United States coach Al Caravelli has chosen a 22-man squad for an eight-day selection camp ahead of the Wellington and San Diego legs of the International Rugby Board ( IRB ) Sevens World Series.


Caravelli will select a final squad of 12 over the course of the camp, which kicks off on 19 January. The selection will be based on fitness, defensive ability and form assessments.


The camp will provide Caravelli with a chance to work with a number of new players - Corey Blair (Huntington Beach Unicorns), Troy Hunt (White Plains), Mike Hicks (San Diego State) and Nicholas Hawkins (OMBAC) - who showed potential in the US's Rugby National Guard Men's All-Star Championships in December.


However, the cream of Caravelli's new crop is Austin Sage, of Red Mountain, who performed well at the last Under-19 Camp.

"Even though he is only 18 and has only been playing rugby for a few months, he is athletic, quick-footed, strong and has the pace we need in Sevens," Caravelli said.
"I'm really looking forward to seeing him perform during the week. If he works hard and puts in the individual time that our current squad puts in, I can see him making one of the traveling squads this year."

Read more »

Leading up to the USA Sevens, the San Diego Invitational (SDI) tournament will be held February 7-8, at San Diego’s Robb Fields. The event is the official tournament for all ages and skill levels associated with the USA Sevens International Tournament and Fan Festival.


The invitational is open to men, women, boys and girls and includes eight divisions: international women, women’s club sevens, international touch, masters, club, college, high school and youth. National and club teams from the U.S., Canada and Mexico, as well as a handful of other international select sides will compete in the tournament.


In its spotlight event, the SDI will showcase eight elite sides in the international women’s competition on February 8. Samoa, South Africa, USA, USA A, Canada, Canada A, Canadian collegiate side the Pandas, and an additional sides yet to be confirmed, will compete in four matches each. The championship game will be played on February 8 and awards will be presented during day one of the USA Sevens event at PETCO Park.


Another highlight comes in the collegiate bracket, which includes the current national champion, Cal-Berkeley, BYU, Navy and Utah, as well as local favorites and national qualifier San Diego State versus the University of California, San Diego in a league match.

Read more »

Thanks to Jennifer O'Neill for these photographs.


I've reduced the quality of the images considerably in order to present them here and these don't do Jen's photography justice. However, if you'd like a full quality ( 4.5MB ) copy of any of the pictures below, please contact me: ely@rugbybahamas.com, quoting the image ID number.


There are 150 pictures in total and I've put them in groups of 30, in chronological order of games throughout the two days. This is the first set.

DSC0012
DSC0030

DSC0050

Read more »

America is encouraging youth teams to align themselves with secondary schools, even though the junior XVs usually do not enjoy official sanction.


Simultaneously, under-19 leagues are being pushed to follow state boundary lines, rather than conform to established sub-unions. Both moves would have the effect of moving rugby away from the traditional juniors model.


The pair of USA Rugby initiatives are intended to promote piggybacking on powerful, well-funded school athletic departments as well as the athletic associations that have grown up around football, basketball, and some 20 other scholastic sports.


In late October, the union said it would divide its national youth championship into two divisions, creating a new category for teams comprising players from a single institution. Another division will remain for conventional U19 teams.

'The strategic goal for USA Rugby is to have rugby formally recognized and supported by high schools,' Peter Steinberg, the union's youth manager, said in a prepared statement. 'The new championship structure will support this goal by encouraging the formation of single high school teams, while allowing multi-school club teams to continue to compete.'

Read more »

The International Rugby Board ( IRB ) has formally announced that The Bahamas Rugby Football Union (BRFU) has won the bid to host the IRB World Championship (2009) Qualifier.


The event will be held in Nassau on October 25th & 26th, 2008.


The Bahamas outbid Trinidad & Tobago to win the right to host this major regional tournament, due in part to the success of the 2007 North America & West Indies (NAWIRA) Sevens that were hosted by the BRFU in November of this year.


The top two teams in the region will go on to represent NAWIRA in the World Championships which will be held in Dubai in February 2009.


The World Championship Qualifier is bigger than the NAWIRA Sevens in that every team in the region will attend and there is much more at stake. As well as the NAWIRA teams that played in November, we should also see women's teams from Trinidad & Tobago, Cayman, Bermuda, Barbados and The Bahamas, wile the USA & Canada will send a full strength squad and not development teams.
In the Men's competition, we can expect Mexico, Cayman, Barbados, Guyana, Bermuda, Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, and The Bahamas to be joined by the British Virgin Islands and St. Lucia, while the USA and Canada will also be sending their strongest possible squads.

Martinique, Guadeloupe and Turks & Caicos will not be represented because although they are members of NAWIRA, they do not have full IRB status.


Being awarded this prestigious event is another indication that Bahamian Rugby is gaining respect within the region. Its now down to our players to ensure they play their part.....