Dallas RFC Lonestar 7s 2023

RRRC Competitions Committee Notes – 6/12/23

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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. McPhail
    3. Norton
    4. Keuppens
    5. Kurylas
    6. Fosco
    7. Dale
    8. Martin
    9. Horn
    10. Curl
    11. Hughes
      1. Regrets
        1. Hanlon
        2. Roche
    12. Guests
      1. San Antonio: Marcus Leming
      2. West Houston: Hunter Nezat (unable to attend)
      3. HURT: Nevin Whalley / Eron Terry (incoming president) 
      4. Kingwood: Otis Parker / Christian Blackwell
  2. Welcome
    1. McPhail: Thank you for joining everyone, I know it’s an earlier than normal meeting but we knew this would go long. We’re going to focus on the men’s competition today as the women’s reps are still in discussion about options for their teams. The initial promotion and relegation were posted May 12, 2023 and this call is the next step in hearing any appeals and checking in on new club applications. We invited San Antonio, West Houston, HURT and Kingwood on the call tonight. 
    2. Young: I’ll place Otis and Nevin in a breakout room. Once Hunter joins I can add him as well. Then we can bring them in one at a time to hear from them and ask questions. Once we’ve finished discussions we will ask that they all leave so the committee can continue discussing.
  3. Promotion & Relegation Appeals
    1. San Antonio M (appeal promotion to D1)
      1. Kurylas: I’ll kick it off, San Antonio met the promotion guidelines to D1 based on our policy but they have appealed that promotion. 
      2. Leming: I appreciate the opportunity to come and chat with this group. I’ve chatted with a few of you before the call as well. We are appealing this promotion. From our D2 roster we’re losing 6 players (4 due to military relocations). This is quite normal for us and we’ve worked hard to not be so dependent on the military community due to its transient nature. We did field a D3 side this year and we look forward to continuing that team. 17 of those players were rookies and only picked up the game in January. We are in a critical time for development in our club and we are growing but we feel that we need 2 to 3 more years to keep building our base before we go for D1. Moving up to D1 is a big step and we feel that if we don’t have a stellar base we wouldn’t be able to maintain. Thank you.
      3. McPhail: Very proud of how San Antonio performed in Austin and Orlando. I do agree that depth in a club is key, especially when competing at the higher levels. It’s not a lack of talent, it’s usually a depth issue. I think the future is bright for this club. They also helped us out in D3 when they filled in a hole that had opened up. 
      4. Leming: If we don’t get promoted to D1 what clubs are left for 2023-24? Will there be enough competition in D1?
      5. McPhail: Yes, we have enough clubs and we have a valid competition. We’re always looking to broaden the base though. The opportunity to play up is always a good one. If you never play up you’ll never experience what it takes either. The actual structure of the league hasn’t been decided but there are ideas being thrown around by the reps.
      6. Leming: If promotion does happen…would our second side be pulled up?
      7. Norton: I don’t believe your second side would be automatically pulled up.
      8. McPhail: There is flexibility.
      9. Leming: At one point there was a contiguous side requirement.
      10. McPhail: That is not a requirement anymore.
      11. Norton: Yes, that is not a thing anymore.
      12. Leming: Got it, thank you.
      13. McPhail: Any other comments or questions? None. Thank you. CLUBS LEFT
      14. McPhail: I’ve noted on other calls that San Antonio has done well at RRRC and in Orlando. They have indicated that they want to continue having a second side. Keeping them in D2 is probably a prudent decision based on what I’ve seen outside of league play.
      15. Hughes: I agree with that, they demonstrated to us that when we promoted them last time it was detrimental to their club.
      16. Keuppens: I agree. It was very difficult the last time we promoted them. Usually I’m very prone to promotion but they are unique with the military. 
      17. McPhail: Military does make them very unique and we have a few clubs that are continually trying to diversify their player base.
      18. Dale: Maybe we need to revisit our promotion policy for D1 to D2. If they win again we will be right back where we started (as far as conversations). We need to be doing everything we can to ensure clubs are ready to move up. We don’t want to be club killers.
