comprising chiefly of army personnel.
Australia and Germany are the two teams playing in the World Cup for the first time.
WORLD CUP Pool A: England, Canada, Holland, Sweden.
Pool B: America, Spain, Wales, Russia.
Pool C: France, Australia, Ireland, Kazakhstan.
Pool D: New Zealand, Scotland, Italy, Germany.
FIXTURES May 1: Opening ceremony and Holland v Canada May 2: England v Sweden; US v Russia; Spain v Wales; France v Kazakhstan; Australia v Ireland; New Zealand v Germany; Scotland v Italy.
May 5: Remaining pool matches:
May 9: Quarter-finals May 12: Semi-finals May 15: Plate and Shield finals May 16 : Final.
All matches take place at the Nat ional Rugby Centre, Amsterdam
Copyright (C) The Sunday Times, 1998
Source Citation
Jones, Stephen. "America in sight of third cup final; Rugby Union." Sunday Times [London, England] 26 Apr. 1998
Sunday, 24 April 1994
World cup: This is not proper rugby - and it's time women knew
Mark Reason
CANDI ORSINI is a stuntwoman who makes her living by jumping off high buildings and crashing cars. She will earn nothing for her pains when she plays centre for the United States against England in this afternoon's final of the women's rugby world championship in Edinburgh.
Given her profession, she ought to redefine the term crash-ball centre, but that is not her style. Instead, she is one of the deftest ball-handlers I have seen, and that includes most of the concrete-handed threequarters in this year's Five Nations championship.
Orsini plays like a Frenchman, like Charvet or Cordoniou, and there can hardly be a higher compliment. The French centres ``fixe'' the tackler as they pass. They hold his eyes, carry the ball high, take him out by attacking the inside shoulder, and then they deliver.
That is Orsini's talent. Three times in the semi-final massacre of Wales she made tries through exquisite passes, and every one was given with the tackler about to enter the demolition business.
There can be no doubt that her career as a stuntwoman last seen alongside Bob Hoskins in Super Mario Bros and soon to be continued in Hulk Hogan's Thunder in Paradise is a huge benefit. Kipling's ``If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs'' is one thing, but to keep your head when the odds favour decapitation is quite another.
``I don't know if rugby helps stunt work or if stunt work helps rugby,'' Orsini said. ``I do know that because kicking is not so good in the women's game, it has helped to perfect our passing.
``Our coach Franck Boivert (yes, he's French, and he is also married to Elise Huffer, Orsini's centre companion and another astute passer) wants us to keep the ball alive, to use the whole field. We practise running off the ball, we practise switching from group handling to spreading the line, we practise a lot of running from deep onto the ball.''
And they learn quickly. Not just Orsini, but also the fly-half Jos Bergmann and full-back Jen Crawford, outstanding runners who benefit from her guile.
All three have one thing in common: they are all athletes. Orsini is not just a stuntwoman, but an expert water-skier and an Olympic handball gold medallist. Bergmann has played football for 14 years. Crawford was the first female high school basketball player to score 1,000 points in a season. You may not have to be an athlete to play rugby well, but you do have to be athletic.
Maybe that is part of the reason why the USA are averaging 91 points a game, and why their backs are the only real gold in a tournament of dross. Orsini and Co prove that women can play rugby to a very high level, but at the moment more players than not would struggle to make a school third XV.
England are the only other consistent exceptions to that, and even they have only four or five players of real quality. What they do have is a pack, and a fly-half who will attempt to deny the USA any possession today. That and the belief of Karen Almond, the English fly-half, that the USA are not good under pressure. England's chance of winning lies in the strength of their pack, the direction of their half-backs and the hope that the Americans will bottle it.
What they also have is a dreary attitude to the game. In their semi-final against France they played a joyless, attritional slog that had one gagging on recent memories of their male international counterparts. Women's rugby has only really been going for 10 years and you had hoped that it would still be fun. Happily, that is the way of most teams, but England already wear the tortured earnestness of the professional sportswoman.
The only people entitled to such expressions were in the tiny crowd. The little relief they had was in the sly observation of how the women mirror the national styles of the men. The Scots love to ruck. Ireland have a feisty scrum-half and some quirky manoeuvres; they even attempted the garryowen once or twice, but nobody had the leg power to achieve it. England are the roast beefs. And the French showed a typical mixture of flair and naughty confrontation.
Their lock, Valerie Lenoir, was spoken to three times by the referee in their semi-final. In the end she was shrugging and offering dismissive hand gestures with true Gallic genius. She left the pitch with a rude one-fingered sign at the English. She only fell short by not assaulting the referee in the tunnel.
The real shortfall, though, is in the quality of the women's game. Debbie Francis, a winger who played for England in the last World Cup and who now represents Scotland, said: ``I think there is an appalling lack of publicity and interest in women's rugby.''
It strikes me that there is an extraordinarily large amount of publicity, given the generally low standards of play. The kicking is abysmal. Ball-retention in the tackle is fragile, to say the least. There are more turnovers than in a chain of pastry shops. Barely half of the kicks are caught at the first attempt. Tackling is high, as are most of the scrummaging positions. Passes are shovelled.
