RRRC Competitions Committee Notes – 4/14/25

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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. McPhail 
      2. Norton
      3. Walker
      4. Keuppens
      5. Hanlon
      6. Hughes
      7. Wegman
      8. Dale
      9. Kurylas
      10. Hanson
      11. Robinson
      12. Regrets
        1. Hunter
        2. Davies
        3. Curl
    2. Compliance
      1. Clubs not in good standing
        1. Alamo City – refusal to pay fines related to RX input
    3. RX items
      1. Rob – Update from Sunday’s meeting
      2. Next season 
        1. Will continue to encourage live scores, subs, cards, etc with RX Matchday App.
        2. Note there are issues when low connectivity requires logout/login. 
        3. Move the data entry deadline to Saturday night (11:59pm)
        4. Black out dates by EOD Sunday, May 4th – post sent out?
    4. 15s
      1. Forfeits
        1. Increase fine to be meaningful. 
          1. From $300 to $1,000?
          2. Relegation? Other?
        2. Suggest Sunday matches? Lose home matches? Other?
        3. Needs to be a true incentive to get matches played on schedule.
        4. See working groups below in “new business”
      2. Championships 
        1. RRRC
          1. Held initial scheduling meeting on Sunday, 4/13
            1. Discussed the need to move more games to the fall to accommodate increased competition (World Rugby, USA Eagles, MLR, WER, CRA, NCR, High Schools).
          2. Next season possibly do eligibility checks in RX rather than spreadsheets
          3. Continuation of this year’s format? Yes!
        2. Results \ Recap:
          1. MD1 = Austin Blacks (table winner)
          2. MD2 = Austin Blacks 40 vs Dallas RFC 32
          3. MD3 = Austin Blacks 86 vs Houston Arrows 0
          4. WD1 = sHARCs 27 vs Dallas Harlequins 22
          5. WD2 = Little Rock 37 v San Antonio Riveters 10
          6. WD3 = Dallas 50 vs OKC Mtn Boomer 0
        3. Gulf Coast Super Regional
          1. Saturday & Sunday; May 3-4th
          2. Gulf Coast – Pelican Park, 63350 Pelican Blvd, Mandeville LA 70448. 
          3. Pelican Park: https://pelicanpark.recdesk.com/Community/Page?pageId=19076
          4. Schedule: https://xplorer.rugby/senior-club-council/fixtures-results?team=All&comp=6EZNGBjxs3LnARqb2&season=2025&tab=Fixtures
          5. Host Information: https://truesouthrugby.com/2025-gulf-coast-super-regional/
          6. Eligibility:
            1. 2025 SENIOR CLUB NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
            2. Championship Paperwork – Instructions
            3. Championship paperwork, to the extent possible, will be handled electronically. 
            4. Each club has been assigned a google drive folder to which only the club, and those with a need, shall have access. All documents are to be added to/retained in this folder.
            5. To proceed, please send Michael Norton (secretary@usaclub.rugby) the following emails:
            6. -best contact/s for each NCS club (can be more than one)
            7. -contacts for appropriate local union administrators (president, competitions, etc)
            8. Note: If you don’t have a Google account or can’t access the Drive folder, you can create a free Google account using your current email address here.  
            9. On receipt, each club and union administrator will be sent the folder access so they can complete their NCS Roster (priority) and address the other document requirements noted therein. Documents included in each club folder:
            10. NCS Roster Form
            11. NCS Roster Form Instructions — note the DEADLINE to have complete (cleared by eligibility/signed by union administrator)
            12. Media Release Form (to be signed by all players and staff)
            13. List of Acceptable Documents to confirm Resident status (clean/legible copies to be put in club folder for use at the NCS event)
            14. Senior Club Name Withheld Policy (all player profiles must be Public)
            15. Clubs/administrators will be notified if/as any additional documents are added (such as request for logos, player bios for broadcast team, etc).
            16. IMPORTANT:  NCS Roster Deadline:
            17. Teams competing weekend of Friday-Sunday, April 25-27:   SATURDAY APRIL 19.
            18. GCSR Teams competing weekend of Friday-Sunday, May 2-4:      SATURDAY APRIL 26.
            19. Nationals Teams competing weekend of Fri-Sun, May 16-18 (changes only): SATURDAY MAY 10.
            20. If you have any questions please let us know.  Thank you in advance for sharing this information with your NCS clubs.