      19. Foscoe: Maybe a sidebar could be that clubs have to have won two years in a row or something. I agree with that.
      20. McPhail: Yes, we need to either add more hurdles for D2 to D1 OR that they have to have a healthy second side. That is critical to being successful at the higher levels.
      21. Dale: Agree. Player retention and depth is critical as well. Players need rugby knowledge before they can move up through the sides as well. 
      22. McPhail: Yes, litmus tests could include that as well as depth, retention  and growth rate.
        1. Norton: I motion that we keep San Antonio in D2 and grant their appeal.
          1. Horn: Second.
        2. McPhail: Anyone opposed to a vote of affirmation? None. Any objections to Norton’s motion? None? APPROVED.
    2. West Houston M (appeal relegation to D3)
      1. McPhail: We wanted to give everyone a chance to discuss their motions. I just heard from Hunter that he is not able to join. Since he wasn’t able to join we can begin discussion and the committee was sent their appeal via email a few days ago. I will note that I had to personally reach out to Hunter to ask if he had seen the promotion and relegation…he had not. I then contacted him multiple times and didn’t find him very responsive.
      2. Norton: I believe they were relegated last year, they appealed, RRRC reviewed and it was granted so they remained in D2.
      3. Kurylas: Looking at last year’s notes when we discussed this, they had garnered support from other clubs in the region. That was a key factor in the committee granting the appeal.
      4. Horn: This would put the true D2 with four teams.
      5. McPhail: Yes, we may have to look at restructuring. They met all the criteria for relegation.
      6. Norton: Ok, so they forfeited 2021-22 and then last summer the RRRC relegated but the appeal was granted. This season they lost all their matches, -263 points…
      7. Foscoe: This was a long discussion last year. If I recall the voting was split as well.
      8. Hughes: I agree, it was a long conversation and the support of the surrounding clubs was key.
      9. Kurylas: They did forfeit the 2021-22 season so they finished last in consecutive seasons and their point differential was over 28 points. I would also recommend that if we take out the 75 point blowout to San Antonio their point differential would be under the threshold.
      10. McPhail: I noticed that they didn’t have a coach in RX and they often had short rosters.
      11. Young: The coach must have been playing and RX won’t list them in both places.
      12. Dale: We have always encouraged clubs to play up. If they feel that they can play in that division then we should keep them there. Moving them down could be detrimental to the club.
      13. Hughes: I also think we need to look at all the moving parts because we are looking at the overall league. If we relegate them to D3 and we put HURT in D3S and Kingwood meets their criteria…there are 7 teams in the D3S. I don’t know if they can handle 12 matches.
      14. McPhail: We can also break them into North and South. We can get creative. But fair point.
      15. Horn: The other angle is that if they aren’t competitive, how does that help the league?
      16. Hughes: It’s a real shame they couldn’t be on the call tonight. We could have asked some of these questions. How is the team dealing with so much loss?
      17. Foscoe: What it sounds like though is that they can’t be bothered to check their email, the TRU website or social media. That is a requirement of being a good club as well.
      18. McPhail: The fact that he knew nothing about the posting was a bit of a surprise.
      19. Horn: If we do relegate them they could appeal to the TRU Board. Maybe they would show up?
      20. Foscoe: I like that.
      21. Hughes: That is a good point.
      22. Keuppens: I motion that we deny the appeal. 
        1. Horn: Second.
        2. Foscoe: So the appeal would go to the TRU Board? Also are we responsible for putting in place sanctions?
        3. McPhail: I think we send it to the TRU with a recommendation. Then the TRU Board can hear it and rule as they see fit.
        4. Foscoe: At the very least they should have to show up to a call.
      23. McPhail: Any objections?
        1. Dale: I object and would have granted the appeal as I always prefer to keep a club where they want to compete.
      24. McPhail: One noted objection, any others? None. Motion to appeal is rejected and West Houston is relegated to D3. APPROVED.
        1. McPhail: I will call Kirk to give him a heads up and then I will reach out to Hunter about what the next steps need to be.
