Albany Places 3rd in Capital Cup 7s

Latham, NY – American International College defeated Boston College 26 – 24 to take 1st place at the Capital Cup Collegiate 7s Tournament held in Latham, NY and hosted by University at Albany Rugby. The Capital Cup is the 2nd leg in the Universal Sports Colegiatte 7s Circuit with the 1st Stop at the UNH 7s and concluding on 4/21 in Boston, MA.

Albany went 3-2 in pool play with wins over; AIC 2[38 -10], UConn [48-14] + UNH [22-14] and lost to Boston College [ 17-14] and tournament champion AIC 1 [21-20]. Albany loss to AIC proved to be a killer where Albany scored 4 tries to AIC 3 but failed to convert any conversions to AIC's three. The difference between playing in the championship round and 3/4 place game.

Albany would take on UNH in the 3rd/4th place game after beating them in pool play, 22-14. Once again Albany got the best of UNH, 26-19. Albany led the tournament in points for 168 and 29 tries. Ryan Grant led all scorers with 6 tries.

Circuit Standings going into Boston, the 3rd and final stop, on the Collegiate 7's Circuit are as follows: 1. AIC-A 22pts2. UNH-A 14pts3. Albany 12pts4. UConn 6pts. It will be tough for Albany to gain enough ground on AIC to overtake them but the competition in Boston will be stiff with Dartmouth, Harvard, Northeastern U entering sides. Dartmount is the reigning CRC 7s Champion and will have multiple sides entered in the tournament.

Danes take 2 early season games

Albany, NY - Taking advantage of the unseasonably warm spring the Danes were able to schedule 2 early games taking on Capital District rival RPI and Syracuse U. RPI was added to the schedule on 3/24 when they had a team cancel out on them. Albany would use the opportunity to work on some of the fundamentals of the previous weeks practice. Albany forced the ball wide to the wings stringing on RPI defense and then recycling and doing the same again. This tired RPI and mistakes in the defensive formation allowed Albany to put up 35 points.

Albany and SU both playing a split side game [SU first XV at Cherry Blossom Tournament and Albany's 7s squad an UNH Tournament] Albany used its experience and depth to wear down SU's fiesty side. Albany's key was being able to penetrate SU up the middle and then spinning the ball wide to score, Albany 42 SU 12.

Albany travels to Bentley University for 6:00PM Friday Night Lights. Bentley is a USA Rugby D2 tournament qualifier.

Danes Top Rival RPI in Scrimmage

Albany, NY- 3/24/12 The Danes took took the field in an early season scrimmage against RPI. The Danes focused on 2 areas that they have been working diligintly on during practice, ball retention in contact and stretching the field by getting the ball wide to the wingers. They proved to be very successful at ball retention winning 90% or their offensive movements. Wide ball was also accomplished against a pretty good RPI rush defense. Both these combinations would lead to two Albany scores to to one RPI tally, Albany 12-RPI 5.

Coach Durant statedd "The coaching staff was pleased that we were able to accomplish what we set out to do today. RPI is a big, physical side that counter rucks well and for the most part we were able to create multiple phases and produce good ball for our backs to work with. The backs handled well but need work on depth and pace"

Albany XVs host Syracuse U 2nd side as Albany 7s is on the road to U. New Hampshire for the first round of the Universal Collegiatte 7s Circuit.

UAlbany Staff and Players volunteer at 2 Clinics in March

UAlbany Rugby Staff and Players volunteered at the Player Development Camp [3/16+17] and USA Rugby Coaching Development Clinic [3/24+25]. The camp had 60+ boys and girls attend the 2 day camp. Lead Instructors for the camp were Luke Gross & Melanie Denham

Luke Gross is the forwards coach for the men U20s, the Men Collegiate All Americans and the USA Women's Eagles. Luke brings the experience of 12 years of professional rugby, playing in the United Kingdom and Italy. He has played for the USA National team 62 times as a second row. He played in the 1999, 2003 and 2007 World Cups. Luke is currently the High Performance Manager and Specialist Coach for USA Rugby.

Melanie Denham resides in Massachusetts and played in the 2010 World Cup and is a current WNT player at #6, 7 or 8. She is the Forwards Coach for Radcliffe Women's Rugby and plays club rugby for Beantown Rugby.

UAlbany coaches John Durant and Dave Farison assisted.

UAlbany players took the field at USA CDP clinic held for two days on the UAlbany campus. Players ran drills for coaches working on getting their USA Coaching certificate in Introducing Rugby.

Vegas 7s

The Danes traveled to Nevada for the Las Vegas Invitational 7s Rugby Tournament. Albany's first attempt to compete on a national stage. Albany found out that the learning curve is steep but can be worth the effort now that they have learned what it takes to succeed. Albany would suffer loses to University of Georgia, Cal Poly, Stanford and Longwood before defeating Southern Illinois in the final contest. Game scores and game recaps will be posted in the future.

Danes face Georgia Bulldogs Thursday in LVI opening round

UAlbany Rugby Roster set for LVI 7s vs Georgia Bulldogs:

Dylan Gandy

Ethan Grossman

Shane Jacobi

Andrew Moth

Dan McNamarra

Adrian Newell

Spencer Pesce

Anthony Russo

Chase Stoffle

Dylan Tumbasolan

Clayton White

Ryan Grant

Stay tuned for photos, video and score updates on this site.

UAlbany 7s Going to Vegas Tournament

UAlbany 7s will be traveling to the prestegious Las Vegas 7s Invitational Rugby Tournament February 9-12th. Albany is building on their runner up finish in the East Coast Rugby Conference Tournament and a Plate finalist at the Empire 7s Tournament.

The Danes will face the Southeast Conference's Georgia and perenial power Cal Poly on Thursday. Friday the Albany will face Stanford University and then advance to pool play. Coach Durant "This is a great opportunity for our players. We have made great progress in the olympic version of the sport and this increased competition can only make us better." Albany will start getting after it with 7:00am practices to prepare for the tournament in which stamina and fitness are keys to success,

Stay tuned to the Insider for player interviews, tournament highlights and team news.