Friday March 18, 2010 (11:41pm PT aboard Air New Zealand)

Leaving Santa Barbara on a warm sunny day is always difficult, but knowing that we were on our way to New Zealand made that thought completely unnecessary. I didn’t really know what to expect coming on this trip. I did some research with friends who had traveled through New Zealand and studied abroad there, and was able to get some sort of insight into the culture. What I didn’t and still don’t have a full grasp on is what to expect from what has been infamously coined in the rugby world as “Tour”.

I originally thought this was just a reason to travel to the rugby homeland, play some games, share some drinks with the local Kiwis, and enjoy the picturesque landscape. Apparently “Tour” is much bigger then just a trip to New Zealand and is a long-lasting tradition amongst the Rugby world. I have no idea what I have just gotten myself into as videographer of the trip!

Every guy on the team has a ridiculous haircut and stylish facial hair, ironically during Mustache March, and the excitement for this trip has been evident on everyone’s face since we met at Harder Stadium Thursday afternoon. As I have become more comfortable with the team in the 4 hours I have known them, I am already getting a vision of what may lie ahead in the next 10 days.
All I can say is, if I survive the trip in one piece with my video camera still in tact and the footage un-damaged, the video that will come at the conclusion of this trip will be an epic tale documenting one of the best times of our lives. Until then, we have 7 more hours left on this plane…..

Land of the Long White Cloud

Parvi Sed Lenti!  The Men & Lady Gauchos depart today on a 10 day tour to the South Island of New Zealand (50 strong).  We will play a total of 4 matches (2 each) and witness some of the best rugby the kiwis have to offer (attending the Cruasders match in Christchurch; Hurricanes match in Windy Welly!)  Have some fun in Queenstown and maybe eat a pig or too.

Stay tuned, as we will have regular updates from down under!

re: Good Laugh

A magician worked on a cruise ship.


The audience was different each week so the magician
did the same tricks over and over again.  There was only one problem: The captain's parrot saw the shows each week and began to understand how the magician did every trick.

Once he understood, he started shouting in the middle
of the show, "Look, Its not the same hat!" or, "Look,
he's hiding the flowers under the table!"  or "Hey, why are all the cards the ace of spades?"

The magician was furious but couldn't do anything. It was, after all, the Captain's' parrot. Then one stormy night on the Pacific, the ship unfortunately sank, drowning almost all who were on board.  The magician luckily found himself on a piece of wood floating in the middle of the sea, as fate would have it ... with the parrot.

They stared at each other with hatred, but did not utter a word. This went on for a day... and then 2 days. and then 3 days. Finally on the 4th day, the parrot could not hold back any longer and said...

"OK, I give up. Where's the f#ckin' ship?"

Women's National team: We Want Ellen

Star ruggers Blair Grofesma and Phoebe Boone, class of  (a little help ladies) are vying for a spot on the Eagles World Cup Squad, as well as a little bit of love from talk show host Ellen DeGeneres. 

Take a look:


We WaNT Ellen! from Scrumhalf Connection on Vimeo.
from the USA Rugby Women's National Teams Facebook Page (http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=616976247501&ref=mf):

'We're sending this video to Ellen in hopes of getting some members of the team on the show to promote our Rugby World Cup campaign. help us out by telling us why YOU think we should be on the Ellen show!'

If you haven't seen the video yet, watch it ASAP! Hilarious...and pass it on to everyone you know!

Thanks to Steph Bruce for sending me the file and thanks to Ashley Kmiecik for making the video!

The Long Face Club

Both the Men's & Women's seasons came to an abrupt end this past weekend.  The men, suffering horrific defeat at the hands of San Diego St, and the Women in a courages attempt against the newly risen UCLA Bruins 12-25.

Both teams now prepare for their bi-annual tour to the Land of the LONG White Cloud, to take on the powerful New Zealand All Blacks!

Sweet 16...Can you taste it?

Our ladies put on a clinic this past Saturday night,  blasting Arizona St at home 48-0.  This sets the stage for a mouth-watering rematch against UCLA this coming Sunday, and this one's for all the marbles, as the winner takes SoCals lone seed to the Sweet 16...more to follow.

2nd Half Woes Again Trouble Gauchos

The boys started strong in Westwood, only to fall apart in the 2nd half, losing to UCLA 14-31.  Two first half tries by Flanker Mitchell Raisch saw the half-time scores knotted up at 14 apiece.  But that would be "all she wrote" for our gritty Gauchos as lapses in concentration and fatigue began to rear it's ugly head from two matches in 3 days.  Read more