    3. HURT MD3 (request to add a side in D3S)
      1. McPhail: Welcome Neville and Eron. To recap, we’re discussing your request to add an additional side in D3. I do recall some notes that there were travel issues and the season wasn’t able to be finished…
      2. Kurylas: Basically they were part of the D3C, they played in two matches but then forfeited the remainder of the season. They would have been up for automatica relegation D4.
      3. Whalley: Thank you for hearing our request to a third side this season. It was correct that we submitted a D3 side last year and it was a late entry. We were trying to do what was best for the club…we had heard in the Summer that they wanted to have multiple sides. Our club met the number requirements for multiside players by October (TRU deadline) but we were placed in D3C (Central) instead of D3S (South). We gave it our best effort and even did 3 matches (1 weekend was a double header) but the travel games were our downfall. If we can be placed in the South we can manage that travel with our robust roster. By the end of the season we had grown to ~80 players. The feedback from our leadership and players continues to be that they would like to have a D3 side but it must be in the South to keep the travel a bit closer to home.
      4. Terry: Thanks for having us, I am the incoming President for HURT. I agree with what Whalley has said.
      5. Norton: After forfeiting a season with limited matches, how do you know if you will be able to fill out a 2nds roster?
      6. Whalley: Even after we had to cancel the season we attempted to schedule friendly matches. We were able to play against Space City where we had more than enough players.
      7. Norton: Ok, Only one match.
      8. Kurylas: If last season if you had been able to play in the South, do you think you would have been able to complete the season?
      9. Whalley: Yes sir. I really do think with closer travel we could have finished the season. Even when we knew we had to travel we were getting to about 12 or 13 players. So we were very close. 
      10. Norton: I recall that you were locking your first and second sides? Is that still the club policy? If you have roster numbers issues will that continue?
      11. Whalley: That was a policy that our coach had put in place. His policy was that the best players were going to play in D2. Then the rest would play in D3. We didn’t want D2 players to drop down into D3. Our goal is to have our competitive team as D2 and D3 is for fostering rugby growth, knowledge and giving a place for our older players that still want to get a run around.
      12. Norton: Ok, the second side has 18 players…you wouldn’t flesh it out to a full 23 from the D2 side?
      13. Whalley: We would think about using D2 reserves but it is up to our coach. Even if we only had 18 we would play the game.
      14. McPhail: You’ve made a comment that you wanted to add a second side for the betterment of the club. However, stringent policies like this may cause you to drop out of the competition. So overall we are looking at a league structure and if you have a second side one year and then the next year you don’t…that can hurt the competition. The league needs to have a certain level of standing and responsibility to support the entire league. I find it difficult from my view to look favorably on this. I don’t get a vote unless there is a tie so this is just my observation.
      15. Whalley: That is a really good point. I am just relaying what my coach is instituting. It is the responsibility of the officers to do what is best for the club and the league. I maybe shouldn’t have used the word “policy” but we really want our competitive side to be in D2 and D3 is for growth. 
      16. McPhail: To put a bow on that comment, is your request for D3S only or is it what is best for the league? You commit to whatever the competition is? Or is it that you only want to be in D3S?
      17. Whalley: To be honest and after speaking with our leadership we would only want to compete in D3S. We would not be able to fulfill a schedule in another geographical area. 
      18. McPhail: Ok, with 80 players if you don’t have matches I can’t imagine that roster would remain.
      19. Whalley: Correct. If we weren’t allowed in we would try to find friendly matches.
      20. Norton: For a 2nd side roster if you only have 13 “D3” players you should use the D2 reserve players that usually only get a few minutes. Leaving these teams completely separate seems very short sighted. Even if you put the D2 bubble players on the roster and don’t use them…you have them if there are injuries or no shows. You have to play matches to keep a competition going.
      21. Whalley: Sure, in the D3S we can absolutely do that. But if our teams are in different cities that wouldn’t be possible. So we have chosen to keep our rosters mostly separate. But if we are only playing in the South that will help us tremendously.
      22. McPhail: My ears perk up when I hear you are willing to play with 18 players. One or two injuries in the front row and you could be doing uncontested scrums or the game is called early. This is editorial of course.
