RRRC Competitions Committee Notes – 3/13/23

The Red River Competitions Committee releases their monthly committee call minutes and notes. View all of the archived RRRC minutes or read on for the most recent:

  1. Roll Call
    1. Young
    2. Martin
    3. Dale
    4. Kurylas
    5. McPhail
    6. Fosco
    7. Norton
    8. Hanson
    9. Hanlon
    10. Hughes
    11. Roche
      1. Regrets
        1. Keuppens
        2. Curl – Happy Birthday!
        3. Horn
  2. New Administrator
    1. Young: We introduced Hansel on the TRU Board call but wanted to re-emphasize that for this group. He’s already helping with all the Monday/Friday duties as well as compliance, disciplinary and other various duties. We’re excited to have him join the administrative team! Kat is still involved but with her moving to Seattle and more of her time being taken up by World Rugby Referee appointments, we needed more support.
    2. McPhail: Welcome to the team! More hands is always appreciated.
  3. Forfeits
    1. NEW
      1. 2/18 Blacks v Grand Prairie MD1 – unplayed forfeit by GP, notification on time
      2. 2/18 Arrows vs Kingwood M – Kingwood played forfeit, notification day of
      3. 3/4 Quins vs Valks W – Valks played forfeit
      4. 3/4 Denton v OKC Tribe M – Denton unplayed forfeit, notification on time
      5. 3/4 Little Rock vs Dallas W – played forfeit
      6. 3/25 Dallas vs Austin Valkyries – unplayed, notification on time
        1. Young: These are mostly FYI for this group. The TRU Board will review these and determine fines, etc.
        2. Norton: I was checking MD3 and saw that a few matches aren’t listed as “result” or they aren’t listed as a “forfeit”. I believe that will cause the standings tables to be incorrect.
        3. Young: Yes, please let us know if something doesn’t look right. I’m guessing that teams asked to adjust something on the roster and we moved it from the result where it’s locked and then didn’t put it back. I think Hansel had to drop off so I’ll also send him a note. 
        4. McPhail: Since this is a new system we do need to all have some extra due diligence so we don’t have surprises at the end of the league season as we move into the postseason. Can all the reps check their divisions standings table and let Wendy/Hansel know if you see anomalies?
        5. Dale: I did a check last week and things looked good but I am happy to do it again.
        6. Hanlon: My division was looking pretty good but I can check again. 
        7. Young: I also know that WD1 with our cross-over league has some issues. I was able to get all the scores from the Frontier teams but they still haven’t input their match data. We’ve sent them plenty of notes and instructions about how to do it but the next step is to let USAR Eligibility know that there is an issue. Red River teams are all set but Frontier may have player eligibility issues if they don’t enter their data. 
        8. McPhail: Yes, please let Tam and Jamie at USAR know about the issues.
    2. Previously reviewed
      1. 12/17 Little Rock vs Denton M – Denton played forfeit
      2. 1/14 – Huns III vs HURT II M – HURT unplayed forfeit with late notification / TRU fined per policy
      3. 1/21 Grand Prairie vs HURT M – unplayed forfeit, notification was done before deadline, no additional sanction
      4. 1/14 Corpus Christi vs ORC M – ORC unplayed forfeit with late notification, TRU fined per policy
      5. 2/4 Shreveport vs Kingwood M – Kingwood unplayed forfeit with Sat morning notification
      6. 2/11 OKC Crusaders vs Denton M – Denton played forfeit
  4. MD3 Wildcard Weekend – 4/1
    1. Kurylas: I just sent an email about this but we do have these MD3 wild card matches coming up. I did want to note that Alamo City is not eligible for playoffs this year because of their unplayed forfeit last year. So that would mean that if they played today that Corpus Christi would be in their spot.
    2. Young: Can we try and get matchups in WTR and RX even if we’re guessing? Mostly we need to know likely locations so Shawn can start looking at referee assignments.
    3. Hanlon: If Corpus is replacing Alamo City are they directly replacing them or would they come in as the 8th seed?
    4. Kurylas: That’s a good question, we usually take the top two from each division and then we follow the tie breakers.
    5. Hughes: Teams should keep their own points standing, they don’t get to jump other team’s based on their record.
    6. McPhail: Agree, it should be based on their record, not the team they are replacing.
    7. Kurylas: The only change is if they are from the same sub-division and they are tied, they won’t knock each other out in the QF.
