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Virginia Cardinal Rugby |
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Virginia Cardinal Rugby |
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Mike Puopolo 45 Captain with first place hardware,Hennie Vanzyl MVP 45 division,Hennie dots down,Cheeko,Mike Wright,last picture,Cheeko,Mark Vasbinder,Will Thornton,Mike Puopolo dots down
The Virginia Cardinals invaded Aspen and the hollowed Ruggerfest Sept 2005 with three sides in the master division competing in the 50,45,and 35 division. Magnificent effort with the 45s seizing the Championship and capping an undefeated season of epic proportions with Championship honors in Ft.Lauderdale,The Commonwealth Cup,and Saranac. It would be safe to declare the Virginia Card 45s unofficial National Champions for 2005. The 35s made it to the finals with a combination of speed and true grit that was the talk of the tournament. The 50s,well anyone that plays 50s is a true believer and mate.
First of all, the success of the Virginia Cardinals is because we have a chain of trully outstanding and remarkable individuals that make us special. Bill Gardner once again showed relentless dedication to making sure that the 35s are packed with rockets. You can be assured that a Gardner side will not be dull,will take risk, will use the full width,and will attack from everywhere on the pitch. Thank you,Bill! Mike Puopolo's dedication to excellence with the 45s is without peer. Mike's competitive energy,ability to plan,lead,and play has resulted in a winning streak by the Card 45s that will be compared to other master sides for years to come. Thank you,Mike!
We all know that Bill and Mike cannot do it all. We have a range of players on all the sides that are trully special not only as players but as just good rugby men. John Via,steadfast lock and temporary Texan/true Virginian, has never missed a tour,always ready to pack his bag,great player,loyal and supportive in everything we do. It wouldn't be the same without Via. What a fine group of players from Atlanta Old White including Steve Yeager,Marty Pearlman,Dardin Couch,and Mala. The Philly Boys were superlative. Keith Mclean,March "Puddin Head" Pennington,Keith Cassidy always bring their game. The Raleigh Legends were fantastic supporting all three sides including Ivan Mortan,Simon Wyshall,Kent "Lumpy Jeffries,Alun Pythrun,Paul Meyers,Mike Lee,Mark Vasbinder,"Thick" Rick McBride. The Legends have a long successful history with master rugby play and know what it takes,thank you all! Gotta single out Bob Carswell,Raleigh Legend and prop, that participated in all three divisions with aplomb and enthusiasm. Carswell is the ROCK and represents the best in all of us. The New York contingent of Lex Macubbin,Ron Astridge,and Terry Lee were invaluable. I am leaving out some names here. The hooker for the 45s always played with committment--NY Boy? The California guys Jason Raven and Allen Andrews brought their A Game. The Harrisonburg,Pa. Boys,Jamie Forbes and Larry Sweger are true warriors. We have to ,of course, acknowledge all the Virginia players from Norfolk,Charlottesville,Richmond,NOVA,Roanoke that drive the engine. If anyone is feeling a bit sore, we have no room to whine. Tom West, 71 year old hooker for the 50s,played both matches on thursday with virtually no relief and made some fine runs too--almost scored a friggin try!
We need more and better pictures to make this post tourney site valuable. Send your reflections and pictures to Cary Kennedy cary@richmondrugby.net.
Hennie knives through the defense for the try
Jamie Wiles breaks off the maul for 50 yard streak to the try
Jason Raven beats the entire side
Jason Raven beats 10 Aspen players and then ships it across the width to Mala
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Cardinal 50s
The 50's mounted a galant effort on friday with a roster of fine talent lead by Captain Lex MacCubbin at 9 and famous Irish lad Ivan Mortan at 10. We really did not have enough subs to sustain our level through over 2 hrs of play on thursday. Alas, the wheels came off and the the old power glide transmission locked up. For the guys that continued to play and support the side with no subs in sight,thank you, MIKE Herron,Lumpy,Ron Astridge,Tom West,Ric,Otis,Tom,Hoopes,Mike H.,etc.