      23. Whalley: I am very much in the mindset of last year. We will aim to have full 23 sized rosters.
      24. McPhail: If you’re in D3S do you have enough coaching staff, administration and such to make sure the games happen? 
      25. Whalley: Yes, we sent coaches to the Summit last year and so we have a full staff for both. We will probably send 1 or 2 folks to the Summit this year as well. We realize it’s a little awkward to ask for a D3S as opposed to any D3 division. Really appreciate your time and hearing what HURT has to say.
      26. McPhail: Any other questions or comments? None. CLUBS LEFT.
      27. Hughes: I thought they made a compelling case for themselves but I’m not a fan of what league they play in. I got the feeling last summer when they came in late that they assumed they would get their wish. When they didn’t it set the stage for them to have a very bad attitude about completing the season in D3C. I don’t think they put a lot of effort into it. They haven’t said this to me but this is the impressions I have from what happened. This doesn’t sit well with me.
      28. Foscoe: Do you think they got most of their registration numbers from promising that they would be in D3S.
      29. Hughes: I don’t know but if you have 80 players…why won’t the just travel? 
      30. McPhail: I was very curious how they went from 50 to 80 players if they didn’t have any matches?
      31. Hughes: McAllen and I also have zero sympathy for teams that don’t want to travel. We go everywhere and player all our matches.
      32. Kurylas: I pretty much agree with what Travis said. I think we prioritize what fits the structure and is best for the league.
      33. McPhail: I touched on that…it sounds like they are thinking most about their club and not the league. From a rugby perspective I didn’t find that very comforting.
      34. Dale: I think we should structure the league so they play the majority of their matches against the D3S but also where they have to play some travel matches.
      35. Hughes: Even in D3S they have to go to Shreveport.
      36. Foscoe: Austin is only 2.5 hours? Who doesn’t want to go to Austin?
      37. Keuppens: I think there is a gap in perception of what they think it takes to run a club and what we KNOW it takes to run a club. They are trying to dictate terms and I think they aren’t as ready as they think they are. 
      38. Hughes: They could put together a social schedule, they have plenty of time.
      39. Norton: So they are appealing their 2nds relegation to D4 and they are dictating that we put them in D3S.
      40. Hughes: Right but there isn’t really a D4 in their region.
      41. Norton: What if Kingwood is relegated to D4, the new Houston club goes into D4 and then they have a structure.
      42. Keuppens: An appeal should demonstrate an exceptional reason, not because we won’t do this or not.
      43. Foscoe: I think we relegate them to D4 and give them a deadline of when they have to respond so we can make structures.
      44. McPhail: Yes, I was thinking along the same lines, we need some teeth in this. If they want to dictate terms we can dictate structure.
      45. Norton: This one is more complicated than some of the other appeals we are hearing. They are appealing relegation AND they insist on putting that team in D3S. 
      46. McPhail: Correct, they are dictating that we don’t relegate their second side to D4 AND that we place that side in D3S.
      47. Foscoe: I don’t think we should do that.
      48. Dale: I agree, they can appeal to stay in D3 but they shouldn’t be able to dictate anything else.
      49. Hughes: OK, I think that we need to talk about their appeal to relegate their second side to D4. Then we can start talking about their request for D3S.
      50. Keuppens: I think there is another bigger issue, we could be setting a precedent of allowing a club to influence their competitive destination. I did feel they are being genuine about being the most successful in D3S. Then clubs could come to us and request an easier path even if they only perceive it as that.
      51. McPhail: I agree, we as a body need to determine what is best for the league. I do think we should vote about their appeal of relegation to D4.
      52. Foscoe: Do we know if these couple of new clubs will really be clubs and get their stuff in?
      53. Young: That’s a good point, there are four new clubs in the process as well as Diablos requesting good standings…but none of them have made very fast progress. Houston Chupacabras is the furthest along.
      54. Hughes: We created D4 for a specific purpose but it’s only existing in the DFW area. This could be an opportunity to reinvigorate the D4 in other regions.