        4. USA Club Nationals 
          1. Friday thru Sunday, May 16-18th
          2. Kuntz Soccer & Sports Complex, 1502 W 16th Street, Indianapolis IN 46202 
    5. Next Season’s schedule and structure
      1. Men
        1. HARC men have requested promotion to MD1
          1. Current MD1 clubs have doubts of HARC rank and file membership buy-in
        2. SA/HURT promoted to MD1 based on MD1 club nominations and vote by committee
          1. SA and HURT have indicated they will appeal
            1. Both sides have been notified by Gordon
            2. TRU Board will take up San Antonio appeal next Monday
          2. MD1 Rational: 
            1. Promoting only 5th in the MD2 table HARC will lower likelihood of HARC successfully finishing season
            2. Promoting 3 MD2 clubs will give them each opponents they play already
            3. Note there are only 4 MD1 and 10 MD2 clubs. The mechanics of the automated policy will result in a further depletion of MD1 without MD2 promotion. 
        3. D1 – Dallas Harlequins – required appeal – last in table & point differential
          1. Dale (Quins) has been notified
        4. D2 – 
          1. DARC – required appeal – last in table & point differential
            1. Gordon notified DARC
          2. Grand Prairie – required appeal – failure to complete season
            1. John as the rep has been notified
        5. D3  –
          1. Alamo City – Unplayed & Unpaid fine
          2. Old Skool – Unplayed
          3. Shreveport – Unplayed
          4. Little Rock – Unplayed
          5. OKC Legion – Unplayed
      2. Women
        1. D1 – Austin Valkyries relegated to D2
        2. D2 – sHARCs relegated to D3
        3. D3 – Dallas RFC promoted to D2
          1. Curl: Notifications have gone out and we’re expecting appeals.
      3. Automatic promotions and relegations on hold
    6. 7s
      1. TRU website: Texas Heat, High Stakes: 2025 Summer 7s Schedule
      2. Red River Sevens to LAI Sevens
        1. Ability to showcase players for USA Falcons tour to France
          1. 5 to 6 clubs turned players up with ~30 players in attendance at Camp/Tryout in Dallas
          2. Half dozen college players committed to Club Sevens
        2. Grant request has been submitted in support of TRU members; $3K approved by Board
    7. Referees
      1. TRU will no longer pay unscheduled referee expenses
        1. Paying $1,000s of unbudgeted expenses cannot continue as a good business practice.
        2. Options?
          1. Rescheduling matches
          2. Potentially convert home to away
          3. Club could choose to cover extra cost
          4. Require local referee coverage or alternative incentives
    8. New Business
      1. Open positions:
        1. Now Hiring: TRU Events Manager (Part-Time, Contract) – Texas Rugby Union
      2. Rumor on the streets? Interested new members?  
        1. Membership contingent on reliable referee resources? Other?
      3. Need to have working committee to review and make recommendations on:
        1. RRRC Charter / Terms Of Reference: https://texasrugbyunion.com/administration/competitive-region-competitions-committee-terms-of-reference/
          1. Norton – Convener
          2. Dale
          3. KC
          4. ?
        1. RRRC Promotion & Relegation (Policy or Guidelines): https://texasrugbyunion.com/information/red-river-rugby-conference/rrrc-promotion-relegation-policy/
          1. John K – Convener
          2. Rob
          3. Travis
          4. Norton
        1.  
        2. Forfeit Policy Played & Unplayed: https://texasrugbyunion.com/administration/operating-policies/#Non_Played_Forfeits
        3. Hansel – Convener
        4. Wegman
        5. Caitlin
        6. ?
      1.  
      2. Elections coming up this summer at AGM / HOF weekend in Houston
        1. Chair – McPhail
        2. D1 – Dale
        3. D2 – N/A (Gordon 26 / Walker 27)
        4. MD3 – Wegman
        5. Women – Hunter
  2. Meeting Adjournment 8:50 PM
    1. Motion: Norton / Walker