USA Men beat Canada 21-5, and women beat Mexico 88-0, in championship games at the NACRA (North America and Caribbean) rugby 7s championships today, qualifying both sides for the Rio Olympics.

At Rio 2015, rugby makes a return for men after a 92 year absence, and debuts for women. US are defending gold medalists on the men's side, having beaten Romania and France in Paris in 1924.

That was the "Chariots of Fire" Olympics, and there is a connection. Eric Liddell was probably the best rugby player in the world (there's a brief reference in the movie where a kid asks for the autograph of "Scotland's greatest wing"). Rugby would have required Sunday play, whereas he thought he could run track and avoid Sundays, so he decided not to play rugby. As a result, GBI ended up not fielding a rugby team. Then, of course, it turned out that his plans to avoid Sundays in track did not work out. And you know the rest of that story.

This is very cool. I've been looking to get a little into rugby and the Olympics will be a great opportunity.

Mike Friday is the best sevens coach in the world. US was somewhere around 15th in the world when he was hired last fall. They finished 6th on the world sevens circuit this year, and won the overall championship at the last tour stop in London--first time ever, and only second time ever to make the finals. If he can produce comparable improvement next year, we will go to Rio as one of the serious favorites to retain the gold.

By the way, my teams play his style as closely as we can replicate. It's different from the way most people play, but I'm a firm believer that it's the right way to go.

(06-14-2015 06:05 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  Mike Friday is the best sevens coach in the world. ...By the way, my teams play his style as closely as we can replicate. It's different from the way most people play, but I'm a firm believer that it's the right way to go.

What are the differences between Friday's and the others' styles of play?

(06-14-2015 06:45 PM)Almadenmike Wrote:  

(06-14-2015 06:05 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  Mike Friday is the best sevens coach in the world. ...By the way, my teams play his style as closely as we can replicate. It's different from the way most people play, but I'm a firm believer that it's the right way to go.

What are the differences between Friday's and the others' styles of play?

Come see some Rice women's games next year and you can see. J/K, I know you're a long way away but you know you'd always be welcome.

Basically, sevens has the reputation of being an individual sport, you just throw the ball around until somebody breaks loose. Friday organizes the approach, particularly going to great lengths to structure what happens whenever there is a tackle with what he calls the triangle (ball carrier, primary support, secondary support). He basically turns an individual sport into a team sport. I can get deeper, but it is going to start getting pretty technical.

(06-14-2015 07:23 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(06-14-2015 06:45 PM)Almadenmike Wrote:  

(06-14-2015 06:05 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  Mike Friday is the best sevens coach in the world. ...By the way, my teams play his style as closely as we can replicate. It's different from the way most people play, but I'm a firm believer that it's the right way to go.

What are the differences between Friday's and the others' styles of play?

Come see some Rice women's games next year and you can see. J/K, I know you're a long way away but you know you'd always be welcome.
Basically, sevens has the reputation of being an individual sport, you just throw the ball around until somebody breaks loose. Friday organizes the approach, particularly going to great lengths to structure what happens whenever there is a tackle with what he calls the triangle (ball carrier, primary support, secondary support). He basically turns an individual sport into a team sport. I can get deeper, but it is going to start getting pretty technical.

Rereading that, I think maybe I can explain it a little better. When a ball carrier is tackled, play does not stop. Instead, the ball carrier must release the ball and there ensues a contest for possession. The ball carrier properly places the ball back, toward his/her own team, to make it easier to retain position. An offensive teammate (rucker) comes in and takes a position over the ball to protect it from being poached by the defense. A defender will normally contest this, forming what is called a ruck, basically like two football linemen contesting the line of scrimmage (obviously, if the defender can push the offensive player back, then the defense can create a turnover). Another offensive player (halfback) then comes in, picks up the ball, and starts the next play.

