Christmas in Paris

Kevin had 3 days off from rugby for Christmas so we headed north for some important sightseeing. Drove to Poitiers to view a Chateau and then took the train to Paris for Christmas Eve and Day.

Stayed at a nice hotel 3 blocks from the Eiffel Tower.

Ice rink on the 2nd floor of the Eiffel Tower.

We woke up early enough on Christmas day to view the city before the tourist and Parisians flooded the streets. The Louvre was not open but it was still spectacular walking around the massive square with almost no one in sight.  

Crepes and hot chocolate kept us moving in the cold

Notre Dame

Fleeing Santa

Champs Elysee

Poitiers

We wish our family and friends a healthy and happy New Year.

Game verse Toulouse on Wednesday.

Rovigo Match - Amlin Cup

This past week saw us in Italy, taking on Rovigo, in what is called the Amlin Cup Challenge. Italy's rugby isn't as professional as it seems to be in France, which is funny, because the term "professional" in France isn't even close to what people in the USA see in the professional sports of football, basketball and baseball. So in that perspective, we're talking about a huge disparity.




When we began warming up in the stadium, there wasn't a fan in the stands, which made for a weird atmosphere. Eventually a few thousand filed in this 6,000 capacity stadium. In any case, the match started pretty quickly, with both teams running with the ball, maybe trying to play a little too much. That was the case for us, but we managed to exploit them twice early on, putting in two tries. It was my first match back for Agen since the November tour with the Eagles, and I was pretty excited about that. I managed to get my hands on the ball early and often, and set up a try



By the end of the match they were dominating possession of the ball, but we were playing some pretty good defense, keeping them from scoring. When they would finally turn the ball over, we would make a silly mistake and quickly give it right back. However, with 5 minutes left I managed to get into the try zone myself, scoring the last points for either team, and ending it at 33-10.



We play Rovigo again this weekend at home. We should definitely have a better performance this weekend, as we probably left out 3 or 4 more tries last week. Unfortunately I won't be playing again this week as I suffered a minor injury in training and will miss a couple days. Things are looking good for Agen, as we've won 4 matches in a row.

Lauren gets invited to USA 7's camp, but has to decline

If it was only as easy as saying yes, and then just showing up to play, Lauren would be there. But having to travel back and forth from France for her work makes it very difficult to maintain a solid training regimen.

In my entire sporting career, I've never seen anyone able to train as hard as Lauren. This is why she was so successful, but this is also the exact reason she won't play in the Vegas 7's this year. If she can't do her training the way she wants to, then she feels ill-prepared and won't be ready mentally.

It goes without saying - I'm very fond of this woman and I'm very proud of her rugby endeavors as well. First, that she took on a new sport and tried for a spot on the National Team. Second, that she made the USA team, and had the skill and defense to hold her own with more experienced players. And finally, to be able to step away temporarily when she loves this game. The greatest thing for her in regards to rugby is that she'll always be able to play. Whether it's one year, 2 years, or 4 years from now, she'll get back on the pitch and more than prove herself once again.

Agen jumps 2 positions to #11



After a 4 week hiatus from regular matches, and Agen having won the last two before that, SUA took on the number 11th ranked team, Brive, this weekend. It was an important match because it was our 13th, the half-way point of the season and a middle point to reassess where we are in the standings. We haven't won all season on the road, and for most teams, road wins are rare to begin with.

I realized the boys just flat out played with confidence and aggression, the two simplest things you need to win a match. We were starved of possession all day, but our defense held strong for 80 minutes not letting in a single try (the first time this season); with the final score 30-12. The upside is that our defense is what's winning games, which wasn't the case before, and we have a 3 game winning streak. The downside is that if we play the better teams with only 30% of the ball, we can't expect to win. Either way, there's a lot of confidence building here at Agen, which is something we have been dying for.

We have two games against Rovigo, an Italian club in our pool for the Amlin Cup. Then we have a weekend off before the second half of the season which begins with our home clash against Top seeded Toulouse. It's nice to finally be out of the red, otherwise known as the bottom two teams that get relegated to D2 in the end. But we are only half way through and it's only going to get tougher. Here are the current standings and points:

Toulouse         43

Montpellier      41

Racing Metro   39

Biarritz             38

Toulon             36

Castres            35

Clermont         34

Bayonne          32

Stade Francais 29

Perpignan        28

SUA               20

La Rochelle     19

Brive               19

Bourgoin         10

Final match of USA tour doesn't end well.

From one minute to the next, things can change instantly. This is exactly what happened at the end of our Georgia match. As a team we felt like we dominated many aspects of the match and lead most of the game. But in the end it was just a hard fought loss, 19-17, which was a tough pill to swallow as much of the success of this tour was based on the result of this test match.

However, I still feel the tour was still successful in the end. Maybe our biggest success is that we played to our pattern against Georgia well and it caused them problems. Once we add in our wrinkles, I think we'll be able to utilize the athletes we have even more. There's a bright spot for this eagles team going forward and I just pray I can continue riding the wave through it all with the rest of the boys.