Friendly match v. SHSU

DARC will face Div1 College, Sam Houston State University in final pre-season Friendly at 2pm this Saturday at Lake Highlands in Dallas.

The Bearkats will bring their brand of fit, running rugby to Big-D, a good test for DARC’s final tune-up. The Cup Season begins in two weeks v. Dallas Diablos.

Please come support your Knights.

DARC Victory, 44-14…Ants and spiders and Gonzo oh my!

All the critters came out to Grand Prarie this Saturday for a bit of Friendly Halloween rugby v. Arlington Maverick Rugby Club. At times, DARC looked scary good, at other times, the rugby was just plain frightening. In the end, the Knights closed out a comprehensive, 44-14 victory over its division rival.

DARC, playing without several 1XV regulars, continues to proove its roster depth. The backline kept the Mavericks under constant pressure with excellent tactical kicking and strike running from the centers with the forwards keeping the massive Arlington pack in check. Rookie, Scott Fleming, was especially strong on the flank. Russell Sanders, back in the familiar #10, was decisive with the boot, and backline counterparts, Wunsch and Ducray were equally impressive with the kick and chase. Kevin Harrell met his usual quota of carnage with some trademark tackling and rucking. Captain Drew McCure produced the highlight of the match with a stiff arm that literally upended the opposing hooker. The DARC lineout again failed to impress, largely a moot issue on the day, but something that should be addressed in the coming weeks.

1. Rooney, 2. Juarez, 3.Almond, 4. Cavazos, 5. Hudson (Hale 50), 6. Saif, 7. Fleming, 8. McCure, 9. Buchanan, 10. Sanders, 11. Smith, (Haest 40), 12. Harrell, 13. He who shall not be named…referred to himself simply as ‘Super League’ 14. Ducray, 15. Wunsch

Halloween Rugby – IMPORTANT VENUE CHANGE

The City of Dallas has officially closed all athletic fields this weekend, but Arlington Maverick Rugby Club has agreed to host a great day of rugby tommorrow in Grand Prarie – MAP:

http://www.maverickrugby.com/maps/maphomegame.cfm.

Schedule follows:

2 pm kickoff – DARC 1XV v. Arlington 1XV
3:30 kickoff – SMU v. combined DARC/Arlington

Looking forward to a great day of rugby.

Dallas Derby – Saturday, 24 OCT

Knights to face Reds in Dallas Derby this Saturday!

DARC v. Dallas Rugby Football Club

Saturday, 24 Oct

Lake Highlands, Dallas

2pm kickoff

Cookie 2.0

On Sunday, Colin Daniel Cook joined the league of DARC supporters!  Mom, Dad and Colin are doing great!

Congratulations!

(Now, where are the pictures, and cookies).

Practice field rained out

Too much rain hurt the field.  No practice tonight at Holford Park.

If an alternative location becomes available, we’ll post the info.

DARC Garage Sale on Saturday

Josh is hosting the DARC Garage Sale on Saturday

Bring your stuff to Josh’s NO LATER than 10pm Friday.  It needs to be tagged and ready to go. If you wish you can make your contributions tomorrow (Tuesday) at practice.

For location and questions, contact Josh.

Volunteers needed to help.

• 2 hour shifts of 2 folks starting at 6am.  Plan for 4 shifts total.
• 2 vehicles to put out signs AFTER midnight Friday.  This will take no more than an hour.
• Someone will need to hold down the fort while Josh is at his kid’s soccer game.  (TV available for TX-OU watching – BYOB.

Thanks to Josh for hosting this.  It is up to the rest of us now to make it a success!  We need the funds to pay dues which are coming quickly upon us.

Cowtown: Tomorrow and Sunday!

Cowtown Tournament is Saturday AND Sunday.  We definitely have at least 1 game on Sunday!  That’s the day you normally sleep through entirely after a Saturday game.  Our schedule is:

Saturday:

• 2:00 PM: vs. Shreveport
• 4:00 PM: vs. Woodland Geezers
• 7:00 PM: vs. UT Alumni

Sunday:

• 11:00 AM: vs. Men’s Open 5th Place and Wooden Spoon matches
• 12:00 PM: vs. Men’s Open Semi-Finals
• 2:00 PM:  Men’s Open Championship

Games are at Gateway Park

Gateway Park

After party at Poag Mahone’s Pub (2710 W. 7th Street)

Read more for the park rules about cleats, restrictions on what can come in the playing area, etc.

Bloo Notes: DARC v. Denton 10/03/09

Most of these are around the tries and are somewhat disjointed, plus I can’t read everything.  There may be errors.

Executive summary:

• Tackling needs work. Wrap the legs! (And those of you intentionally holding up a guy so others can strip the ball – stop it!  You’re not that good and our guys aren’t the fast!  Make your tackle, stand up, take the ball.  Better chance of getting a penalty if he doesn’t let go.  If you can’t strip the ball and the maul comes to a standstill, it will be their put in if they moved it forward).
• BEHIND THE KICKER! 3 Penalties on DARC for being in front of the kicker at set pieces. Are you kidding me? I think it is the kicker’s job to remind his team to get clearly back, but he can’t mind that and kick quickly. So, don’t be ‘close’ – be ‘clearly’ back from the kicker.  I have never seen that penalty called more than once in a game.
• Better conversion kicking desperately needed.
• Drive with your shoulders on hips.  Short choppy steps.
• Heads Up! When one of our guys makes a snap decision, such as a quick tap penalty, a fast dropkick from a missed penalty of conversion, etc., if everyone is paying attention and runs in support, these can be game changers.
• Fitness.  Way too many forwards standing around and walking in the middle of the field, watching the game.

DARC wins friendly vs. Denton: 44-0

I’ll post my detailed notes tonight. But DARC’s home opener against Denton went well, by the score. But there is a LOT to work on. It took Denton knocking on the door for 10 minutes for DARC to wake up and remember that Saturday is a Rugby Day.

The cheering section was also much diminished from last week at Fort Worth (I misplaced the score in that game…gee…I can’t think of why).

Good times at the San Francisco Rose afterwards.

-bloo