Fallbrook girls win USA rugby championship

Fallbrook High School’s girls rugby team won USA Rugby’s under-19 National Invitational Tournament.

The Warriors played three games in two days May 21-22 in Sandy, Utah, culminating with a 60-0 win in the finals over the Amazons team of Sacramento which defeated the Warriors in last year’s finals.

“It was an amazing achievement,” said Fallbrook co-coach Craig Pinnell. “That was just lovely to see. I was just really, really excited.”

Marin Pinnell is the other co-coach. “They played like the best rugby I’ve ever seen,” she said.

The coaching staff also includes assistant Paul Bell. The Warriors won the Southern California Rugby Football Union championship with a 55-0 victory in the finals over Back Bay after starting the playoffs with a 50-0 victory against Fullerton. The Southern California regional championship gave Fallbrook a berth in the eight-team national tournament which also included two teams apiece from the Pacific and Midwest regions and one team each from the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and South regions.

Last year Fallbrook defeated Amazons by a 13-10 score in the state championship, but this year the Pacific Coast Rugby Football Union did not have the finances to send a team to Southern California for the state championship game and Amazons forfeited the championship match to Fallbrook. The lack of a state championship game led the Warriors to schedule a May 14 friendly (exhibition match) in Fallbrook against the Southern California Rugby Football Union’s collegiate all-star team.

Fallbrook’s second-place showing in last year’s national tournament earned the Warriors the second seed in this year’s tournament with Amazons earning the top seed. The two Saturday games were shortened to 45 minutes from the regulation 70 minutes, and Fallbrook began the tournament with an 18-0 victory against the New York Rugby Club, which represented the Northeast region.

“It was sort of a warmup game to a degree, getting everybody going the right direction,” Craig Pinnell said.

Fallbrook’s relatively low score against a first-time opponent wasn’t of concern to Pinnell. “You’re never quite sure what the other team’s going to bring, so you sort of play conservatively,” he said. “We weren’t thinking about the score at all. Obviously we needed to win, because they were knockout games.”

No more than seven points can be scored from any single rugby play. A try in which a player crosses the goal line is worth five points and is followed by a conversion kick attempt which adds two points if it is successful. A drop kick during play which goes through the posts is called a drop goal and is worth three points, as is a penalty kick.

Fallbrook had one try and conversion, one try with an unsuccessful conversion, one drop goal, and one penalty score against New York. “We basically scored in every way that you can score,” Pinnell said. “We put them all through to make sure we could do it as all the pressure came along.”

The drop goal was Fallbrook’s first in a pressure game; the Warriors’ only previous drop goal was during a friendly. “It’s not a common thing at all,” Pinnell said.

Megan Pinson opened the scoring with a try, although the conversion was not successful. Lauren Bell’s penalty kick gave Fallbrook an 8-0 halftime lead. Pinson kicked the drop goal in the second half, and Sammy Pinson’s try was followed by Bell’s conversion to close out the scoring.

The shutout ensured the victory. “Defense is about commitment and attack is about confidence,” Pinnell said.

Fallbrook’s second May 21 game was the semifinal against third-seeded Divine Savior Holy Angels, a Wisconsin team which had won six national championships in a row before Fallbrook’s 8-5 win over DSHA in last year’s semifinals. “It was a bit ironic that we ended up playing the same team again,” Pinnell said.

“It was sort of a rematch of the year before,” Pinnell said. “It was going to be an interesting game definitely.”

Fallbrook led the 2010 game at halftime by a 5-0 score and had an 8-0 lead before Divine Savior scored its try. The 2011 semifinal also saw Fallbrook on the preferred end of a 5-0 score when the halftime whistle blew. “First half was pretty tight,” Pinnell said.

The first-half try was scored on a back line move by outside center Tara Burke. During halftime the coaches and players were aware that 22 minutes remained in the game. “Five-nil is not enough,” Pinnell said. “The girls went out there and put their bodies on the line.”

The game’s next try was scored by Jamie Garcia on a counterattack, and Garcia also kicked the try conversion for a 12-0 lead. Near the end of the game Fallbrook obtained a quick tap penalty and Megan Pinson scored a try from that situation which was followed by Garcia’s conversion.

