BISHOPSHANAHAN

RUGBYCOACHES:

Greg KarabinEamon Cantwell

Berl GottliebRudy Husband

John McElvennyJohn Ireland

2008 Co-Captains:Justin Zeh - '08

Jacques Indekeu - '08

Morality Officer: Ben Green '08

Officer: Andrew Salvitti '08

Chaplin: Fr. Matt Guckin

School President: Sr. Regina Plunkett, IHM

Athletic Director: Ted Torrance

BISHOPSHANAHAN

RUGBY

Shanahan Rugby Football ClubApril 3, Shanhan vs. West Chester East

Division 1, Final 37-10April 6, Shanhan vs. Downingtown

Division 1, Final 29-12April 6, Shanhan vs. Valley Forge Military

Division 3, Final 20-10April 6, Shanhan vs. Downingtown

B Side, Final 20-0

2008

Division 1, Shanahan vs. West Chester EastFinal 37-10By Frank Holgerson

On a rather chilly April afternoon, The BishopShanahan D1 Rugby team faced the West ChesterEast rugby team, winning 37-10. From beginningto end Shanahan showed West Chester East athing or two about how to move the ball andscore. The starting back line consisting of PatLilly, Patrick Ryan, Mike Gavin, Jacques Indekeuand Brian Kearns had moved down the field as aunit and were nearly flawless in doing so.Kapahala like skills were brought on by BrianKearns impressive defensive plays. The back linewould soon see changes as injuries came.Forward Stephen Rucci even made an appear-ance as a back. Shanahan forwards dominatedthe game winning the majority of the rucks,scrums, and line outs. Stand Out forwards toname a few were Justin Zeh, Ben Green, PatWert, Jay McElvenny, Gavin Waring and BrendanReif. These powerhouses worked together toleave West Chester East at 10 points toShanahan's 37. Trys for Shanahan were scoredby Greg Gurtizen, Jacques Indekeu, Brian Kearnsand Dan Flynn.

Division 3, Shanahan vs.Valley Forge Military Academy Final By Bobbie Criswell

On Sunday, April 6th, Shanahan's D3 Teamtraveled to Valley Forge Military Academy. With twotries in the first half, two conversion kicks and a

penalty kick, Shanahan entered half time leading17 - 0. Shanahan fought the first half mostly insidethe opponent's 22 meter line. James Walker wasthe first to break through the opponent's tough linewith a score. Tom Magee added the 2 point conver-sion kick. Magee then scored on the second try andagain made the 2 point conversion kick. Before thehalf ended, Shanahan scored again on Magee'ssuccessful penalty kick.

Valley Forge came back in the second half withtwo tries but missed both conversion kicks.Shanahan added another penalty kick to make thefinal score 20 - 10. George Stairiker played excep-tionally well with his fantastic technique, once againdisplaying his passion for the game and his extraor-dinary tackling skills. Chris Kelly and James Walkeralso did a great job tackling. Tom Magee was thegame's leading scorer and he did a fantastic jobplaying scrum half for only the second time in histhree years of Rugby. The forwards did a great jobwinning the scrums and line outs. The backs did agood job of keeping the ball moving forward.

The first half Shanahan played "downhill" onthe slanted field and used this momentum to keepValley Forge on the defense for most of the half.Although Shanahan played "uphill" for the secondhalf, they still played very tough and held ValleyForge to only two tries.

Overall, Shanahan displayed great teamworkand a great passion for the game that allowed themto be successful and overtake a talented and alsopassionate Valley Forge Military Academy.

M a t c h H i g h l i g h t s Knock-On: is the accidental hit-

ting or dropping of the ball forward.The infringement is the same asthat for a forward pass: a scrum tothe other team.

Put In: is when the scrum halfrolls the ball down the center of thescrum tunnel.

Tap and Play Kick/Move: is agentle kick to oneself, followed bya pick up and is used to restartplay after either a penalty or freekick is awarded.

Throw-In: is the throwing in of the ball down the middle of aline-out.

Touchline: is the side bound-ary of the field.