In a normal game, this tends to be pretty ad hoc. What Friday does is structure it in what he calls the triangle. When A is the ball carrier, there are rules that say B is primary support and C is secondary support. Everybody else is lateral support, and their jobs are to spread out and find gaps in the defense. Compared to looking at a typical rugby offensive set, A and B and C are much closer together, and the others are much more widely spaced. When A is tackled, primary immediately goes to rucker and secondary goes to halfback. This buys a few seconds or fractions of seconds rather than the normal procedure of having to work out who does what after the tackle. The advantage is that the offense can start the next play before the defense has time to get set. The disadvantage is that primary and secondary may not always be the ideal players to fill those roles. But the time advantage more than offsets, particularly if you have speed and good ball handlers. From a coaching standpoint, it simplifies preparation because basically you have only three skill sets to master--passing, rucking, and tackling (defense). You do a lot of cross-training between forwards and backs--which really fits the Rice women well. And you don't have to spend a lot of time working on plays or canned moves, everything is creative and innovative based on the triangle rules.

Hope you can visualize that.

88-0? Sounds more like John Jenkins is the head coach of the US women.

(06-14-2015 07:23 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(06-14-2015 06:45 PM)Almadenmike Wrote:  

(06-14-2015 06:05 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  Mike Friday is the best sevens coach in the world. ...By the way, my teams play his style as closely as we can replicate. It's different from the way most people play, but I'm a firm believer that it's the right way to go.

What are the differences between Friday's and the others' styles of play?

Come see some Rice women's games next year and you can see.

Once next year's schedule is set please post it here.

(06-15-2015 06:57 AM)owl at the moon Wrote:  

(06-14-2015 07:23 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(06-14-2015 06:45 PM)Almadenmike Wrote:  

(06-14-2015 06:05 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  Mike Friday is the best sevens coach in the world. ...By the way, my teams play his style as closely as we can replicate. It's different from the way most people play, but I'm a firm believer that it's the right way to go.

What are the differences between Friday's and the others' styles of play?

Come see some Rice women's games next year and you can see.

Once next year's schedule is set please post it here.

Won't know until September. Will try to remember to post when we get it.

(06-15-2015 09:55 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(06-15-2015 06:57 AM)owl at the moon Wrote:  

(06-14-2015 07:23 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(06-14-2015 06:45 PM)Almadenmike Wrote:  

(06-14-2015 06:05 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  Mike Friday is the best sevens coach in the world. ...By the way, my teams play his style as closely as we can replicate. It's different from the way most people play, but I'm a firm believer that it's the right way to go.

What are the differences between Friday's and the others' styles of play?

Come see some Rice women's games next year and you can see.

Once next year's schedule is set please post it here.

Won't know until September. Will try to remember to post when we get it.

Hope I have time to catch a game when I'm in Houston for a week or so of Homecoming, Class Reunion & family/friend visiting in November.

(06-14-2015 08:23 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(06-14-2015 07:23 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(06-14-2015 06:45 PM)Almadenmike Wrote:  

(06-14-2015 06:05 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  Mike Friday is the best sevens coach in the world. ...By the way, my teams play his style as closely as we can replicate. It's different from the way most people play, but I'm a firm believer that it's the right way to go.

What are the differences between Friday's and the others' styles of play?

Come see some Rice women's games next year and you can see. J/K, I know you're a long way away but you know you'd always be welcome.
Basically, sevens has the reputation of being an individual sport, you just throw the ball around until somebody breaks loose. Friday organizes the approach, particularly going to great lengths to structure what happens whenever there is a tackle with what he calls the triangle (ball carrier, primary support, secondary support). He basically turns an individual sport into a team sport. I can get deeper, but it is going to start getting pretty technical.

Rereading that, I think maybe I can explain it a little better. When a ball carrier is tackled, play does not stop. Instead, the ball carrier must release the ball and there ensues a contest for possession. The ball carrier properly places the ball back, toward his/her own team, to make it easier to retain position. An offensive teammate (rucker) comes in and takes a position over the ball to protect it from being poached by the defense. A defender will normally contest this, forming what is called a ruck, basically like two football linemen contesting the line of scrimmage (obviously, if the defender can push the offensive player back, then the defense can create a turnover). Another offensive player (halfback) then comes in, picks up the ball, and starts the next play.

