Saturday's College Premier and Super League finals point to diverging paths for university and senior rugby.
The quartet of BYU-Cal and Life-San Francisco Golden Gate have not lost a single game, suggesting they are exemplars of the sport in America. Yet the college storyline is rugby's advance as a pursuit for bona fide athletes, while the senior showdown highlights teams that excel without the blue-chip ruggers that USARFU endeavors to send overseas.
One implication is that for high school and college teams, attracting and developing higher-quality players is a core activity. For clubs, team building has to surmount policies that maximize club-country tensions.
The contrast does not entirely explain why the school championship will likely draw a far bigger crowd than the senior final, but is part of the equation. Schools are accelerating toward the sporting mainstream, and one byproduct of the varsity blueprint is a ready-made fan base. Club sides, which lack such communities, also find they cannot market around star players.
Each of the each of the favorites, Cal and San Francisco Golden Gate, face road games. The Rio Tinto final, ostensibly a neutral venue but like Stanford's Steuber Field a virtual home game, this time for the Cougars, figures to showcase a pair of notable backrows as well as BYU's canny inside backs versus Cal's explosive wide men.
In eighthman Ryan Roundy, the Cougars field a 7s Eagle with 21 tries to his credit this season. Hynie Leaatoa is a notable ballcarrier and fetcher in his own right. Across the setpiece are Danny Barrett, Tom Rooke, and Derek Asbun, a trio described by coach Jack Clark as one of the best in his long tenure at Berkeley.
Like Barrett and Rooke, who were particularly explosive in the opening quarter of Cal's semifinal win over Utah, backs Blaine Sculley, Dustin Muhn, and Seamus Kelly threaten to score from most anywhere. Scully too is a 7s international, while Muhn has been an Eagle trialist. For the Cougars, halfback Shaun Davies and inside center Jared Whippy are skilled players who use the ball well, lending steerage to BYU's sometimes turbulent approach.
Interestingly, Davies and Bear flyhalf James Bailes, who led the two teams in scoring, were both born in South Africa.
In Atlanta, there will be past and present national teamers across the field. For Life, the list includes hooker Phil Thiel, lock Pat Danahy, eight Mark Aylor, and center 'Tui' Osborne. SFGG has hooker Chris Biller, eighthman Samu Manoa, and halfback Mose Timoteo plus trialists Dan LaPrevotte, Volney Rouse, and Milemoto Pulu.
But the gamebreakers are gone abroad, as Manoa will do next season. Then too, three or four World Sevens Series tournaments fall during springtime, further removing standouts such as Life center Paul Emerick at key junctures.
RSL contestants would not likely concede any shortage of skill or athleticism; indeed, they would expect to defeat college sides not merely because they are older and stronger. Still, headliners such as SFGG captain LaPrevotte or Life's Steve Petzel, who scored the matchwinner in the seesaw Boston semifinal, tend to be understated, team-first types.
More Larry Bird than LeBron James is the formula for Super League coaches looking to win year after year.
BYU and Cal have met in the last six finals, the Cougars' lone victory coming in 2009. Life and SFGG clash for the third consecutive postseason, SFGG claiming both previous encounters, including 2009's title match and last year's home semifinal.
The college final will cap two schoolboy championships also staged at Rio Tinto.
Related:
On the RSL final
Private schools, local ties headline youth championships
Who is "Labron" James?
On a serious note:
Larry Bird's Career APG (Assists/Game): 6.3
Lebron James Career APG (Assists/Game): 7.0
Maybe Carmelo Anthony vs. Steve Nash might have been a better comparison to prove your point? Carmelo would rather kick the ball into the stands than pass it.
Posted by: Labron Jemes | 19 May 2011 at 17:19
Iverson/Stockton?
Posted by: Vegemighty | 19 May 2011 at 17:44
Touche
Posted by: kurt | 19 May 2011 at 18:10
the real one is bill russell vs anyone. russell is not considered the greatest hoops player because he was a team first guy
1. went to USF, a non basketball power and in 3 years of varsity won 60 games in a row and won 2 ncaa titles, at a school that was a nothing program
2. captained olympic team to a gold medal victory
3. led the celtics to 11 titles in 13 seasons (they never won before him), 9 of those titles were under red auerbach and the last 2 were as a player coach.
