All Army Rugby Legends

Words of Wisdom about Army Rugby from Maj Dan: Please publicize the new Army (active duty) rugby web site. www.armyrugby.homestead.com

It focuses mostly on All-Army news and info, with anecdotes and other features. It is the brainstorm of USMA Graduate Deane Shephard (he was "released" sometime in the '80's). In addition, anyone interested in consideration for the All-Army rugby team must apply each year (between April and June is suggested) by submitting a formal application through their local Sports Offices to DA Sports Office. All applications are collected in early July, screened by the coaches, and candidates are invited to the annual trials where the 30-man team is selected to play in the Armed Forces Rugby Championships every October.

This event was formerly called the Interservice Tournament form 1985-2000 and was sponsored by the Combined Services Committee. In 2000, DOD formally accepted rugby into its official sports program and took control of this event, changed the name, funded everything as TDY, and limited participation to active duty soldiers (and ARNG/USAR soldiers only if they are placed on orders by their units). The venue will be rotated each year amongst the five Services. Army will host 2001 at either Fort Hood or Fort Indiantown Gap (the two front-runners). The trials will be the 10 days immediately preceding the tournament in October.

I have been directly involved with active duty Army Rugby and the All-Army team - playing, coaching, and administrating since 1987. I captained the first All-Army team to win the Interservice Tournament in 1987; (played in my last tournament in Jan 2000, the last "Interservice Tournament" before it became the Armed Forces rugby Championships.) Mike Stephenson, Mike Tetu, and I have directed the Army rugby program for the past several years. We have had help from Mike Legg, Brian Mennes, Clay Gardner, Marcus Michles, Mike Mahan, Tom Coburn, Deane Shephard, and others when they were available. We hit a dry spell until 1994. Then we won the tournament six consecutive years, alternating captains each year. Mike Legg was the predominant field leader from '96-00. Our success was remarkable because we used a committee of player-coaches while other services hired national level coaches.

Each year saw a 60-70% player turnover from the previous year, but our success was directly related to our open invitations, 40-50 candidates each year, and our willingness to play as many as possible while assuring victory. (We had a sleeper, placing third at Pendleton Marine Base in Jan 2000, mostly because of the logistics getting players to the West Coast.) We are back on track now after spanking all the services handily in the big October 2000 event at Pensacola NAS.

This year USA Eagle Chip Curtis and veteran forward Kevin Hyneman were key leaders in our preparation for the Championship. LTC Mike Stephenson was our head coach and won the honor of coaching the Armed Forces All-Star team at the National ITT's in Tampa in December, where we won both games played for the first time at that event (I think). Our other USA Eagle - Mose Timeteo was recently selected along with Chip to the National Sevens Squad. He and veteran backfield wizard Rob Schuster along with several others) were a pleasure to watch on the All-Army field at Pensacola.

OK, I only meant to send you a couple tidbits and lost control. The key point for distribution is the "other" Army Rugby Web Site that our Cadets will soon be featured in. www.armyrugby.homestead.com"