From rugbyrugby.com
Team Feature: Radford University
By Mike "Meagles "Kramer
Radford University Class of '91 - Radford Rugby '87-91
22 April 2003
It is a medium sized school with approximately 9000 students. Radford University students originally played with the New River Valley RFC that was made up of mostly guys living in the surrounding New River Valley and some RU students. The Radford Rugby Club was created in 1988, after a couple of years of being a part of New River RFC.
During those early years, the club didn't have access to fields on the University campus so any open field (park, elementary school) was used for practices and matches. In addition, the club did not have a coach and went through numerous "player" coaches over the years. Radford Rugby was not part of any official matrix and would schedule matches against colleges and men's clubs. The early years were rough going but for most of the alumni they are memories that can't be traded. It is definitely a brotherhood.
In the late 1990s Radford Rugby was lucky enough to have Mick Turk volunteer his time as Head Coach of the Club. This would be a turning point for the club in that discipline, a high level of fitness and serious practices were stressed. Also, around this time Don Sampson, working for Radford University, volunteered his services as a Faculty Advisor. Radford University finally realized the club should be taken seriously and granted access to a number of fields, with the home pitch located parallel to the New River.
All of the initial hard work paid off with an Elite 8 appearance in 2001. Now in 2003 the Radford Rugby Club heads to San Jose, California to play in the National Championship.
As an alumni, I think I can speak for most of the Alumni when I say we are very proud to be associated with this club, brothers for life. The current club has trained hard, has taken it up a notch at every level, and done everything asked of them to the max. Having been able to attend a Regional Quarterfinals match I could see the intensity and determination in each and every coach and players eyes.
The following is a link to the Radford Rugby Club homepage: http://www.radford.edu/~menrugby/
The following article and picture by E. Jay Apaga details Radford University's path to the National Final by beating their competition in the Elite 8 playoffs this past weekend in Huntsville, Texas:
RADFORD IS GOING TO THE NATIONAL FINAL!
Radford Rugby attended the Elite 8 National Rugby tournament this past Easter weekend in Sam Houston University in Huntsville, TX. Seeded third in the tournament, Radford beat the sixth seeded team, Arkansas State 19 - 15 in the first round. On the second day of the tournament Radford played a gut-wrenching match against the seventh seeded team, Claremont Colleges representing the Southern California Rugby Football Union. After a harsh 80 minutes, the Highs came out on top 8 - 3 bringing them to their first ever National Championship Final.
As the team arrived in Houston Friday afternoon it became clear that the level of competition had just been turned up a notch. Driving into the University Hotel in Sam Houston State University's campus they realized that almost every team in the Elite 8 would be staying there, so everywhere we went the competition was around us constantly playing mind games.
Saturday morning greeted us with cool weather on the pitch. A pleasant surprise as we were expecting a stereotypical hot and humid Texas day. Passing by teams and spectators around the field, the same question was on everyone's lips: "Where is Radford?" Granted, the question was legitimate. Radford hasn't made an appearance in the Elite 8 since the 1999-2000 season and we suffice to say, are a no name school. Who were we to know that that was going to all change this weekend?
In the first half of play, Arkansas and Radford came out pumped and ready to play. Arkansas has been in the Elite 8 for the last 4 years, going to the big dance in 2001 only to lose to Baylor 20 -13. From this we knew this team was not going to be a walkover, and from this spectator's eyes, Arkansas underestimated Radford's ability to play. The first half Radford brought Arkansas down with sure tackling and good movement within the pack.
Arkansas moved the ball down the field through mauls time and time again putting Radford on their heels. 15 minutes into regulation Brandon "Spoons" Monahan accidentally ran into the tempered skull of senior Brad Wright causing a severe nosebleed. The team knew then only what x-rays would prove later that Spoons broke his nose in about 3 different places. A blood-sub was sent out, gauze was used abundantly and Brandon was taped up and sent back out with high spirits. At this point Radford began to notice aberrations in penalty calling by the referee. One too many penalties were going on uncalled and unseen from Arkansas but were called on Radford numerous times. An unhelpful line judge only added to Coach Mick Turk's frustration. This was once again making itself to be another uphill battle.
