Portal:2012 Air Force Men
DoD went to a Seven's format. USAF team took part in the Savannah Tournament, captained by Tom Beers and James Hubby, beating both Navy and Army that weekend. Here is the summary article:
USAF runs away with championship at St. Patrick's Day Rugby Tournament
For many of the teams that annually enter the St. Patrick's Day Rugby Tournament, the three-day brawl-and-crawl in Daffin Park and through downtown Savannah is recreational competition interrupted occasionally by rugby.
For the U.S. Air Force rugby program, the tournament is the preseason.
For nearly a decade, the USAF side has used the St. Patrick's Day Tournament as a tune up to train and set a select roster for the matches they will play against other military teams from the U.S. and around the world. After arriving on Tuesday and participating in grueling two-a-day practices through Thursday, the USAF capped their week in Savannah with a 55-0 victory over the Gypsy Rugby Club in the grand championship on Sunday.
"(Playing USAF rugby) is the couple of times every year I get to get together with all my best buddies and play a high level of rugby," said aptly named team captain Tom Beers, an Air Force captain stationed in Dayton, Ohio. "It's always nice to get out of the cubicle and knock some heads. When we get together, we're focused on what we want to accomplish, and we have a mission that shows in the way we play and train."
Playing in front of hundreds of beery and bandaged spectators who still sported their clubs' colors after the morning matches, the USAF side easily won their third match of the tournament and elicited roars of approval for long scoring runs and solid tackles against an overmatched touring side that only plays together a few times each year. The USAF team has won the U.S. Armed Forces Championship eight years in a row and defeated sides from both Army and Navy this weekend at Daffin Park.
"Our number one goal is to continue our success by building up our player pool (at the St. Patrick's Day Tournament)," said Wayne Kinsel, the USAF rugby program director and coach of the 15s side who also won a grand championship in Savannah in 2004 as a player. "We invite anyone who is interested in being on the team for this week, and we've got former football, soccer and basketball players just like any other rugby club in the country. When we're (in Savannah), it doesn't matter what your rank is you can be a leader for this team."
On the other side of the pitch, the Gypsy Rugby Club's president leaned against the yellow ropes that bordered the field and admired the play of the USAF team that was running rampant over his teammates. The Gypsy club was founded in 2004 and includes members from around the world that come together about three times a year to play and party. The Gypsy club was in Savannah for the fourth time and won its first two matches to qualify for the grand championship despite fielding a roster of players that had never practiced together and included a 51-year-old and several players older than 40. Late nights in City Market and injuries may have caught up with the Gypsies before their match with USAF, but club co-founder Liam Hutchinson said the tournament experience isn't always measured by the matches.
"You have to be invited to be on our team, and it doesn't have much to do with whether you're good at rugby or not if you know what I mean," Hutchinson said. "The (USAF team) uses this tournament as development for selecting a team and practiced all week, and let's just say we didn't follow the same training schedule. Whenever you can bring guys together and play rugby, it's a good experience but we were a little disappointed that the tournament was not on St. Patrick's Day weekend this year because the festival and the parade are a huge selling point for us."
This was Dan Lockert's final year of coaching.
