The Undefeated...

Here is the report from the final game. Catholic Memorial made Wisconsin proud and return from the first international tour by a Wisconsin team undefeated with a 1-1-0 record. Here's the report from the last match againt Shannon RFC:

The girls battled it out with the women of Shannon today. the team was unbelievably tall and strong, yet the crusaders were able to walk away with a 14-5 victory using their speed to their advantage. "It was awe-inspiring playing in the shadow of the 60,000 seat Munster stadium against a rugby club founded in 1884" professed Coach Wal-Dog.

--Mo Brady

The CMH Tour continued...

On Wednesday we headed across Ireland to Galway. Most of the day was spent traveling and shopping. The rural city was considerably cleaner than Dublin. The small town feel made the stay enjoyable for all. The next day we hopped on a ferry and headed to the Aran Islands. The quaint community had more pubs than churches. We took a bus tour around the 27 square kilometer island enjoying stops at a cafe, and several locally owned shops. We hiked up a large stone hill dating back 150 BC and enjoyed the breath taking views of the ocean. The quiet atmosphere and the friendly people made for a meaningful cultural visit.

We got another view of the coast on Friday when we ventured out to the cliffs of Moher. Despite the intense winds coming off the ocean we were all happy to see more of the scenery. That afternoon we met up with a member of the Connacht Rugby Club. We spent the duration of our muddy training session learning how to incorporate new skills into our contact drills. The rain let up towards the end of practice leaving the team huddled up under a double rainbow. That night during dinner we were offered free tickets to the sold match between Connacht and Munster. The closely contested match and the exciting atmosphere made for an exciting night. We topped off the evening with some local music at the pub where we received the tickets.

Saturday was another rugby day. We met up with a guys team from Maryland and got a chance to watch another pro match. The galwegians lost in a physical match to cork constitution. After the game we got back on the bus and headed to limerick, our final city of the trip.

--mo brady

News from the Tour...

Here is our first update on the CMH tour to Ireland, including the match report from their first game against Gorey's RFC on Tuesday, provided by Mo Brady:

After a long day of travel we finally arrived in Dublin early on Sunday morning. We celebrated Easter service with the Archbishop of Dublin at St. Mary's pro-cathedral. Members of our group were invited to participate in the mass as we experienced the beauty of Irish music and culture first hand. Later that day we saw the President of Ireland at the Easter parade. We spent the rest of the day walking around the city and continued our tour on Monday morning. The day began with a tour of Dublinia, a visit to the Guinness Brewery, and a look inside Trinity College and The Book of kells. That night we enjoyed the local hospitality and relaxed in preparation for our game on Tuesday.

We traveled an hour and a half outside of Dublin to face the girls club from Gorey. Wings Claire Warren and Emily Schober scored trys for the Crusaders. Junior center Kayla Reilly was one for two on conversion kicks. The closely contested match ended with a tie score of 12 - 12. "It was bloody rough out there" said senior captain Lauren Maddente. "But we hung with them and used our speed and skill to our advantage." The physicality seen on the field differed greatly from the atmosphere of the social. We enjoyed the company of the other team and more about the Irish culture.

Congratulations on the tie!

The building season...

For those teams who are not competing in the Midwest and National tournaments, the Spring is a time to build the club, train rookies, and prepare for the Fall conference schedule. The rumor is that the winter has been a productive recruiting season and that the Spring matches should be full of new rookies ready to step on the pitch for the first time. Reports are that Muskego is continuing to grow and will likely have 2-sides again this Spring and Brookfield is adding players, as well.

However, the real story of the spring may be Fond du Lac (FDL) which had great difficulty in the Fall fielding a full side. The word on the street is that FDL may have upto 30-players. If this trend holds out, there could be nearly 6 clubs with B-side teams (DSHA, Vernon, CMH, FDL, Muskego, and Brookfield). Perhaps the fall will see the institution of a separate "B-side" competition at the state tournament.

Women's Rugby in 1928

This is a must see. The Letchworth Girls Rugby blog posted a silent film of women playing rugby in 1928. This is well worth taking the time to click through and see the film and additional background on this blog.

Enjoy!