    8. Martin: Yes, we would appreciate locations as that weekend is looking pretty busy. We have a youth tournament, a Jackals match and a few matches in the North.
    9. Hanlon: Looks like the Blacks and OKC Tribe are likely to host and the only one that is up in the air is Arrows or Shreveport.
    10. Young: Ok, that is great. When will we know? We’ve had these weekends sneak up on us before and we want to try and avoid that.
    11. Kurylas: I will go through all the tables tonight and make sure those are accurate. I’ll send that to Hansel to make any adjustments and then that should get us closer. There are a few matches this weekend that will help finalize things.
    12. McPhail: Are we hoping to have teams of three for these wild card matches?
    13. Martin: I would like to do that but we are very tight already in the North and that will prove difficult. We will do our best.
  5. RRRC Championships – 4/22-23
    1. Proposed Schedule
      1. McPhail: The TRU reviewed our amended schedule and determined that 9 games on Saturday is too much risk. If there is an injury, weather or anything unexpected then the fear is that games may not happen with such a packed schedule. A reminder that we are input into the schedule as the TRU actually handles the Championships administratively.. Any further comments or thoughts?
      2. Norton: All the MD1 clubs agreed to play on Saturday and then this was changed when?
      3. Young: Kirk, Hansel and I reviewed your proposal but in the end have made the recommendation that 9 games on Saturday isn’t what’s best for all the reasons that Dave listed above. 
      4. Norton: What do we do if there is an issue on Sunday and we can’t play?
      5. McPhail: We always monitor weather and make backup plans but we will have to make a day of decisions. There is precedent for this unfortunately as it has happened before. We will do our best to prepare but there is always risk. If we can limit that risk then I think that is smart.
      6. Dale: It does make for a late kick-off on Sunday.
      7. McPhail: If we try to do everything on Saturday then it’s a very long day, we need more commentators, more administrators and it means setup and clean up of the field is happening in the dark. This isn’t fair to the administrators and organizers of the event. This schedule does accommodate almost all of the requests including having all NCS bound teams playing on the main field, 2 hour windows instead of 90 minutes to allow for warmup and this allows better windows for the administrators and organizers.
      8. Norton: Are there any other events scheduled that weekend?
      9. Young: We try to make it a black-out weekend but we only control the TRU.
      10. Martin: So far we have only received a request from UNT for a 10s tournament. But that is a different caliber of referees if that makes sense.
      11. McPhail: I know there was a preference for MD1 but the RRRC is only input on this decision. I believe the focus was that MD1 be played on Field 1 and that all NCS teams have the same opportunity. So I believe we’ve met most of the parameters beyond the other request for what day to play on. In the end I believe this is the best schedule and a fair compromise. 
      12. Norton: Do we have an action item?
      13. McPhail: Only if you want to.
      14. Dale: We put forth a recommendation and the TRU administrators have agreed with most of what we proposed. I don’t think we need to push back on this. I see where everyone is coming from on Saturday, if we have a tiny hiccup then the last game of the day doesn’t happen or it’s played in dark. I think we should go with what the TRU Board is recommending. We can handle any feedback from the clubs. 
      15. McPhail: With those comments in effect, does anyone object to accepting the revised as proposed? None. APPROVED.
        1. McPhail: The TRU may still change KO time slots based on long travels.
        2. Young: Yes, we’ve done that every year, if Little Rock is scheduled to play at 10am we may adjust that kick-off to later to help with travel. We work with the teams on that because if they are willing to stay the night we don’t need to adjust. We’ll keep everyone updated.
    2. Support
      1. Hughes: Will we be soliciting help with check-ins, #4s and Match commissioner?
      2. Young: Yes, thank you! We generally rely on this committee and the TRU Board to fill out some of the positions on the week. Who is available?
      3. Hughes: I’m available.
      4. Norton: I’m available.
      5. McPhail: I am as well.
      6. Hanlon: I need to check.
      7. Kurylas: I also need to check.
      8. Dale: I am maybe right now.
      9. McPhail: Do we do Friday night check-ins?
      10. Young: We have but not many teams have taken us up on that. We can offer it.
    3. Reminders
      1. Norton: What do we need to remind teams about before Championships?
      2. Young:  We have relied on the reps to relay this information. We can post it on the website but teams don’t always read that. Can one of the reps that has been on the board share their email?