4. 5 MVP awards (yes jordan has 6, kareem has 5 or 6 not sure, still i take russell)
everything he did was about team and making those around him better. russell is the man
russell also had one of the greatest lines about black ball players ever, when asked how black players were used during the era of his play russell said,
"They play 2 at home, 3 on the road, and 5 when we're losing"
i actually think all of the CPD and RSL finals sides play team rugby albeit with different styles. while cal and life are more sustained pressure type sides and sfgg and byu are more planned explosiveness type sided, both life and cal have explosive capability (when they spot an opportunity) and byu and sfgg can play a sustained pressure game, that is what makes these games exciting, but the success of all 4 is in the fact that they are teams that play like teams in the style that best suits them.
Posted by: bruce mclane | 20 May 2011 at 06:21
Bruce, You sir are correct! Great post from top to bottom, there is hope for you yet...
Posted by: Bruce Almighty | 20 May 2011 at 07:19
The fact that top players play abroad has nothing to do with the low attendence at RSL matches. RSL has done a very poor job at developing a product that is attactive to potential fans. Roller Derby gets more spectators than RSL and nobody thinks they are the best athletes in the country. If RSL would try to underatnd the market, they might have some success. RSL needs to look beyond their own teams and try to cater to the needs of the greater rugby community and grow the game. Not playing at 1pm Saturdays would be a good start.
Posted by: Sevens | 20 May 2011 at 09:56
RSL has a lot of work to do in many promotional areas, that is for sure. This season, a cash crunch, and the RWC and earlier Churchill Cup assembly really squeezed us a bit for time. uncertainty of participating teams made it a bit of a $%#&-show as well.
i started a new ruggamatrix podcast on rugbymag.com this week called coach talk, this week we had RWC winning (2003) LO coach Simon Hardy, who currently coaches England Saxons forwards. it is worth a listen. we will be following up with many more guests and topics.
Posted by: bruce mclane | 20 May 2011 at 10:45
If RSL did not play games at 1pm, they would have access to a much larger a fan base. This does not cost anything. RSL needs to put the fans interest ahead of their own if they ever hope to bring in real sponsors. Until then it will be a country club league that worships itself.
Posted by: Sevens | 20 May 2011 at 11:17
I hear you, sometimes flights and field access determines times. the country club league comment is a bit harsh. the only real hint of that is when Santa Monica wasn't in after winning, but they since dropped out.
Posted by: bruce mclane | 20 May 2011 at 11:25
only the hs championships will be webstreamed. 1 step forward, 2 steps back for usa rugby. woo
Posted by: college | 20 May 2011 at 12:50
College: I'm sorry, I don't understand the complaint. Is it about not Webstreaming the 3rd place games? I understand that the HS and U-19 championships will be Webstreamed, and that the CPD championships will be broadcast on ESPN3.com (live) and ESPNU delayed until Sunday morning. Have the 3rd place games been Webcast in the past?
Posted by: Camerabug | 20 May 2011 at 16:48
Camerabug, last year all of the quarterfinal and semifinal bs and u-19 matches were streamed. Don't give a lick about the 3rd place game. I care about all the rounds leading up to it. All that is needed to do this is a camera and Internet connection. Last yr it was done, for college as well by the way, and this year it is not. Pathetic
Posted by: College | 20 May 2011 at 17:04
Brian Lowe and his website lose press credentials at European rugby union finals in the UK!
http://www.wearerugby.com/news/articles/dichotomies-juxtapositions-plan-b
Losers.
Posted by: Brian Da Bogan | 20 May 2011 at 17:30
Looks like Ray Viers lost his credentials, kudos for being forthcoming and admitting it. If I had to guess, there's only so many press passes and USA press is not high on the priority list. At least they put forth an effort...
Posted by: Tyler Patterson | 20 May 2011 at 23:06
So, Ray gets credentialed for years with ARN and the first time out with We Are Rugby as a rugby league blog he is denied?
Brian Lowe is the worst business mind and rugby journalist in the USA. Full stop.
Posted by: Brian Da Bogan | 21 May 2011 at 00:35
RSL needs to decide if they want to develop the game around the needs of fans or the teams. RSL current focus is almost 100% on the teams and it is no surprise that there are few RSL fans on the sidelines. RSL need to build a better product for the fans.