22 Meter Line: Balls kickedout of bounds from behind the“22” are started by a lineout atthe spot where the ball went out.Balls kicked out of bounds from in

front of the “22” are started bya line-out where the ball waskicked. An exception to this ruleis when a ball kicked out ofbounds immediately after a penal-ty is awarded, the line-out is heldwhere the ball went out and thekicking team retains the throw-in.

Object of the GameThe Object of the game is that

two teams of 15, 10 or 7 playerseach observe fair play, according tothe Laws and sporting spirit, shouldbe carrying, passing, kicking andgrounding the ball while scoring asmany points as possible. The teamscoring the greatest number ofpoints is the winner of the match.

Rugby is a sport that involvesphysical contact. Any sport thatinvolves physical contact has inher-ent dangers. It is very importantthat players play the game inaccordance with Laws of the Gameand be mindful of the safety ofthemselves and others. It is theresponsibility of those who coachor teach the game to ensure thatplayers are prepared in a mannerwhich ensures compliance with theLaws of the Game and in accor-dance with safe practices.

It is the duty of the referee toapply fairly, the Laws of the Game in every match.Rugby PositionsFifteen players play both offenseand defense. The number of eachplayer signifies the position of theplayer.Forwards are numbers 1-8.Typically they are the larger,stronger players of the team. Themain job of the forwards is to winpossession of the ball.

Starting the GameRugby begins with a kickoff to

the opponent from mid-field.Provided that the ball travelsbeyond the 10 meter line, any play-er from either team may gain pos-session of the ball.Moving the Ball

Rugby has no blocking; it is acontinuous play game. The personwith the ball leads the attack; thereare several ways to move the ball.Any player may carry, pass or kickthe ball and play is not stopped andtherefore continues when the ballhits the ground or when a player istackled.

Running: When running theball, players may continue to rununtil they are tackled, step out ofbounds or run beyond the goal line.Players run the ball to advancetoward the opponents’ goal line.

Passing: The ball may bepassed to any player; however, itmay only be passed laterally orbackward and never forward.Players pass the ball to an openteammate to keep it in play andfurther advance it.

Kicking: Any player may kickthe ball forward at any time. Oncethe ball is kicked, players of eitherteam, regardless of whether or notthe ball hits the ground, may gainpossession. Players typically kickthe ball to a teammate in an effortto advance it or to the opposingteam to obtain relief from poor fieldposition.

ScoringThere are four ways to score points.

Try: 5 points are awarded to ateam for touching the ball down inthe other team’s in-goal area.

Conversion: Following a try, 2points are awarded for a successfulkick through the goal posts. Theattempt is taken on a line, at least 10 meters, straight out from thepoint where the ball was toucheddown.

Penalty Kick: Following a majorlaw violation, the kicking team, if inrange, has the option to “kick forpoints.” 3 points are awarded for asuccessful penalty kick. The kickmust be from the point of the penal-ty or anywhere on a line straightbehind that point. The ball can beplayed if the kick fails.

Drop Goal: 3 points are awardedfor a successful drop kick. A dropkick may be taken from anywhereon the field during play. The ball isalive if the kick fails.

Restarting PlayThere are two methods of

restarting play following a stoppagecaused by either the ball going outof bounds or because of a minorinfraction of the laws.

Line-Out: If the ball goes out ofbounds, it is restarted with a line-out. Both teams form a line perpen-dicular to the touch line and onemeter apart from one another. Aplayer of the non-offending teamcalls a play and throws the ball inthe air in a straight line between thetwo lines. Players of each team maybe supported in the air by theirteammates to gain possession ofthe ball.

Scrum: A bound up group ofplayers from each team form a “tun-nel” with the opposition. The non-offending team puts the ball into thetunnel by rolling it into the middleand each team pushes forward untilone player is able to hook the ballwith the feet and push it to the backrow players of his team. The scrum

half then retrieves the ball and putsit into play.