In a normal game, this tends to be pretty ad hoc. What Friday does is structure it in what he calls the triangle. When A is the ball carrier, there are rules that say B is primary support and C is secondary support. Everybody else is lateral support, and their jobs are to spread out and find gaps in the defense. Compared to looking at a typical rugby offensive set, A and B and C are much closer together, and the others are much more widely spaced. When A is tackled, primary immediately goes to rucker and secondary goes to halfback. This buys a few seconds or fractions of seconds rather than the normal procedure of having to work out who does what after the tackle. The advantage is that the offense can start the next play before the defense has time to get set. The disadvantage is that primary and secondary may not always be the ideal players to fill those roles. But the time advantage more than offsets, particularly if you have speed and good ball handlers. From a coaching standpoint, it simplifies preparation because basically you have only three skill sets to master--passing, rucking, and tackling (defense). You do a lot of cross-training between forwards and backs--which really fits the Rice women well. And you don't have to spend a lot of time working on plays or canned moves, everything is creative and innovative based on the triangle rules.

Hope you can visualize that.

Thanks for the lucid explanation. Sound like it's somewhat akin to how the creative/flowing Rhoades/Warriors basketball offenses differ from a standard half-court approach.

Mike, glad that helped. I was trying to provide enough detail to explain without getting too balled up in specifics.

It's similar in a lot of respects to any basketball motion offense. Most Americans look at rugby and see players doing the same things they do in football--running with the ball, kicking, tackling--and think the strategy is similar to football, but it's really more like basketball--move the ball to get the defense out of shape, then attack the weak spot.

This year is going to be a challenge. The club was just reactivated after a couple of years hiatus. Last year we had 1 senior, 2 juniors, 1 sophomore, and 5 freshmen. We could only play the seven-a-side version, particularly after we had a couple of injuries. With the lack of experience, we got hammered pretty badly a couple of times, but were also competitive against a few people as well. This coming season I'm hoping we'll have 8 back, plus one returning from a semester abroad in New Zealand. And we made a major push during the Owl Days program for incoming freshmen, and signed up 20 prospects. Don't know how many of them will actually end up playing, but if a significant portion do so, we should start to make significant progress as a team. It's pretty much a numbers game. You need about 20, meaning about 15 regularly at practice, in order to start making significant progress. Once you get into the mid-20s, then you can really put something together. I expect us to be pretty competitive this year, and with a similar recruiting push next year we can be at the point of really being competitive with the best teams in our area.

It actually sounds a lot like RU's approach to passing.... lol

(06-15-2015 12:08 PM)Almadenmike Wrote:  Hope I have time to catch a game when I'm in Houston for a week or so of Homecoming, Class Reunion & family/friend visiting in November.

We now have a tentative schedule for women in the fall. We will be competing in the South Division of the Lone Star Women's Conference.

Sep 12-LSWC coaching clinic, location TBA (Austin last year)
Sep 19-LSWC players clinic, location TBA (Longview last year)
Sep 26-SFA Ruggerfest tournament, Nacogdoches
Oct 03-St. Edwards/Austin Huns tournament, Austin
Oct 10-@ Central Texas A&M, Killeen
Oct 17-Texas State @ Rice
Oct 24-UTSA @ Rice
Oct 31-@ Prairie View, Waller/Prairie View
Nov 07-Lamar @ Rice
Nov 14-Playoffs-#2 south @ #1 north, #2 north @ #1 south, #4 south @ #3 north, #4 north @ #3 south
Nov 21-Second round of playoffs-winners v. winners, losers v. losers

Home matches should start at noon, although if we host for the first round of the playoffs the men vs. alumni game will be at noon so we will either go earlier or later. Most away matches will probably also start at noon or thereabouts.

I will try to get a men's schedule from Mario and post it as well.