“We were much more confident,” Pinnell said of the difference between the 2010 and 2011 matches against Divine Savior.

“We definitely respect them because of what they’ve done in the past, but we did so knowing that this was a do or die game,” Pinnell said. “We couldn’t ever underestimate Divine Savior.”

Divine Savior often was able to place the ball in Fallbrook’s half of the field. “They turned out to have quite a kicking game,” Pinnell said.

“In a way it sort of played into our hands,” Pinnell said. “We sort of had an attacking defense.”

Garcia is a fullback, making her part of Fallbrook’s “back three”. Her sister, Jessica Garcia, is the short wing or blind wing, while Delaney Cassidy is the long wing. “They really like running the ball up,” Pinnell said.

The back three also fulfilled their duties on defense. “They came to our line a few times,” Pinnell said. “There was no way they were going over it.”

The Pacific region includes the state of Washington, and Amazons defeated the Kent Crusaders in the other semifinal.

“It was really good for the West Coast basically,” Pinnell said of the Southern California and Pacific regions’ three teams all reaching the semifinals. “That’s good for our rugby.”

The May 22 championship game was played at Rio Tinto Stadium, which is where Real Salt Lake of Major League Soccer plays its home games. The match between Fallbrook and Amazons was a 70-minute contest.

Amazons opened the tournament with a 52-5 win over the Southern representative. “It didn’t look like they were smashing opponents like they did last year,” Pinnell said. “We still had to go out there and fix what we got wrong last year when we played them in the finals.”

Last year Fallbrook trailed 12-10 at halftime before Amazons scored all of the second-half points and won the championship with a 32-10 victory. “I think the main thing was us wanting it more and confidence in our ability and our skills,” Pinnell said of the difference between 2010 and 2011.

In 2010 Fallbrook’s win over Divine Savior was an upset and the Warriors had little left, especially in the second half, during the finals. “We couldn’t compete in the second half,” Pinnell said.

Last year Amazons was able to make adjustments after the state championship loss and the close first-half score in the national finals. “A lot of our players had played in those games,” Pinnell said. “They knew what to expect.”

What Fallbrook didn’t expect was the margin of victory over Amazons. “We knew that they’d come out hard,” Pinnell said. “They did start off really well.”

Amazons continued that intensity of play even after the second half began with a 41-0 Fallbrook lead. “They never gave up,” Pinnell said. “Most teams probably would have folded at that point.”

Fifteen players from each team are on the field at one time, and a team is allowed seven substitutes. The Warriors put in seven substitutes for the second half. “There wasn’t much of a change in the pace,” Pinnell said.

Fallbrook took 25 players to Utah. Two of those were on Fallbrook’s under-14 team and were taken both as a reward for their play and so that they could experience the national tournament in person. The other 23 players saw action in at least one of the three tournament games.

The game’s first try was scored by Bere Ruvalcaba in the fourth minute. Burke then scored the first of her three tries, and Bell scored the third try. The fourth try was scored by Pinson and was also the first with a successful conversion, which was kicked by Bell. Burke’s second try of the game was followed by Garcia’s conversion, and Garcia also converted Lizeth Palma’s try. Garcia scored the final try of the first half.

Burke scored the first try of the second half, and Garcia kicked the conversion. Jessica Garcia’s try was converted by her sister, and substitute Taylor Duncan scored the tournament’s final try.

“It wasn’t what we expected at all,” Pinnell said of the 60-0 victory.

“Everything worked out perfectly,” Pinnell said. “All the moves worked.”

Not including the friendly against the college all-star team but including the two Southern California playoff games, the Warriors outscored their opponents by a 202-0 margin in their last five games. “That was really, really good to see. The girls were not going to allow any points to be scored on them no matter what,” Pinnell said.

The Warriors will lose six seniors from this year’s team: Bell, Burke, Jamie Garcia, Ally Maxwell, Evelyn Macebo, and Sammy Pinson.

At the beginning of the season the players set goals for themselves. “They said we want to be first in the nation,” Marin Pinnell said. “That goal was always in their minds, and they always wanted it.”