To all of the participants at this year’s PCIT,

I would like to extend my thanks to the players, coaches and fans who attended this year’s PCIT at San Jose State University. We had an extremely successful tournament which saw Chuckanut Bay of Bellingham WA win their second straight! Congratulations to all of their people.

I would also like to thank the volunteers and staff of the tournament, without whom we could not function, mentioning most specifically the ATCs (Bruce Valentine, Bruce Beekley, Kyla Russell and Chad Spears) and our MD, Dr. Michael Lee.

I would invite all who love high level rugby to come to Stanford May 30/31 to see 14 of the best U17 and U19 All Star teams from throughout the Pacific Coast Territory playing for the championship of the Grizzly Shield. The Sunday matches will finish in time to allow everyone to get to Buck Shaw Stadium at Santa Clara University, where at 1:15 pm, the US Eagles will play Ireland. Discounted tickets for the International are available at from the link below.

At the conclusion of the US-Ireland game, our U19 championship game will be played on the same Buck Shaw Stadium field! (truthfully, we’re still working on getting permission for this, details to come later…)

And finally, our All Tournament team included four players who had gone to the first-ever PCRFU Elite Player Academy, held in Quincy, CA last July. We will be hosting the same camp this year, again in July, and again at Feather River College, for all qualified U17 players. This camp is by invite only, please contact Rob Holder (raholder1@aol.com) for further information.

Again, many thanks for coming to the PCIT. We hope to see you, and more of your friends next year. - Ray Schwartz, Director of Competition

PCIT Recap

The 5th Annual Pacific Coast Invitational high school rugby tournament, the PCIT, was expanded to 4 fields and held at San Jose State for the first time, April 25/26. 33 attending sides played a total of 48 matches.

Varsity Gold Cup saw Chuckanut Bay emerge as champions through their hard fought match over Cougars, the Plate saw EPA roll over San Mateo, in the Bowl final Mother Lode beat Diablo. Varsity Silver final saw PITS emerge in a close win over Islanders. In the Varsity Bronze final Redwood Empire defeated Live Oak. Girl’s Competition saw Amazon’s triumph over Summit.

The Tournament Organizing Committee was very happy with San Jose State, with both the facilities, and with the possibilities for future expansion. The San Jose State Spartans Rugby Club stepped up huge helping us to run this event. Digital radios, donated for use by Red Cloud, Inc., proved absolutely essential to the event’s success all weekend long.

Our vendors, Morocco Restaurant, Jamba Juice and International Athletics, were all well received. The Santa Clara Marriott provided teams with a high quality and inexpensive lodging option. The Northern California Rugby Referees Society filled provided well qualified and energetic refs for all the matches.

The PCIT enjoyed the presence of two topnotch photographers. We encourage you to please send these links to all members of your teams, players, coaches and fans included. See attached a neat photo of a Cavaliers forward tackling a Vacaville Black Dog, from Ray Anderson.

For Ray Anderson’s albums go to http://www.dobsonimages.com/plogger/index.php?level=collection&id=72

For Dave Barpal’s go to http://www.dcbphotos.com/

Special thanks go out to Lancers Rugby, who traveled from Rancho Cordova with 33 players and were able to field a 2nd side in our U17 competition when one side failed to show up for their first match. Also to San Mateo and EPA who combined to give Rosa Rugby a game when late on Sunday it became apparent Rosa’s opponent failed to show as well.

Special thanks also must go out to West Linn, WA, Summit, CO and Chuckanut, WA, who each traveled a great distance for the opportunity to compete. In a tough economic climate they took a risk, and were rewarded with great memories and new friendships!

Congrats to both Hayward and Lamorinda, who reached the NorCal multi-school playoff final, with Lamorinda winning a close championship match on Saturday at the PCIT, 17-12. Lamorinda goes on to play in Utah, and should their May 9 trip prove successful, on to Pittsburg for the USA Rugby National Championships.  - Frank Merrill, President, PCRFU

USA vs. Ireland - May 31

Order form from USA Rugby for DEEPLY discounted tickets to the USA v Ireland match coming up at Santa Clara’s Buck Shaw Stadium May 31st.
Setanta Challenge Cup 2009 Video
QuickTime Movie - 3M