Unfortunately, little of the publicity points this out. The tendency is to treat women's rugby as a freak show that is really played to a very high level. Such a pretence is not politically correct, it is downright patronising. It says: ``You are really quite good, considering you're girls.''
Try telling the truth. Most of you are not very good. You're not within light years of the standard that women could reach.
These things wouldn't be worth saying if the women were playing for fun, with a ``sod the rest of you'' attitude, but they are not. They are playing to promote their game, to encourage sponsorship, to increase coverage, perhaps even to persuade the likes of the RFU to assist them financially. Money, however, is usually drawn to quality products and until the standard of play dramatically improves money will be scarce.
That is a bit of a catch-22, because the women could do with such money to finance a recruitment campaign to attract the type of co-ordinated sportswomen that the game so badly needs. For the sake of that endeavour, I hope that the Americans win today, and that they show the elan of their rugby in doing so.
They are worth watching. And the spectacle might just attract a better class of sportswoman to take up the game and raise women's rugby to a level that really would be worth talking about.
Copyright (C) The Sunday Times, 1994
Source Citation
"This is not proper rugby - and it's time women knew; Womens Rugby Union." Sunday Times [London, England] 24 Apr. 1994
CANDI ORSINI is a stuntwoman who makes her living by jumping off high buildings and crashing cars. She will earn nothing for her pains when she plays centre for the United States against England in this afternoon's final of the women's rugby world championship in Edinburgh.
Given her profession, she ought to redefine the term crash-ball centre, but that is not her style. Instead, she is one of the deftest ball-handlers I have seen, and that includes most of the concrete-handed threequarters in this year's Five Nations championship.
Orsini plays like a Frenchman, like Charvet or Cordoniou, and there can hardly be a higher compliment. The French centres ``fixe'' the tackler as they pass. They hold his eyes, carry the ball high, take him out by attacking the inside shoulder, and then they deliver.
That is Orsini's talent. Three times in the semi-final massacre of Wales she made tries through exquisite passes, and every one was given with the tackler about to enter the demolition business.
There can be no doubt that her career as a stuntwoman last seen alongside Bob Hoskins in Super Mario Bros and soon to be continued in Hulk Hogan's Thunder in Paradise is a huge benefit. Kipling's ``If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs'' is one thing, but to keep your head when the odds favour decapitation is quite another.
``I don't know if rugby helps stunt work or if stunt work helps rugby,'' Orsini said. ``I do know that because kicking is not so good in the women's game, it has helped to perfect our passing.
``Our coach Franck Boivert (yes, he's French, and he is also married to Elise Huffer, Orsini's centre companion and another astute passer) wants us to keep the ball alive, to use the whole field. We practise running off the ball, we practise switching from group handling to spreading the line, we practise a lot of running from deep onto the ball.''
And they learn quickly. Not just Orsini, but also the fly-half Jos Bergmann and full-back Jen Crawford, outstanding runners who benefit from her guile.
All three have one thing in common: they are all athletes. Orsini is not just a stuntwoman, but an expert water-skier and an Olympic handball gold medallist. Bergmann has played football for 14 years. Crawford was the first female high school basketball player to score 1,000 points in a season. You may not have to be an athlete to play rugby well, but you do have to be athletic.
Maybe that is part of the reason why the USA are averaging 91 points a game, and why their backs are the only real gold in a tournament of dross. Orsini and Co prove that women can play rugby to a very high level, but at the moment more players than not would struggle to make a school third XV.
England are the only other consistent exceptions to that, and even they have only four or five players of real quality. What they do have is a pack, and a fly-half who will attempt to deny the USA any possession today. That and the belief of Karen Almond, the English fly-half, that the USA are not good under pressure. England's chance of winning lies in the strength of their pack, the direction of their half-backs and the hope that the Americans will bottle it.
What they also have is a dreary attitude to the game. In their semi-final against France they played a joyless, attritional slog that had one gagging on recent memories of their male international counterparts. Women's rugby has only really been going for 10 years and you had hoped that it would still be fun. Happily, that is the way of most teams, but England already wear the tortured earnestness of the professional sportswoman.
The only people entitled to such expressions were in the tiny crowd. The little relief they had was in the sly observation of how the women mirror the national styles of the men. The Scots love to ruck. Ireland have a feisty scrum-half and some quirky manoeuvres; they even attempted the garryowen once or twice, but nobody had the leg power to achieve it. England are the roast beefs. And the French showed a typical mixture of flair and naughty confrontation.
Their lock, Valerie Lenoir, was spoken to three times by the referee in their semi-final. In the end she was shrugging and offering dismissive hand gestures with true Gallic genius. She left the pitch with a rude one-fingered sign at the English. She only fell short by not assaulting the referee in the tunnel.
The real shortfall, though, is in the quality of the women's game. Debbie Francis, a winger who played for England in the last World Cup and who now represents Scotland, said: ``I think there is an appalling lack of publicity and interest in women's rugby.''