      55. Young: There is also Space City in Houston. This could give them a schedule.
      56. Foscoe: I motion that we deny their appeal and HURT2 should be relegated to D4. The goal of this committee and the TRU is to grow rugby. That includes revitalizing and growing the MD4 competition. We would look to encourage the TRU to allow entry of the in-process clubs in the Houston region as well as engage with Space City to potentially join. Depending on the Kingwood discussion in a few moments they could also be included.
        1. Hughes: Second.
        2. McPhail: Any objections?
          1. Horn: I would like to abstain.
        3. McPhail: One abstention noted but the motion is passed and HURT second side will be relegated to D4. APPROVED.
    4. Kingwood (appeal relegation)
      1. McPhail: Welcome to the call Otis, appreciate your patience. 
      2. Kurylas: Kingwood met the criteria for relegation to D4 as they forfeited the second half of their season.
      3. Parker: I sent notes earlier that I believe have been shared with our group so I won’t bore you with those details. We do realize that we met all of the guidelines for relegation. However, we have asked Alex Ramirez to return to coach us this season. He is a founder and has been the rock of our club in the past. We will be sending a rep to the Summer AGM and the Administrative course at the Summit. We have also committed to having our roster built backup by mid-August.
      4. Blackwell: Thanks for having us, I’m the President.
      5. Kurylas: You only had 1 forfeit?
      6. Parker: Correct, against the Arrows.
      7. Blackwell: We only forfeited once. We had a played forfeit against the Arrows and we had an unplayed forfeit with Shreveport.
      8. McPhail: What has changed beyond what you’ve mentioned?
      9. Parker: We have a club agreement to have players registered by mid-August where usually we have them register the week before the matches. Our goal is to play rugby and keep this club viable. We don’t think we’ll win in D3 but we want to be back in the mix.
      10. Young: Very good news on Alex, he is fantastic. Reaching back in the pocket is great but we have to be building future administrators as well.
      11. Parker: Right, so we will be sending a representative to the Admin course at the Summit.
      12. Blackwell: I have also been thinking about going to the course. Alex is going to guide me going forward because once I took over last season I was very raw and didn’t know what I was doing.
      13. McPhail : When will Alex be “back”? Also do you have a marketing or social group?
      14. Blackwell: We do have a marketing and social person who will be helping us recruit. We also have several new sponsorships that will help us do these things. We want to be a club that players flock to and we have a lot to prove. 
      15. Hughes: Are you playing any 7s?
      16. Blackwell: Yes, we are the Kingwood Flamingos. We’re going to Bloodfest but I’ll have to check with our 7s rep to see what other tournaments we’re going to.
      17. McPhail: How many are you seeing at training? 
      18. Blackwell: 20-25 at practice right now.
      19. Hughes: What’s your confidence level of reaching a full roster by your stated August date?
      20. Blackwell: With Alex coming back we have already had players coming out of the woodwork. He draws players and we’re taking advantage of that. I want to learn how he does it so I can be the same way.
      21. McPhail: I’ll play Devil’s Advocate, what happens if you are placed in D4?
      22. Blackwell: Since there isn’t a D4 in our area that would be very difficult for our club. We would try and make it work but ideally we need to be in D3. 
      23. McPhail: One more time, Alex is coming back and things are looking up. What happens if Alex leaves the Club again?
      24. Blackwell: We want to learn from him so he is a mentor and we can keep going. We also have a strong HS team in Kingwood and our club is involved in that team. That is now a pipeline for us. 
      25. Parker: We’re hoping that bringing in Alex will be an injection of infrastructure. We need to put good leadership in place and keep it going. 
      26. Blackwell: Of course we don’t want to knock our coach from last year as he was a fantastic resource. We want to grow coaches in our club as well. I also can’t keep playing rugby forever and will be a coach one day.
      27. Parker: Thank you for hearing us and taking the time.
      28. Blackwell: Same from me, appreciate the opportunity to and our players are anxious to hear the results.
      29. McPhail: Any other questions or comments? CLUB LEFT.
      30. Hughes: Obviously they struggled this year and I give them kudos to finish out the season short-handed or with played forfeit. I think they put a lot of effort into completing the season instead of just giving up. I will admit that I don’t have great confidence in the growth that they are expecting. Coach Alex is a good addition but I don’t know if he will be around for very long.
