Job Description:

Candidate must be able to prepare a squad of players to compete successfully in the RSL
Candidate must be eligible to live and work in the USA
Must be able to motivate, drive and further improve the performance of his squad.
Responsible to build upon the success of BIW past seasons
Head Coach will manage a team of assistant coaches and other support staff to implement cohesive training and playing strategies for future of the club
Responsible in identifying and developing high performing players within the club

Qualifications:

Candidate must be able to demonstrate a successful track record of performance coaching at the USA Rugby Super League level or a comparable level
This role requires strong motivational and leadership skills as well as excellent communication and interpersonal skills
This candidate should demonstrate a track record of player development
Will understand the requirements of running a senior rugby team and be flexible to change

If you would like to apply for this exciting opportunity please forward Resume/CV and a cover letter summarizing your suitability for this role to jmaloney@dscicorp.com

Alternatively, if you would like to discuss the position in confidence or if you have any questions about this role, please contact:
Jamie Maloney, President, Boston-Irish Wolfhounds - Cell: 617-699-5406 - Work: 781-861-4604 - Email: jmaloney@dscicorp.com

"Some parents throw footballs and baseballs," said Michael Petri Sr. "We throw rugby balls." He laughed. "All the people are like, what are they doing?"

Something else now distinguishes the Petris from the other families playing catch in Bay Ridge: national championships.

Mr. Petri's 18-year-old son Chris won the national championship with Manhattan's Xavier High School in May. A week later, his older son Mike, 25, notched a national title in the country's premier rugby league and is currently a star on the U.S. national team, with a newly signed contract to play professionally in England.

Saturday, both brothers will be honored as Mike represents the United States in the conclusion of the Churchill Cup, an international rugby tournament being hosted at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, N.J.

The Churchill Cup finals-which will feature teams from six countries in a possible preview for the 2011 World Cup-caps a stunning year for rugby in the eastern United States, with New York at the center.

It will be the first time the Churchill Cup finals have ever been held on the East Coast. Xavier's win over Gonzaga (Washington, D.C.) was rugby's first all-eastern high school championship game in the United States.

This year, New York overtook Pennsylvania to boast the second-highest concentration of registered rugby players in the country, with close to 7,000, behind California. And in March, New York City became the first public school system in the country to offer rugby as a high school sport, according to USA Rugby, building on an extensive middle school program.

It's all part of a broader push by USA Rugby to increase the sport's presence in advance of its reinstatement as an Olympic sport at the 2016 Games.

"Now we can start developing Olympic rugby athletes, which is a lot more exciting than saying 'let's just play rugby,'" said Nigel Melville, CEO and President of Rugby Operations for USA Rugby. "Now there's a goal."

Still, despite its popularity around the world-the most recent World Cup attracted an estimated 4.2 billion television viewers and the sport is played in more than 100 countries on five continents-rugby remains an alien sport to many Americans. The name evokes violent clashes and crazed barreling down the field. The positions sound odd to American ears, with names like "half scrum" and "hooker." ("Obviously that caught a bit of grief" among his friends in Bay Ridge growing up, Mike Petri admitted.). Some rules-like not being able to pass the ball forward-seem counterintuitive.

But many in the sport are hoping the Olympic Games will trigger rugby's ascension in the U.S. the way the 1994 World Cup catapulted soccer into Americans' consciousness. Some signs are there: On Thursday, NBC Sports and the Universal Sports Network announced that they had signed a contract to broadcast the next two World Cups in 2011 and 2015 in the United States.

Then there is the Petrie family. Mike Petri had barely heard of rugby when he enrolled at Xavier high school in 1998. He noticed the rugby banners in the school, the rugby trophies in the trophy case in the front lobby. But Mr. Petri was a basketball player, a soccer athlete. Rugby didn't register.

Then one day, the coach approached him after basketball practice and asked if he'd like to give the sport a try. Mr. Petri stared back at him, baffled.

"I think that's the last thing he expected to hear," recalled the coach, Mike Tolkin, laughing.

Mr. Petri went home that afternoon and tentatively told his parents about the offer. What did they think?

His father listened in amazement. There was something he'd never told his sons: despite earning a football scholarship to Villanova, he'd developed a passion for rugby, his off-season sport. But there were no athletic scholarships for rugby and so his memorabilia and memories had long been tucked away.

Over the next few days, the senior Mr. Petri dug up his old box of rugby photos and his old frayed jersey, as Mike listened rapt to stories about traveling to the British Isles and competing around the world, drilling his father for hours on every detail. There were no other high schools playing rugby at the time, Mr. Petri recalled, so they played all their games against adults.

"The first time my mother saw me play I was 14 playing against 30 year olds," Mr. Petri said. She cried, so frightened was she by the brutality of the sport.

When it came time for his son to don his uniform for the first game, "I think my wife thought the same thing, that we were all crazy," he said.

Mike's mother refused to watch him play until his junior year-then she was hooked. The Petri parents packed their younger son Christopher into the jeep and drove across the country watching Mike compete and win. That first season Michael carefully jotted down a list of all his goals: become captain, be an All-American in college, play for the U.S. National team, earn a spot on the World Cup team. He has since done every one.