      3. Hughes: Yes, I can share.
      4. Young: We will also send out the Championship Packet the week of the event as a final reminder. We can’t send that out until we know all the teams though.
  6. Gulf Coast Super Regional 5/6-7
    1. McPhail: I have received a few more details about this event, not a lot but some. Here is a tentative schedule:
      1. Tentative match times:
        1. Sat
          1. D3 men 10 AM
          2. D2 women 12 PM
          3. D2 men 2 PM
        2. Sun – need to confirm consolation matches with GU presidents. Like ideas from last year’s expanded roster. Earlier KO to accommodate flights out. 
          1. D3 Men 9 AM
          2. D2 Women 11 AM
          3. D2 men 1 PM
    2. Norton: Last year we only had one MD3 match?
    3. McPhail: I understand that not all True South regions participated last year so there weren’t as many matches.
    4. Young: Yes, we only had 1 women’s SF and 1 MD3 SF last year.
    5. Hughes: Ok so if all eligible regions from True South and Red River participate that would mean there are four MD3 teams participating so two semi-finals?
    6. McPhail: Yes.
    7. Norton: The TRU website indicates seeding?
    8. Young: Those are from last year and that is why we put the word SHOULD because there could be different participating Unions this year. Seeding still needs to be worked out.
    9. McPhail: Lots of details are still in the works but we can only work with what we have.
    10. Young: I’m surprised that consolation matches are on there as we cut those a few years back. We weren’t using them for seeding and teams preferred not to play them.
    11. McPhail: I think they are on the table because most of their teams are driving and it’s not a big burden. We need to decide what we want. Let’s take the option of consolation matches to our teams and see what they want. 
    12. Hughes: Typically consolation matches only matter if seeding is being used for next year.
    13. McPhail: Yes, that is my understanding of why they could be used. We don’t have to have them as they are not being used for that.
    14. Norton: What about RX? How will that be setup?
    15. McPhail: They as the host should be handling that…I’ve sent an email to Kerri and co reminding them that this needs to be done.
    16. Young: We can help set up the competition as Kat has done that before for our WD1. I just don’t want to be “responsible” for it on the weekend because I’m not available, Kat’s not available…etc. I believe Dave will be the only official TRU representative on the ground.
    17. Roche: Yes, happy to help. Just let me know and I can show Hansel.
  7. USAR National Championships – Jun 2-4
    1. Young: The USAR CCC has received three bids, two in the Midwest, and we’re also talking to Florida. Progress is being made but no major announcements yet.
  8. NCS Overtime Policy
    1. McPhail: Wendy and I emailed about this a bit, it appears that this committee has reviewed these but there wasn’t a vote to adopt. These will be used at Super Regionals and NCS so we should probably review and if the committee has no objections we can adopt.
    2. Norton: If we adopt these, would they be used for our Championships?
    3. Kurylas: They could also be adopted for the MD3 Wild Card rounds. One of the MD3 QFs ended in a tie and we used our current overtime policy.
    4. Young: It’s not crazy different from what we’ve been using, it’s shorter periods and changes where drop kicks are taken from. Typically we don’t get to drop kicks but we used the previous for Mary Graham and it was a long distance kicking from the 22m.
    5. Norton: I motion we accept the NSC Overtime Policy.
    6. Kurylas: Second.
    7. McPhail: Shawn, have you reviewed?
    8. Martin: Yes, it looks fine to us. Ties are pretty rare but nothing is objectionable from us in this new policy.
    9. McPhail: Shawn, do you think this would be a problem to get it out to the refs? Especially ahead of the MD3 Wild Card matches?
    10. Martin: Nope, we can send it to them directly once they are assigned.
    11. Mcphail: Any objections? None. APPROVED.
      1. Young: Great, I will get this up on the website and push out a notice.
      2. McPhail: Shawn, please send this to any referees doing the wildcard matches and divisional reps please send this to all the teams, especially the MD3 teams.
      3. Martin: Will do.
      4. Kurylas: Yes, we will get this out to the MD3 teams.
  9. 7s
    1. McPhail: Fil is out sick but he had sent a note to Wendy asking to have a post about qualifiers and TOLA dates.
    2. Young: Yes, I will get that up. Kat has handled 7s in the past so Hansel and I will be picking that up. Patience is appreciated.