It strikes me that there is an extraordinarily large amount of publicity, given the generally low standards of play. The kicking is abysmal. Ball-retention in the tackle is fragile, to say the least. There are more turnovers than in a chain of pastry shops. Barely half of the kicks are caught at the first attempt. Tackling is high, as are most of the scrummaging positions. Passes are shovelled.
Unfortunately, little of the publicity points this out. The tendency is to treat women's rugby as a freak show that is really played to a very high level. Such a pretence is not politically correct, it is downright patronising. It says: ``You are really quite good, considering you're girls.''
Try telling the truth. Most of you are not very good. You're not within light years of the standard that women could reach.
These things wouldn't be worth saying if the women were playing for fun, with a ``sod the rest of you'' attitude, but they are not. They are playing to promote their game, to encourage sponsorship, to increase coverage, perhaps even to persuade the likes of the RFU to assist them financially. Money, however, is usually drawn to quality products and until the standard of play dramatically improves money will be scarce.
That is a bit of a catch-22, because the women could do with such money to finance a recruitment campaign to attract the type of co-ordinated sportswomen that the game so badly needs. For the sake of that endeavour, I hope that the Americans win today, and that they show the elan of their rugby in doing so.
They are worth watching. And the spectacle might just attract a better class of sportswoman to take up the game and raise women's rugby to a level that really would be worth talking about.
Copyright (C) The Sunday Times, 1994
Source Citation
"This is not proper rugby - and it's time women knew; Womens Rugby Union." Sunday Times [London, England] 24 Apr. 1994
Saturday, 11 December 1993
In the pink
Simon Barnes
News reaches me of the Eighth annual Boston women's rugby sevens tournament. One team, called The Pink Dresses, played in, well, pink dresses. The competition was won by a team called the Marys, all of whom were named, well, Mary. The top player was their goalkicker, the not inaptly named Mary Indelicato.
Copyright (C) The Times, 1993
Source Citation
"In the pink; Simon Barnes on Saturday." Times [London, England] 11 Dec. 1993
News reaches me of the Eighth annual Boston women's rugby sevens tournament. One team, called The Pink Dresses, played in, well, pink dresses. The competition was won by a team called the Marys, all of whom were named, well, Mary. The top player was their goalkicker, the not inaptly named Mary Indelicato.
Copyright (C) The Times, 1993
Source Citation
"In the pink; Simon Barnes on Saturday." Times [London, England] 11 Dec. 1993
Monday, 15 April 1991
World cup final: report
Alix Ramsay
THE United States became the first world champions in women's rugby union after biding their time before pulling England apart by 19-6 in the second half of the World Cup final in Cardiff .
In the first half, England had kept the Americans penned back in a tight and turgid show of muscle. The ``locks from hell'' and the ``turbo props'' could do little to counter a disciplined display from the England forwards. Facing the heavier American line-up, the English pack finally proved that organisation can counter brawn, scoring a penalty try from a well-worked five-metre scrum. Converted by Gill Burns, the English drew first blood to go 6-0 up.
But the United States, tackling with power and skill, were always going to come back. The turning point came after half an hour when a Francis fumble allowed the United States to press forward, winning a penalty. Harju converted, there were points on the board and the Americans were given a new lease of life.
Within two minutes of the second half Godwin forced the ball over after England had failed to counter the American pressure. Now the States were on a roll and the English could do nothing to stop them.
Copyright (C) The Times, 1991
Source Citation
"American brawn to advantage; Rugby Union." Times [London, England] 15 Apr. 1991
THE United States became the first world champions in women's rugby union after biding their time before pulling England apart by 19-6 in the second half of the World Cup final in Cardiff .
In the first half, England had kept the Americans penned back in a tight and turgid show of muscle. The ``locks from hell'' and the ``turbo props'' could do little to counter a disciplined display from the England forwards. Facing the heavier American line-up, the English pack finally proved that organisation can counter brawn, scoring a penalty try from a well-worked five-metre scrum. Converted by Gill Burns, the English drew first blood to go 6-0 up.
But the United States, tackling with power and skill, were always going to come back. The turning point came after half an hour when a Francis fumble allowed the United States to press forward, winning a penalty. Harju converted, there were points on the board and the Americans were given a new lease of life.
Within two minutes of the second half Godwin forced the ball over after England had failed to counter the American pressure. Now the States were on a roll and the English could do nothing to stop them.
Copyright (C) The Times, 1991
Source Citation
"American brawn to advantage; Rugby Union." Times [London, England] 15 Apr. 1991
Saturday, 23 November 1985
American Barbarians tour of England
The Times, Saturday, Nov 23, 1985; pg. 3
The American Barbarians, the women's rugby team, completed a clean sweep of wins on their first tour abroad last night, beating the South of England 20-0 at Sudbury. Candi Orsini at centre had a hand in three of America's first-half tries, scored by Ruth Bernack, Kerri Heffernan, Micky McVann and Karen Keith.
Saturday, 16 March 1985
Friday, 27 August 1982
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
