SOUTH COLLEGIATE ALL-STARS
2002 NCAC - San Jose, CA

At a camp held on May 17-19 in Marietta, Georgia on the campus of Life University, the South all-star team was announced. The squad traveled to San Jose, CA to participate in the 2002 National Collegiate All-Star Competition.

Head Coach - Mark Williams
Manager - Randy Joseph
Assistant Coach - Tony Neely
Athletic Trainer - Jim Elks
West Coast Consultant - Rod Seddon

South 24
Pacific Coast 47

The players and coaches arrived in San Jose on Wednesday, June 5th and held three practice sessions before squaring off against the number one seed Pacific Coast Grizzlies. The Grizzlies were well-prepared and greatly
benefited from additional practice sessions including time spent with the Eagle pack and from the continuity obtained from having fifteen Cal players on the squad.

The South took an early lead as Cayo Nicolau slotted an early penalty kick. The game remained close most of the first half as the Grizzlies scored a try then Cayo added another penalty kick. The score was close until the Pacific scored near the end of the half giving them an 11 point lead at the half. Throughout the game the South played with intensity and held their own in the set pieces. The biggest disappointment was in the basics at the breakdown and in overall game awareness. In particular was ball presentation at the tackle and support. The Grizzlies were quick to exploit any turnovers and mistakes were quickly converted into points. South tries came mainly in the second half and included a nice run by Mark Kane that was finished off by Matt Botwin. Cayo Nicolau had an outstanding game with 3 penalty kicks and a try of his own. Toby Lawrence finished of nice try that came from sustained pressure by the South forward pack near the end of the game. In the end the Pacific Coast was always able to score one more to sustain there lead. They were better than us on the day and made better use of their opportunities. The South made too many mistakes due to a lack of cohesion in not playing together and some fundamental breakdowns on executing the basics. In short they were better skilled and more accustomed to playing at a faster pace.

1-Josh Tedder / Jarden Thornton
2-Tom Jallo
3-Jason Philpot
4- Jason Barnes / Mike Renda
5- Paul Kassebaum ©
6- Charlie Bedford
7- Matt Botwin (1T) / Mark Kane
8- Matt Huckaby
9- Mark Kane / Toby Lawrence (1T)
10- Cayo Nicolau © (3 PK, 1T)
11- Gray Strickland / Nick Kessler
12- Adib Abla
13- Rob Vitter / Derek Wolfe
14- Hodgen Mainda / Brad Burns
15- Chris Alberts

South 27
West 36

The South made several positional changes and played their best half of rugby against the West Mustangs. Cayo Nicolau opened the scoring with a penalty kick. The South added three first half tries. Chris Alberts made a nice
run after countering a kick to score under the posts. Mark Kane sold a dummy pass to touch down and Cayo scored a try and added on 1 of the 3 conversion kicks. It looked as though a route may be on. The South executed patterns
and were able to sustain pressure on the Mustangs by dominating possession and establishing go forward. With about ten minutes to go before the half momentum changed and several calls went against us. The Mustangs first try
came after they knocked on the ball we obtained possession and were in advantage, but somehow the advantage was ignored and we were quickly pinged for obstruction. The Mustangs had an outstanding driving maul. They scored
at least four tries (2 in each half) originating from penalties that resulted in a kick to the line with the rolling maul to follow. Also just before half Matt Huckaby was yellow-carded for a repeated team infraction of contesting for the ball at the tackle. The Mustangs scored again and the once substantial lead was reduced to ten points.

In the second half the referees interpretations continued frustrate players and the penalty count soared to the final tally of 25 against the South to 5 for the West. It was obvious who the star of the game was in our opinion. The West played much more inspired and the South lead had evaporated before we were back to full-strength. The West took advantage of their opportunities and the South failed to make adjustments. Cayo scored a try and a conversation late in the game, but it was not enough. Credit to the Mustangs for tenacious play and one hell of a driving maul. They were a good team and would have beaten the Combined Services the day before and played in the finals except for a suspect call late in their game by the same referee? On this day it was different.

1-Josh Tedder / Philpot
2-Tom Jallo
3-Adam Kelley / Jarden Thornton
4- Mike Renda / Jason Barnes
5- Paul Kassebaum ©
6- Charlie Bedford
7- Ruin Martins / Matt Botwin
8- Matt Huckaby
9- Toby Lawrence
10- Cayo Nicolau © (3 PK, 1T)
11- Nick Kessler
12- Jason Philpot / Adib Abla
13- Mark Kane
14- Brad Burns / Hodgen Mainda
15- Chris Alberts

Going winless was disappointing even though we played in the top tier and in essence finished fourth and that the games we played were competitive. In many ways we were not that far away from the other programs and no doubt can have better success in future years. In several areas our play was comparable to our opponents. In other areas we lack basic skills and it shows. I also feel many of our teams in the South are not getting to play enough higher level games. Many players are seeing the faster pace only during all-star events. I feel the new competition structure in the South will develop more adequate competition, but teams must also find ways to play top level teams outside the territory. We must also work together to raise the skill level of the players by involving individual coaches. Handling skills and executing the fundamentals at the tackle need to improve. We must work to develop more high school programs as many times the competition has played four years of high school rugby prior to college. The bottom line is we can compete more effectively, but we must work together to improve rugby all-across the South.

All-American's and Eagles
Cayo Nicolau and Matt Huckaby were named as All-Americans and both are also in the Eagle pool. Cayo recently got his first cap against Canada. Paul Kassebaum and Chris Alberts both received honorable mention. Congratulations
and job well-done. For more info go to www.usarugby.org