Offsides: The offside line is con-tinually moving up and down thepitch. In most instances, the ballcreates the offside line and playersare not permitted to participate inplay if they are on the opposingteams side of the ball. Being offsideis not a penalty. Players attemptingto participate in the game from anoffside position can cause a penalty.Tackles, Rucks and Mauls

Tackle: Players in possession ofand carrying the ball may bestopped by being tackled by theopposing team. Players are tackledaround the waist and legs. In gen-eral, a player may not be tackledhigher. Once a player is tackled play does not stop. A player tackledto the ground must try to make theball available immediately so thatplay can continue.

Ruck: Supporting players fromboth teams, one from each team,converge over the ball on theground, binding with each other inan attempt to push the opposing players backwards in a manner sim-ilar to a scrum. The ball may not bepicked up by any player, until theball emerges out of the ruck. Theruck ends and play continues. Ateam that can retain possessionafter the tackle and the ensuingruck has a huge advantage!

Maul: A maul is formed with asimilar gathering of players, exceptthe player in possession of the ballis simply held up and not tackled.The maul ends when the ballemerges or if it is held up in themaul. The referee awards the ballto the defending team.

R U G B Y 1 0 1#1 Loose Head Prop#2 Hooker#3 Tight Head Prop#4 & #5 Second Row#6 & #7 Flanker#8 8 ManBacks are numbers 9-15. Typicallythey are the smaller, faster andmore agile players. Their main role is toexploit possession of the ball wonby the forwards.#9 Scrum Half#10 Fly Half#11 Wing#12 Inside Center#13 Outside Center#14 Wing#15 Fullback

PenaltiesPenalties occur regularly in rugby.Major infractions cause the refereeto award a penalty kick to the non-offending team. Minor infractionsresult in the ball being awarded tothe non-offending team with arestart of play by scrum down.Some of the more important penal-ties are listed below.

Penalty Kick: A penalty kick isawarded after a serious infringe-ment of the law. Offenders arerequired to retreat 10 yards whilethe opposing team is given theopportunity to restart play unop-posed. Teams will often kick theball up field and out of bounds togain field advantage. When they dothis, play is restarted as a line-outwhere the ball goes out of bounds.If in range, they may attempt a kickat the goal posts, worth 3 points.Finally, they may simply tap the ballwith their foot and run with it.Most major infractions are causedby players being off-sides in ascrum, line-out, maul, ruck, openfield play (generally from kicks),use of hands in rucks or scrums,dangerous tackling (not releasing

the ball after being tackled), lyingon the ball on the ground, not mak-ing the ball available after play andplaying the ball while on theground.

Free Kick: This is awarded aftera less serious infringement of thelaw. The free kick is similar to thepenalty kick except if the kick ismade more than 22 meters fromthe defending goal line and goesdirectly out of bounds, the line-outoccurs where the kick was made.Outside off 22 meters, the ball goesout of bounds and goes back towhere the kick was awarded. Also,a free kick may not be kicked atgoal for 3 points.

Scrum: This is awarded forminor infractions to the non-offend-ing team. Most minor infractionsare caused by throwing the ballforward, knocking the ball forwardby any part of the body other thanthe feet, not putting the ball instraight into a scrum, not throwingthe ball in straight into a line-out,playing the ball in a line-out beforeit goes at least 5 meters, the hook-er in a scrum lifting his foot prior tothe ball being fed into the scrum or

annoying the referee with foul lan-guage or arguing.

Sin Bin: On occasion, the refer-ee will send a player behind one ofthe in-goal areas for serious and/orrepeated infringements for a speci-fied period of time. The team isrequired to play short-handed untilthe referee permits the player toreturn. It is used to maintain controlof the game.

Send-Offs: In extreme cases, areferee may send a player off thefield for dangerous or reckless play.A player who has been sent off isbanned from that game and is notpermitted to return or be replaced.

Other Rugby TermsDrop Kick: is a kick made

when the player drops the ball andit bounces off the ground prior tobeing kicked. It is worth 3 points ifit travels through the goal posts. Drop kicks are also used torestart play after a score.

Forward Pass: is a violationthat usually results in a scrum tothe non-offending team.

Infringement: is a violation ofthe law.