February 25, 2023

Mar 14

Written By Devin Smiley

NRAA Spring 2023 Preseason Newsletter

NRAA Postseason Newsletter

Spring Season getting ready to kick off!

I've been on a rugby-watching bender for the last few weeks catching up on the fall season re-runs and six nations rugby so I'm just getting this preseason newsletter out late on a Saturday night.

Women's season starts tomorrow February 26th! The ladies are participating in the Frostbite 7's tournament and playing some 15's up at Penn State. Good luck, ladies!

The Men's and Women's spring seasons are up on the Navy Sports website and there have already been a few changes as well as some game times have been finalized. Headlining the spring calendar are the following games

Women are playing some sevens and some 15's through the spring and starting this weekend. If you're at the games, post updates and tag #NRAA!
Men's scrimmage against Western Ontario on March 4th at 2pm eastern time (ET)
First ever home match vs Cal at 12:30pm ET
Men's match vs Army in West Point under the lights on Friday night, 24 March (this is a change from the originally scheduled Saturday game!)
Women's match vs Army at Segra Field as a curtain raiser for Old Glory DC MLR match.

Make sure to bookmark the schedule tabs above. Official schedule changes will be posted there!

In this spring season kickoff newsletter, we have an update from Director of Rugby, Gavin Hickie and Women's Head Coach Murph McCarthy. We also have a fundraising update from the NRAA Fundraising committee. Our fundraising role is immensely important as Navy Rugby solidifies our status as a national powerhouse and a varsity program within Navy Athletics. We are incredibly grateful for your donations. Your donations are supremely important to maintaining our status as a varsity program as well as our continued success . Lastly, we also have a few pre-season media updates that we've included.

Plans are in place for official NRAA tailgates on March 11th for the match vs Cal and April 15th for the D1A Championship Playoff. Come out and join us!

We are always incredibly thankful for the support of our alumni, parents and friends of Navy Rugby. Hope to see many of you out at the games this spring!

All donations through the USNA Alumni Association and Foundation link below ARE tax deductible.

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If you are interested in receiving information on the varsity Navy Rugby Teams, sign up for the Navy Sports Email list. You can sign up to receive information on rugby by clicking the box for 'Rugby - Men' or 'Rugby - Women.'

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From the Director and Coaches

Navy Rugby Alumni, Parents and Friends,

James Willocks who joined us last summer has been appointed as our Director of Recruiting for men's and women's rugby. All initial points of contact for our recruits and their families will go through Coach Willocks before being presented to the head coaches of our men's and women's teams. Speaking on the new role Coach Willocks said, "I am excited to contribute to the growth of both our men's and women's teams as we evolve and work towards developing robust playing squads that will consistently compete for National Championships, while ensuring we go on to excel as leaders in the Fleet." These new responsibilities are in addition to Coach Willocks' hands-on coaching with our men's team.

Our men's game against Queen's University of Kingston, ON was cancelled due to damage to the Queens' rugby indoor practice facility. This left our men's team without a fixture ahead of our inaugural home game against Cal. Western Ontario were invited to come to Annapolis and have agreed to do so on March 4th, reigniting an old rivalry from the 1990s. Speaking about the fixture, men's head coach, Gavin Hickie said, "We are thrilled to welcome Western Ontario to Annapolis for the first time since 2008. We were scrambling for a tough game to open our Spring season and thankfully we got it. This fixture would not have taken place without the significant support of Shaun Francis USNA Class of 1992. We are very grateful to Shaun for his commitment to Navy Rugby and for his assistance in making this game happen. We are hopeful this fixture revives our old cross-border rivalry with a home and away game against our Canadian opponents each season."

With You,

Gavin

Coach Murph McCarthy

We are fired up for the Spring! I am working to get as many minutes as possible for the girls as we can. We have another month of 15s with matches coming up against PSU up at their indoor facility this weekend and we are going to play Army as a curtain raiser for the Old Glory (the Washington D.C. Major League Rugby Team) out at Segra Field. After that it’s going to be all 7’s and we will take at least two sides to each tournament.

With You,

Murph

Fundraising Update

Our fundraising progresses in order to maintain our varsity status. Our men's and women's varsity programs, similar to many other varsity sports programs on the yard, has to cover their own operating costs. We know that is not possible with out your generosity and hard work. NRAA is actively seeking additional opportunities to support the men's and women's rugby programs. Here are a few ways you can help the Program!

You can designate 80% of your annual Blue & Gold membership to rugby. When you renew you season tickets for football and sign up for your Blue & Gold membership, link it to Navy Rugby!
Come to the upcoming NRAA tailgates at the March 11th home game versus Cal and the April 15th home playoff match. The recommended donation for the tailgates is $20. The more people that attend, the more opportunities we have to grow these tailgate events.
Direct donation to Navy Rugby via the button below.
Let us know if you're interested in setting up or hosting an event in support of the Navy Rugby program via the email button at the bottom of this newsletter.

All donations through the USNA Alumni Association and Foundation link below ARE tax deductible!

With you!

Your NRAA fund raising committee

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