Rugby Buzz: Bits and pieces from around the rugby world

RugbyBuzz refereeing a rugby tournament in his holiday best in Richmond, Va.

The Eagles Sevens team left Dubai's IRB Rugby Sevens World Series without any silver dinnerware, losing to Scotland in the Bowl final 26-0 and finishing 11th of the 12 "core" teams on the IRB Sevens circuit after two tournaments.

Injuries took key speedsters out of the lineup, but holy cow, losing to Portugal? That should never happen.

It doesn't get any easier this weekend in Port Elizabeth for the South Africa leg of the World Series. Seems I say that every week, doesn't it, but there are no easy pools for the Yanks to glide through, ever, especially if they're going to lose to Portugal.

This week they play England, Argentina and Samoa; Canada clobbered Samoa in Dubai, 26-17, and the USA trounced Canada later 33-17, so it would seem Samoa is for the taking. It's been a while, but they've beaten both England and Argentina, but not with the current roster. This is not a Pool of Death, but you still have to watch for sharks.

**********

Meanwhile, the USA Women's National Sevens team was acquitting themselves quite well in the debut IRB Women's Sevens Challenge Cup, also in Dubai. They finished up the weekend in fourth place, with a record of 2-3, and might have finished in third if not for a 22-5 loss to reigning sevens champs Australia.

The news that USA Rugby and the US Olympic Committee are going to offer fulltime contracts - eight to women and 15 to men - next month (aw, you gotta move to San Diego, darn the luck) must have created a buzz, so to speak, in the changing rooms in Dubai.

Competition for the contracts will be intense. It should be informative to see how the teams improve as the athletes begin to play knowing their professional futures are on the line.

Might even win a few extra games.

**********

Rumor du jour: A team of veteran British Lions (all stars from England, Scotland and Wales) will tour the United States next year and take on a team of ex-Eagles in a series of exhibition matches.

I'll report more as it comes in, but the Lions are one of the highest-profile squads in rugby, and their former players are household names in rugby nations. I hesitate to predict the outcomes, but one thing is for sure - the festivals surround the games will be fun.

The Tribe has been called!

**********

Speaking of the Rugby Tribe, I answered the call this weekend and refereed the 26th edition of the Christmas 7s men's and women's tournament in Richmond, Va. The rugby was fast and intense, the sunshine was as pleasant as the conversation. There is nothing like social recreational rugby, where the referee can still be taken seriously despite his Santa Claus hat.

**********

As if to prove you are never too old, too large or too enamored with gridiron football, these two characters are making headlines in Dubai.

Michael Brimley, late of the Carolina Panthers organization, and Markas Morton, formerly of the Miami Dolphins camp, are in their early 30s and you can imagine from the quotes that they cheese off their opponents now and again with their take-no-prisoners mentality when it comes to collisions.

"We lower our shoulder and they say we hit too hard, but I take that as a compliment," Brimely says. "We've had 10 to 15 years of American football so we're not built to let up, we're built to destroy whatever we hit."

Cross-over athletes rock!

**********

It would appear the rugby playing youth of America has got it going on.

In October, in Auckland the day after the Rugby World Cup final, the International Rugby Board gave its 2011 Development Award to USA Rugby's Rookie Rugby program, which introduced hundreds of thousands of kids to the sport at very little cost to the participating schools and clubs.

And last week Play Rugby USA was honored with the 2011 Community Program of the Year Award at the Rugby Expo in London.

Play Rugby USA "begets vitality, integrity and civility" in teaching the sport in schools throughout the country.

Congratulations to the folks behind both programs. One of these days, when these kids are big enough to play in the Olympics, we will routinely beat Portugal - and New Zealand and Australia and England and whoever else. Mark my words.

**********

Dear RugbyBuzz,
Who is the least likely person to follow you on Twitter who is actually following you on Twitter?

Glad you asked! This arrived in my inbox this morning.
American Flag Rugby @rugbkid is now following you (@RugbyBuzz).

rugbkid American Flag Rugby
The one stop place to come if you are interested in starting a co-ed flag rubgy 7's program
Morristown NJ