      31. McPhail: We did give Kingwood a deadline in getting their numbers up and initially they were on a good trajectory but it faded.
      32. Hughes: If they had the option to play in D4 and it actually had four to five teams they might be really happy there. If they don’t stay in D3 then they don’t think they have a competition or a schedule.
      33. Kurylas: Yes, that was my take on it as well. If there are teams I think they would be very happy with D4.
      34. Young: We’ve tried to have a D4 Championship and I feel confident that the TRU would back that.
      35. Keuppens: We could also get creative like the women with a festival style at various locations. Or we will continue to have this problem where teams think it is a death sentence. If it’s a really cool structure and they can play for something…surely that would be appealing?
      36. Hughes: Yes, but we have to make sure the buy-in is there. I do think it’s worth exploring.
      37. McPhail: Kurylas, what’s going on in the North?
      38. Hughes: Las Colinas is back, Diablos is requesting membership again, Denton, Fort Worth second side, and possibly a Grand Prairie second side. The Reds have flirted with a D4 side as well. So it could be a decent competition.
      39. Keuppens: Great, so we could look at teams that would be willing to travel and make it easy. Make it one or two a year and they get multiple games. If we don’t establish a D4 in all of our regions then we risk losing clubs.
      40. Hughes: I think there is an opportunity for more clubs if we can really make D4 happen. Hill Country Blues are in Kerrville and playing 7s with some great success. They might be interested. We also had that other San Antonio side that played 7s but it fizzled out. San MArcos used to have a club…lots of remnants of clubs.
      41. McPhail: Blake, what is going on with HARC and Woodlands?
      42. Horn: I think HARC would have some extra players but I don’t know anything about Woodlands.
      43. McPhail: We could look at both of those as possible.
      44. Hughes: Yes, if there was a competition and low travel it could be really appealing.
      45. Horn: I think clubs would be up for one trip and a festival sounds like a really good idea.
      46. Hughes: I motion to deny their appeal and Kingwood will be placed in a revamped D4 division. I feel pretty comfortable that we can create a D4 competition that would be comfortable for them.
        1. Kurylas: Second.
        2. McPhail: Any objections? None. APPROVED.
    5. Little Rock W (appeal promotion)
      1. Young: As McPhail mentioned, the women’s reps (KC Curl, Whitney Ohmann-Wilson, Monique Fosco and Wendy Young (mentor)) are talking through the options for the entire women’s structure. We will have more on this soon.
      2. Curl: Agree that we are trying to look at the entire women’s division holistically and do what is best for the league.
      3. Norton: I make a motion that we continue discussions on this and have a short deadline of next week to make a recommendation.
        1. Curl: Second.
        2. McPhail: Any objections? None. APPROVED.
    6. Round Rock Rage W (appeal relegation to D3)
      1. Curl: The women’s reps (RRRC and TRU) have talked and we are totally fine with their appeal and agree that they should remain in D2.
      2. Foscoe: I motion that we do not relegate them and grant their appeal to stay in D2.
        1. Curl: Second.
        2. McPhail: Any objections? None. APPROVED.
    7. Austin Valks II (drop their second side from D2)
      1. Curl: Same thing here, the women’s reps looked at this and we agree with the Valkyries dropping their second side for 2023-24. They are focusing on rebuilding their D1 side and are currently searching for a Head Coach. We know they will be back and we wanted to give them some time to work through those things. 