As halftime came, Mick stressed the importance of staying low against the maul to stop its forward momentum and to use the maul ourselves to move the ball down the field. The advice worked. Arkansas' mauls were better defended against and Radford's tackling at the goal line gave them the win. Relieved that they didn't have to play a consolation game at 8:30 in the morning, the Highs went to bed that night knowing they were making history, going farther in national competition then ever before.
Sore but well rested, Sunday morning greeted us with light showers and cool temperatures, something we were very use to coming from Virginia. The rain helped soften the rock hard dirt but made for inevitable sloppy ball handling. This was also the last game of the day and the field was bound to be muddied up. Once again the level of play was turned up a notch as Radford faced another Elite 8 regular. Claremont has been number one in the Southern California Rugby Football Union for numerous years with their best showing in 2001 winning in the first round but losing to Baylor in the second.
Radford once again came out on the field seeded above their competition but seen as the underdog. This only added more fuel to the fire. The first half was grueling with excellent play on both sides. Radford had complete domination on scrums giving hooker Brian "Bear" Hallal numerous defensive steals. Offensive lineouts were on point only to be broken down by errors from our own team with 8-man "Fat" Pat Becker getting many spoils defensively as well. Despite all this, the only score by either team come half time was from a kick by Nate Scott in the first 20 minutes of play.
Though Claremont's play was good their manner was un-gentlemanly both on and off the pitch. In the first five minutes a blatant attempt was made to re-injure Monahan's nose. Also in the first half, an intentional mid-air tackle to number nine Kurt Goddard got cheers from the Claremont sideline but gave Radford a welcomed penalty in good territory. In the second half a Claremont player lifted Nate Scott off the ground during a tackle. He was rewarded with a yellow card and a stint in the sin bin. On the sidelines, cheering their team went to jeering ours and a member of the Claremont coaching staff would not stop complaining of biased calls by the ref. The rest of the Claremont coaching staff settled down both situations but it was these few events that left a bad impression on Radford making the game more personal then before.
At this point the mental errors and wet conditions gave way to a Claremont score in the second half, tying it up at 3. Numerous gains were made by both sides only to be eventually pushed back. Both sides had amazing display of defense as Claremont and Radford put up walls right at the goal line preventing a score. Radford senior Brad Wright finally made a breakthrough in play scoring in the last 5 minutes of regulation time. Radford now needed only to kill time on the clock to win the match and head to finals. After stoppage time, the whistle blew and Radford had won. To many on the team those three whistles that ended the match were the sweetest sounds they've heard all weekend. Hopefully now, the nation's division II teams will know where Radford is...
Now as we prepare to go to the final match against University of Northern Colorado, massive fund-raising has gone into full swing. If you are a parent of a rugger, alumni of the team, alumni of the University or just a fan and supporter of the Radford Rugby Football club and would like to donate to the team, please contact Don Samson <mailto:dsamson@radford.edu> for information. Any donation would be of great help.
The Radford University Rugby Football Club would like to formally thank Sam Houston University and the SHSU RFC for taking care of us this Easter and showing us a great time. We'd like to thank Grace, our referee in the second match for being one of the fairest refs we have ever had in our history.
We'd like to thank all the fans that came out to Texas to watch us play namely the Wrights and R.J. Radford Rugby would also like to thank Quarter's Pub for reasons that cannot be mentioned here. We'd like to thank all the donors that have given to the club so far and all those who are planning on giving, thank you for the support.
And finally, the Radford Rugby Team would like to deeply thank Mick Turk and Don Samson for bringing us this far. Without these two men disciplining us, training us, molding us into this what we are now, this weekend would of never happened. Thank you, our dreams are coming true...
Donations can be mailed to RU Foundation, P.O. Box 6915, Radford University, Va 24142. Make sure you designate your gift for Rugby.