4/13/2013: Wisconsin Rugby Club defeats Cleveland 59-12 to advance to the Midwest finals against Michiana in Chicago.
4/20/213: A-side: 60-0 over Green Bay. B-side: 29-12 over Fond u lac.

From Saturday 11/3:

“Wisconsin Rugby Club wins another amazing game vs The Bremer County Bucks in Waverly, Iowa. WRC were Up 8-0 after 10min, then down 24-8 at Halftime, then came storming back by dominating possession and nearly all set pieces in second half to win 25-24. WRC goes into Spring 2013 as a #1 seed in Midwestrugby D2″

Qualifying at the Midwest Western Division #1 Seed means the WRC will host the Eastern Division #4 seed Cleveland Eastern Suburbs RFC in the Midwest Quarterfinals in Mid-April 2013.

Special thanks goes from the current playing club members to our friends, families and the WRC Old Boys for their continued support.

To keep up to date with WRC match and event info (including live scoring updates during most matches) check out

https://www.facebook.com/wisconsinrugbyclub and/or www.twitter.com/wrc_rugby

Here is the schedule for next weekend. Note that the top two finishers in each conference will host Midwest crossover matches in the spring.

11/3 @ Waverly, IA
Game 1, Noon, Bremer County vs WRC (Winner # 1 seed)
Game 2, 1:30 PM, Eastside Banshees vs Lincoln Park
Game 3, 3:00 PM, Southside Irish vs Metropolis

11/4 @ Waverly, IA
Game 4, 11:00 AM, Loser Game 1 vs Winner Game 2 (Will determine #2 & #3 seeds)
Game 5, 12:30 PM, Loser Game 2 vs Winner Game 3 (Will determine #4 seed)

The mighty WRC traveled to Chicago’s South Side today and soundly defeated the Irish 39-0. The victory was the 7th win of the fall league season and secured a West Conference #1 seed going into the MW playoffs next weekend Nov 3-4.

The WRC defense was dominant throughout the entire match. Giving up only a few breaks while often thwarting the sustained possession of the Irish.

The WRC offense maintained ball control well with a penalty resulting in a Miles Jobke 42m penalty kick at 5 min mark. From there the WRC scored three 1st half tries. 1st off multiple forward pick and goes then by Nic Tyson scoring in the corner off a peeled line out. Andrew “Bambi” norton rounded out the 1st half with a picked off pass for a try converted by Miles.

The second half saw decent ball possession by the WRC but the Irish defense held strong for the first 15 minutes. Gaps in the Irish defense opened up shortly after which resulted in 3 more tries by M Zukowski, Donath and Hanske.

WRC will finish the fall with 2 more practices followed by a trip to Waverly, Iowa to face Bremer County Bucks. Winner of that matchup will claim the #1 Midwest West seed going into the Spring 2013 quarterfinal playoffs. A loss Saturday will require a Sunday match win to get the 2nd seed. A Sunday loss would result in being 3rd seed going into the Spring.

September 15, 2012:

The WRC D3 squad traveled to Oshkosh to face the Pigs falling 20 – 27 after a hard fought game with multiple lead changes.

Trys: 3
Max Sauban
Patrick Mootz
Jason Jones

Penalty Kicks: 1
Grant Thomas

In Division 2, the WRC took its 2-0 League record down to Chicago’s Lakefront to face the also undefeated Lincoln Park RFC. Lincoln Park had put up 50 and 76 points in their first league matches garnering national publicity with Rugby Mag.com.

The near 50m width pitch would prove to be the ultimate winner on the day, as defense would prove stout for both sides. The WRC struck first, with an early try at the 6 minute mark off a pick and go following a 5m Lineout. The back and forth saw Lincoln Park slot two penalty kicks, leaving a 7-6 halftime score.

Lincoln Park took a 9-7 lead midway through the 2nd half, but the WRC were able to dominate territory advantage as they did in the first half and were rewarded with a Penalty kick, taking a 10-9 lead. Wisconsin had multiple chances to score late in the game off separate 5m Scrums and Lineouts, but the Lincoln Park defense held strong.

At full time – Wisconsin wins the battle of early season undefeated team 10-9.

Try:
Max Zukowski

Conversion:
Miles Jobke

Penalty Kick:
Miles Jobke

Lincoln Park will return visit to Madison, WI on oct 20th.

Upcoming this Saturday Sept 22nd, is the Wisconsin Rugby Club’s Hometown Throwdown!

Saturday’s Matches AND Pig Roast at the Wisconsin Rugby Club Sports Complex
4064 Vilas Rd, Cottage Grove, WI

11:00 am – Wisconsin Women’s RFC vs. Chicago
12:45 pm – Wisconsin D2 vs. South Side Irish
2:30 pm – Wisconsin D3 vs. Fond Du Lac

A brilliant fall-like day, the WRC broke historic ground Sept 8th, 2012 with 50 team members playing at two seperate opponent sites.

In Divison 2 a 79-10 victory over Fox Valley Maoris in St Charles, IL moved the WRC to 2-0 in league play.

In it’s Wisconsin RFU D3 debut the WRC side traveled to Oconomowoc, WI. A hard fought match saw the WRC come up short losing 29-3.

Lots of rugby still to be played this fall, never a better time to be proud of a club and it’s opportunities ahead.