      2. McPhail: This doesn’t need a motion as it is an FYI.
    8. New Clubs
      1. Collin County Copperheads (XVs M) (Dallas)
      2. Houston Chupacabra (XVs M)
      3. Waco Wombats (XVs M)
      4. Hill Country Blues XVs/7s M (Kerrville, TX)
      5. Dallas Diablos (XVs M requesting TRU membership again)
      6. HEB (7s W)
  4. XVs Championships Recap
    1. Austin Blacks MD1: Winner over NY Old Blue 38-14
    2. Austin Blacks MD3: Winner over Colorado Springs 18-14
    3. sHARCs placed fourth after losing to 10-74 in SFs to SD Surfers (2nd overall)
  5. 7s
    1. Pending for 7s
      1. Keuppens: Celina M, Chupacabra M and HEB W have indicated interest in participating in 7s but most have not made it very far as far as registration.
    2. Transfer Deadline – July 1, 2023
      1. Young: I will post a notice this week and USAR Eligibility typically sends an email to all members.
      2. Norton: Yes, we will send out a notice via RX to all members.
      3. Keuppens: I’ve reviewed the draft and it should go out this week.
    3. Lonestar Results
      1. Young: Austin Huns men won and Dallas won for the women. Very competitive weekend. We’ll put a quick graphic on social media and recap on the website.
    4. RRRC Qualifiers – update by FK
      1. Keuppens: There are 3 qualifiers in the RRRC, Bloodfest this weekend, Hell or Highwater in a few weeks and the final stop is at Choctaw. This year there are crossover tournaments at Bloodfest and July 8 in the Midwest. There will be other seeds up for grabs but that will be determined by the USAR 7s Committee. There have also been changes to the number of rosters (now 13) and that will be included in the email that Eligibility will send. 
    5. Nationals 8/12-13
      1. Keuppens: We are still searching for a host and it’s looking like the event wil be on the East coast. We’ve been in contract negotiations with a venue since February and those conversations continue. We are looking at backup venues aggressively as well. Clubs can go to https://usa7srugby.club/ to get more information on the event. The changes to eligibility are on there as well.
  6. Eligibility Issues – TRU and responses from cited Clubs
    1. HTX 
    2. FTW
    3. OKC Tribe
    4. Fort Cavazos / Old Skool
      1. McPhail: The TRU Board agreed with the RRRC that problems with book checks like this are unacceptable. They sanctioned the clubs by requiring that they send 1 to 2 representatives to the Summit and specifically the Administration course (part of the Knowledge Pathways) on August 26 in Ft. Worth, TX.
      2. Young: I also wanted to note that there has been a bit of discussion on social media that the RRRC was too lenient on these clubs.
      3. McPhail: I will engage with committee members and the committee at large in reviewing the Terms or Reference and what our sanctioning ability is.
  7. Pitch Protocol and Inspection Form
    1. Dale: I haven’t had a chance to review again.
    2. Young: Do we need to put a deadline on this?
    3. Dale: Probably should…I owe everyone a beer?
    4. Young: By the next meeting?
    5. Dale: Sure.
  8. Summit – Aug 26 in Ft. Worth
    1. Young: We’ve opened registration for the Summit courses including our normal World Rugby Certification (Coach L1, Coach L2 (2-day), L1 Referee and L1 Strength and Conditioning). New this year we have added the Rugby Knowledge Pathways which is a one-day course that has expert instructors and covers all the rugby things. In addition to that we are partnering with TRRA and USA Rugby Training and Education to offer a one-of-a-kind Referee Talent Development program with Jamie McGregor and two MLR Referees. We anticipate that all spots will sell out as we’ve broadcast this to the entire USA and urge members to get signed up quickly.
  9. AGM – Aug 26 in Ft. Worth at 3pm
    1. Young: The AGM is in-person this year at the Summit at 3pm at the Hilton Sheraton Fort Worth.
    2. McPhail: To confirm, we will have our elections at the AGM? When will we post nomination requests?
    3. Young: Yes, we will have an open forum for nominated candidates during the AGM. We will post a request for nominations 30 days in advance, so those will go up July 25.
  10. HOF – Aug 26 in Ft. Worth 
    1. Young: The HOF committee announced the 2023 Class, winners of the Distinguished Service Awards, winner of the Alan Sharpley Memorial Award and the Honored Club. We’ve already sold 80 tickets! Don’t wait to get your ticket.
  11. New Business
    1. None.
  12. Meeting adjournment (9:34 PM)