In fact, only one achievement eluded him: the one his brother netted in May, a high school national championship.

Mike was playing in the rugby super league national championship later that week. Both teams were coached by Mr. Tolkin. "My brother said we should get two national championships for Tolkin this year," Mike said, laughing.

Mike Petri held up his end of the deal: he was MVP of the championship game.

On Saturday, both Petri brothers will be on the field - Mike to compete for the United States in the third-place match against France, and Chris with his high school team, which is being honored at halftime. Mr. Tolkin, who in addition to his other coaching duties is also a defensive coach with the national team, will be torn between the halftime huddle with Mike and Chris's celebration at the center of the field.

Meanwhile, the senior Mr. Petri will sit in one of the dozens of seats he has bought for friends, family and some of his old rugby teammates who have gotten back in touch-"I think he would have bought the whole stadium if they let him," Chris cracked-and watch his sons being honored in an unusual sport for Brooklyn boys, the day before Father's Day.

"For a family from Brooklyn," he said, "it's hard to believe."

Taken from the Wall Street Journal

In an absorbing contest, New York Athletic Club struck late to pull off an upset of reigning champions San Francisco Golden Gate in front of a large vocal crowd in San Francisco’s Rocca Field.  Trailing by seven points with less than five minutes left, NYAC unleashed a ten point barrage to wrestle the crown away from SFGG.

The game began under sunny conditions, with a strong wind blowing mostly across the field, though slightly in SFGG’s favor.  NYAC started well, recycling the ball and building up the phases.  A possible shot at goal was ignored with a kick for the corner, but the resulting lineout was won by the defense.  The first possible break of the game came on a blocked kick attempt by NYAC’s Pete O’Brien.  SFGG’s Jason Bowden booted the ball along, and as the covering full back slipped, SFGG were piling on the pressure. Eventually a penalty was conceded and SFGG’s Martin Coll opened the scoring in the third minute.  NYAC’s O’Brien replied with a penalty about five minutes later to level the scores, a tackler not rolling away was the offence penalized.

SFGG were enjoying a long period of possession in the middle of the first half, with #8 Samuela Manoa visible in several runs.  Another Manoa run set up a breakthrough by SFGG’s centers, but a forward pass at the last minute let them down.  But SFGG continued to put the pressure on, and hooker Chris Biller finished off several phases of possession with a try in the corner, granting SFGG an 8-3 lead.  SFGG also seemed to have options out wide regularly, but were not getting the ball out quickly enough to take advantage.  Unfortunately by this point, influential center Mile Pulu had departed the field for SFGG due to injury.

In the 35th minute, NYAC scrumhalf Mike Petri  gained significant ground with a quickly taken penalty, any NYAC was rewarded with a kickable penalty.  This was again turned down in favor of a kick to the corner, and NYAC’s forwards mauled the ball over the goal line, flanker James Denise being the last man up with the ball.  O’Brien’s conversion was good, and NYAC were enjoying a 10-8 lead at the half.

At the beginning of the second half, O’Brien’s restart went dead.  SFGG restarted with a 22 drop out, and O’Brien landed a drop goal to reclaim the lead for the visitors.  More hard running from NYAC’s Brian Doyle and Ryan McTiernan had Petri again threatening the line, but the defense held firm and turned over the ball.  Another turnover led to Mose Timoteo finding winger Jeff Colata on the blind side, deep inside his own half.  Colata ran over two would be tacklers, before finding Marty Coll on the inside.  Coll took it the distance and converted to give his side the 15-13 lead.  SFGG were enjoying the bulk of the possession at this point, and at the 15th minute Coll knocked over another penalty to stretch the lead to 18-13.

NYAC upped their game significantly at this point, and lay siege to the home goal line. The defense was intense, as the onslaught was met with ferocious defending.  Finally a try was awarded, Frank Sharpe getting the credit for the score.  The conversion was no good, and the game was tied entering the final quarter.  NYAC had taken significant time to put the points on the board, but a lightning break by the SFGG backs put another score on the board with less than ten minutes to go.  Tevita Okusi finished off the break, after good work by Albert Tuipolotu.  Coll again added the extra points.  The restart was kicked directly into touch, and SFGG was clearly feeling it at this point.  However in the 32nd minute, NYAC began their late game heroics.  Troy Hall made a break on the blind side from a scrum in his own half, cutting back into midfield and outpacing the defense for a score under the posts.  O’Brien again converts and we are tied with the clock winding down.  Shortly after the restart, SFGG concedes a penalty.  From near the SFGG 10m mark, O’Brien steps up and nails the long range kick to give NYAC the late lead.  SFGG launches a late attack but a knock on signals the end of the game.  SFGG coach Paul Keeler paid tribute to his team especially the defensive effort put forth.  A clearly exuberant NYAC coach Mike Tolkien delighted in the last “amazing three and a half minutes of rugby” and paid tribute to his opponents who had “big boys who really laid it in there”, as the crowd absorbed a tense game and an absorbing finale.