Doylestown Rugby Club

The Doylestown Rugby Club is an independent rugby union club located in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. It consists of four teams, the men's team, high school boys' team, women's team, and high school girls' team. With the help of head coaches John Tomlinson and Gary Smith, the club, while from a small town, is nationally renowned.^{[citation needed]}

The high school boys' team made it to the national championships last year^[when?] in Stanford, California and placed 15th in the nation. This year^[when?] they are taking a tour in Florida to play some local teams and improve their skills. The team has greatly expanded this year, mainly in that it is now including boys as young as 6th grade to come and practice to become great rugby union players for future generations of the team. Many players from the Doylestown team also have gone on to play with the U-19 U.S. National Team and the starting hooker (a position in rugby) for the U.S. Eagles, the team that represents the USA in the World Cup, came from the club.

In 2006, the team got second at the EPRU championships and first at The MARFU's championships, which promised a seed in the first tier. At nationals, in New Hampshire, the team placed 6th in the nation.

In 2007, the Dragons put a completely new team out on the field, due to the great number of seniors that graduated. This team was very young, but had good talent. The team knew that this team was a two-year program and that that year was a building year. The Jr. Dragons ended the season with a 5-1 record, which was good enough to place them in the EPRU playoffs as a 7th seed. The Dragons lost to a very good Wilmington team but showed promise for the next season.

2008 saw the end a brotherhood for the Jr. Dragons. They had a promising pre-season tour to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. They played strongly against seasoned opponents despite missing starting two of their most experienced players. The Dragons season continued and they avenged their past post season defeat to the Wilmington Colts at the Cherry Blossom Tournament. They also posted a historic win over Canadian Powerhouse Banting RFC. Banting had won more than 20 Canadian Championships prior to Cherry Blossum. The loss came to local Toronto prep school, the Sir Bishop A. McDonald Highlanders. Mistakes and injuries in throughout the season led to two losses, one to St. Greg's and one, in a fluke match, to Philadelphia Father Judge. Despite these losses the playoffs lay ahead and first on the menu was juggernaut West Shore United. No team in their division had come anywhere close to them. Doylestown lost in a physical battle 10-0, which could have gone either way. It was the end of a generation of Doylestown Rugby as the graduating seniors were all members of the first 9th grade class to play for the club. The season ended with a 3rd-place EPRU playoff against Wilmington which saw some of the camaraderie, brotherhood, and competitiveness that define the sport. Many of the seniors have continued playing in college for such clubs as Duquesne University (Scrumhalf Evan McNenly) , Kutztown(Fullback Timothy Ackar), Susquehanna University (Prop and Hooker Daniel Cornell), University of Vermont (Prop Oliver Samuels), The Ohio State University (8-man T.J. Van Houten), Shippensburg (Center Matt Powell), St. Joes (Flanker Chris Matarangas and Winger Bryan Hennessy). There is a lot of promise for the new side, despite a large graduating class, as they have all played together for an entire season as a unit for the B-side and the DII side.

References

External links

• [1]