Next up Sept 15. Div 2 travels to undefeated Lincoln Park in Chicago and D3 travels to Oshkosh.

Make sure to mark your calendars for Sept 22 when both D2 and D3 will make their home field debuts.

Wisconsin Rugby Club – The 2012 USA Rugby D2 National Champion Runners-up began their 2012-2013 competitive season today by traveling to Clinton Iowa.

A multitude of unavailable players for the opening weekends game lead to 8 Changes in the starting lineup from the WRCs National Championship match On June 3.

The always tough Clinton Muddy River played the first few minutes on the WRC goal line. The quick start woke up the WRC who responded with a 6 phase goal line stand. The extreme heat and concrete-like grass surface proved tough for both teams as the first 20 minutes were scoreless.

The WRC finally broke through the line with Derek Behnke touching down the first of what would be many tries on the day.

The WRC continued to impose its will throughout the first half, unforced errors and turnovers kept the game closer than Coaches Joe Lippert and Adam Thimmig would have liked.

The second half wind aided continued possession for the WRC leading to 1st ever tries for winger TC, replacement Hooker Will Atkinson and loose forward Andrew Hanske.

Video of the the last drive for Wisconsin.

It was a game for the ages that literally came down to the very last drive. Like the game before, there were too many momentum shifts to count and emotions ran high for fans on the sideline. In the DII matchup of Wisconsin v. Old Aztecs, Wisconsin pulled off a 25-21 heart-pounder.

In what seemed to be a nervous pattern, both teams came out with a fast pace and it cost them early. Knock-ons and counter rucking were a big part of neither team being able to get a grip on their game plan to plant their foot in the positive direction.

In a penalty plagued start to the half, Wisconsin was the first to put points on the board with back-to-back boots from flyhalf Miles Jobke for an early 6-0 lead. Momentum to Wisconsin. After that though, defense tightened and didn’t allow much of anything until well past 20 minutes in the half.

Off a penalty, Aztecs kicked the ball out near 5-meter line, setting up a perfect scenario to use a maul off the lineout. The throw was perfect and the maul stayed strong for hooker Daylon Teel to plunge into the try-zone to give his a spark at 6-5. Momentum in favor of San Diego.

On Wisconsin’s next possession, a mental error by an Aztec forward caused an off-sides penalty, letting Wisconsin have a free chance at points. Jobke answered the call again with a perfect strike from almost 40 meters out for an 8-6 lead. Momentum back to Wisconsin.

Then just before the break, things got very interesting. The Aztecs were the first to have possession off a stolen lineout near the midfield mark. Through some fancy work through the backline, winger Micah Kropp made a breakaway run that lasted to about the opposing 22-meter line.

He then off-loaded to no. 8 Travis Ward who carried to back to the outside to find blindside flanker Aaron Montoya for the score and a 13-6 lead. Momentum San Diego. On the next kickoff and with just minutes remaining, Wisconsin found a weakness.

Scrumhalf Cody Moran-Guevara guided his forward down to the half-meter line. With an overload to the strong side, Moran-Guevara took matters into his own hands and took a step and pretended to off-load, leaving a small kink in the defense and just enough for him to plunge in to tie the score at 13 all going into the half. Momentum Wisconsin.

The second half was much like the first, more penalties to be passed out like free-giveaways. Nothing was going right for either team, leaving both the ref and touch judges to have a busy first 10 minutes.

However, like the half had never interrupted their play, San Diego put the first points on the board. Working the ball through phases and slowly loosening up the Wisconsin defense, scrumhalf Jacobus Breytenbach passed the ball to awaiting prop Sean Lindersmith.

Instead of going into contact and slowing down his team’s pace, Lindersmith noticed Kropp all by himself on the outside and flung the ball to the striding Kropp for a score and a 18-13 score after a Jarrod Faul kick. Momentum Old Aztecs.

This is truly where things started to heat up. Wisconsin called on their forward pack yet again in the phase game to gain a slight advantage at 20-18 after a Jobke kick. Not more than five minutes passed that the Aztecs had worked their way back into Wisconsin territory with less than two minutes left.

Then, as though it were drawn up to perfection, Breytenbach flipped the ball to Faul off a ruck who positioned perfectly in the middle of the field for a drop goal attempt. When the ball sailed through the uprights with less than a minute left and a 21-20 Aztec lead it came down to one possession.

Wisconsin was awarded a penalty off a scrum and slowly worked their way down the right side of the pitch with their forwards. With every possession crucial and the clock on full-time, Wisconsin managed to secure every ruck with full counters from San Diego.

New scrumhalf Paul Stroede and Wisconsin worked the ball down to the 5-meter line to such the Aztecs defense in. Determined at every point-of-contact, the Aztecs overplayed one possession leaving a small gap to work through on the weak side.

Wisconsin’s Jeffrey Mortensen screamed for the ball off the ruck and sucked it the only defense leaving lock James Delmedico wide open for the try and a 25-21 win. Final momentum swing to Wisconsin for a berth in the DII national championship.

“We stuck to our game plan and let the rest work itself out, very simple,” Wisconsin coach Joe Lippert said. “We kept composure there at the end and took value to every possession and that’s what gave us a chance for the win. Hats off to the Aztecs for a great performance and giving a great match, they are one helluva team.”

Wisconsin battles Rocky Gorge for the Men’s Club Division II National Championship.