Live streaming would be nice, but even pre-recorded coverage would be a big step up. I don't understand why everyone is expecting somebody else to do this. Film your own games. Upload to youtube. Doesn't cost much. Any decent coach will want to film the games anyway. Many coaches keep footage for themselves. What is more important, a small competitive advantage for one game or providing free access to rugby content to grow the game? Once teams get the basics down, they can look to upgrade their coverage. Learning to film a rugby game is a lot easier than learning to play in a rugby game. Teams can share best practices to constantly improve quality eventually getting to live, high quality streaming. RSL and CPD should require that the home team film all games. As the top competitions, CPD and RSL have an important role and responsibility to develop the game in the US.
Posted by: Sevens | 21 May 2011 at 04:53
Sevens, that already happens and if u know where to look u could have watched every rsl and cpd game this past season not to mention highlights of nearly every cpd match on college rugby films. However the reason u didn't know this was because these teams /leagues taped their games and posts them on the Internet without telling ANYONE. So they lose the small advantage of not being scouted and still don't get the small goodwill involved with people knowing the matches are available. Not many people are going to watch film with no commentary/replays and often no audio 3 days after the match but like u said, it is still a 1st step.
I'm not sure the market for college rugby is as big as people imagine and therefore rsl market is much smaller. Look at the views on most if the highlight videos college rugby films did. It looks like the teams and their families/alum account for most of the numbers. Whereas if postmatch highlights were the only way to follow college football you would see thousands of actual fan views. But like u said a first step needs to be made.
Posted by: Film | 21 May 2011 at 06:03
Film - Ohio State filmed and broadcasted every single home game this spring. Without much of a marketing budget, which is ($0) we are forced to use social media (twitter and facebook) to notify fans and market our games. I'd say for the first year of doing this we were somewhat successful in raising the profile of our program despite our record, as we were featured on local NBC, CBS and ABC channels throughout the season and raised a few extra dollars via alumni due to the extra coverage.
We averaged about 330 viewers per game. Which isn’t bad, but far from great. I think the BYU vs Army Ustream game had about 650 viewers. I think the goal would be for teams to average a thousand viewers per game. If they get to that number I think it will help us bring in individual sponsors, which should raise the profile of the conference as a whole and hopefully bring in a few bigger name sponsors for the entire league.
SEVENS - After the game we post all of our games to vimeo.com for our fans and alumni. This year we did it for free next year we are thinking about password protecting it and giving it to Alumni as a bonus for paying their alumni dues.
Posted by: OSUrugby | 22 May 2011 at 12:07
The college national championship has always been played before twice, three, four times the attendance of the top club competition, but now the gap continues to widen. RSL championship before about 400 maybe 500 hundred, College final before 11,000.
Wake up USAR. Quit the college dues ripoff bullshit and invest in college rugby. Let the adult game pay 3x their current dues and invest in the future.
Posted by: college | 22 May 2011 at 20:59
Utah Coach Blake Burdette has apparently stepped down citing personal reasons. This is a rumor I heard as I have not talked to Blake. I hope this is not true. A good young coach who is trying to build a program and do it the right way.
Posted by: Breaking News | 22 May 2011 at 21:30
I'd say USAR invested pretty heavily in the college game by having it at Rio Tinto in front of 11,000. They didn't put the RSL match there and leave college's to their own devices.
Posted by: Icanhazrugbyball? | 22 May 2011 at 22:58
OSU, when every CPD/big college program/RSL team follows your lead we will be in pretty good shape
Posted by: film | 23 May 2011 at 05:41
Where is this rumor about Blake? Online, heard at a bar, 2nd hand? What do you got?
Posted by: college | 23 May 2011 at 10:21
There was a miscommunication and a rumor did get started, but I am planning on coaching next year.
Posted by: Blake Burdette | 23 May 2011 at 12:45
Good to hear that game footage is becoming available. Using Facebook and twitter and YouTube and vimeo the grassroots rugby community can make a great contribution to the development of the game. If each of the over 2000 clubs got 1000 viewers we would be on our way to looking attractive to sponsors. Clubs need to do the work and if they do it will be easier for CPD and RSL to get on TV.
Posted by: Sevens | 23 May 2011 at 14:59