More from Lex McCubbin,Captain
Looking back at the first Virginia Cardinals over 50s
experience, I think we all learned something. We
aren’t as young and fit as we thought we were (but I
guess we already knew the first part), EVERYONE wants
to beat a Virginia Cardinals Rugby team, and when we
do this again we need numbers, numbers. numbers.
After our first match I was bummed, I hate to lose. I
have been spoiled by the experience with the over 45s
and losing to the CO team wasn’t fun. Now please
understand, this is my problem and I am not blaming
anyone who played but I never have been the good
loser. However, after our second game, my feelings
were quite different. Yeah we lost BUT we played our
hearts out. We had guys hobbled by injuries, we had
only a few reserves, and we were playing a tough FLA
team. I must say I was proud to have played in the
match and the effort in that one is what I want to
remember and build on. We scored first, battled a
tough team evenly until late in the match scoring
another two trys, and showed the VA spirit of never
knowing we have lost.
I look at the Aspen over50’s experience as a
beginning. When we assemble again (as I am sure we
will), I expect that we will be the team to beat. I look
forward to playing again with new friends and new
teammates (Lumpy, the Toms, Ric, Simon, Alun), old
opponents and new teammates (Mike, Carswell, Ivan, C.
Hoops, Rhino), and old teammates and old friends (Ron,
Gene, Harpo, Cary, Terry Lee, Tom W., Milo, Dave). So
get off the couch, start running, start recruiting,
and be ready for our next outing. I hope that we will
meet again soon. Until then, thanks to everyone who
made the trip to Aspen and played all those minutes of
rugby.
Lex
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Cardinal 35s  Keith and Wendy
Dear Cardinal 35s, Thank you for a great rugby weekend. You showed character,committment,guts,flair,took risk,brought excitment that no side could match this weekend. The dice just did not tumble our way. No worries. You represent the true spirit and joy of master rugby and how it should be played. I am proud and honored to help you guys get organized.
Rugby always,
49-0 over Boulder |
Cardinal 45s
Letter to Jeff Busch from Mike Puopolo:
Jeff,
Lance will write the long version but here is a short recap. We could have used you.
We played Boulder at 9AM on Thursday on a very frosty field. Hennie played and kicked as well as he ever has. We were a bit sloppy because we were getting used to about seven or eight new guys and needed to get our substitution patterns, etc., worked out. The ref was a total HOMER named BoBo. We won 19-15.
We played Missouri (two-time defending champs) at 11AM. Their first match. They wanted us badly (and we wanted them). Solid victory, 19-15, I think. Again, everyone played better in the second match and Hennie was outstanding. Probably made the difference.
Third match was the semi-final against Denver at 5PM. Played our best match yet and were up 22-0 (maybe 23-0) before they scored late to make it 22-7 final.
Aspen played Missouri in the other bracket semi and beat them 18-17.
On Thursday and Friday nights I started hearing that Aspen was recruiting players for our Sunday 11AM final. On Saturday morning I went and spoke to the tournament director (Doug Cigliano) about the rumors. He said he had heard them too and would check into it. Got a call asking me to meet at 1PM to "sort things out". At the meeting, Aspen's Mark Williams said that they had suffered a number of injuries and in order to field a side against our 35+ side would need to forfeit the 45+ final to us. BUT, to give us a game they would field a combined side if we wanted to play. I told him that we would need to talk it over but that I understood. The guys generally said, "F them", let's play the select side. Our collective attitude was that we had been there three times and had played a select side in the finals each year. This was just the first time that they told us going in.
We played them on Sunday. Their roster included 28 guys. 12 from Aspen, 6 from Missouri, 6 from Balls Out, Denver, Old Blue, Fresno and one more. We beat them 15-10.
It was a very nice experience. I think that they will be more ready for us next year. We are going to plan a party here for sometime in Oct/Nov on a non-football weekend to celebrate the year. I will keep you posted and hope that you will come.
Mike Puopolo
Lance recounts the weekend. Click HERE |