    3. Roche: Yes, I am trying to not be primary but am always here to help!
    4. Young: We appreciate that!
    5. McPhail: A quick recap, TX is included in the middle region, Ohio, Chicago, Wisconsin, etc…we don’t know how many seeds we will get yet. It will come down to tournaments in 2 regions. We will have three qualifiers as in the past, ours will start with Bloodfest (June 17). That is also PR 7s but that is in the evening. Midwest will also have 3 qualifiers, they have a west and an east region. Best of those two regions will go to a grand tournament. Note that Seattle and Olympic training center are rumored to have bid but a location hasn’t been chosen yet.
    6. Dale: If a team from the TRU wanted to play in Chicago…does that count as a qualifier? 
    7. McPhail: If NYAC shows up in Chicago it counts towards the wild card status. These aren’t super qualifiers like in the past. If the Quins went to Chicago and played well, it won’t hurt you but it won’t auto qualify you or anything. 
  10. Pitch Protocol and Inspection Form
    1. Dale: I haven’t had a chance to work on this. I would like to fine tune this a bit more before we push it out to the teams. It should be a quick process that teams can use to determine if the pitch is safe or not.
  11. Elections
    1. Men’s DI – Dale
    2. Men’s D2 – Hanlon
    3. Men’s D3 – Kurylas
    4. Women’s – Fosco
    5. At Large – Roche
      1. Young: So this is a reminder that this committee has aligned their elections with the TRU elections. The TRU normally conduct these in the summer and they culminate at the AGM. The TRU still needs to pick a date for the summer AGM, it will probably be late August or early September.
      2. Norton: The 2023 RWC will be starting so we may want to avoid that date.
      3. McPhail: I had noted that there was a conflict on whether the 7s position was appointed or elected. 
      4. Young: I recall that it is appointed but we can check.
      5. McPhail: Ok, I’ll dig up what I saw and we can clarify.
      6. Dale: Would it benefit us to have a second rep to help out with 7s? Fil has a lot on this plate with Nationals as well. 
      7. McPhail: If you remember our first meeting I did mention that he could probably use some help. My message was misconstrued but I think he would love the help.
      8. Hughes: That could also be a sub-committee.
      9. McPhail: There is also an At-Large position that the Chair can appoint. Kolberg had expressed interest in helping with 7s as well. 
      10. Young: I’m not opposed but we’ve tried the sub-committee before. We’ve appointed lots of folks but it’s a ton of work and the volunteers usually fall away. An appointment might be a better way to go. Someone who is really passionate about 7s would be best.
  12. HOF – Aug 26 in Ft Worth
    1. Young: This year’s event will be August 26 in Fort Worth. We are very excited to have it and will be announcing hotels and more details soon. The HOF committee has opened nominations and ask that they be submitted by April 15: https://www.texasrugbyunionhof.com/2023/03/08/2023-hof-nominations-are-open-due-by-april-15.
  13. Summit – Aug 25-27
    1. Young: This will be the same weekend as the HOF but will start with our normal Welcome event on Friday evening, with courses on Saturday and Sunday. We will have all the normal certification courses for coaches and referees. We will not have Strength & Conditioning this year and will move to doing this course every other year. However, we will be expanding our offerings this year with courses designed specifically for players, coaches and administrators. We’re looking at adding mental skills, analytics, administration, defense and 7s courses. We’re finding presenters and getting all those details locked in. If there is another course that members want, please let us know. We’re looking at opening course registrations May 1 and they will close a week before the actual Summit.
  14. New Business
    1. Celebrations
      1. McPhail: Even though Kat has moved to Seattle she will always be “ours”. Wanted to congratulate her on LA and Vancouver 7s, fantastic work.
      2. Roche: Thank you! I also have Women’s Six Nations matches coming up.
      3. McPhail: Wonderful and congratulations. We wish you the best of luck. Also, if you didn’t hear Wendy on any of her games she became the first female play by play announcer for the MLR two weeks ago. 
      4. Young: Wow, thanks for recognizing this, I’m honored to have joined the MLR family. Learning lots and improving with every game!
  15. Meeting Adjournment (9:30 PM)