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RUGBY ACTION—Pete O’Rourke, the Fairbanks Sundawgs starting scrum half, left, takes a tip and heads up field with teammate Steve Cowper, behind ball, during a game against the Fort Richardson Snow Hawks earlier this season. The Sundawgs travel to Anchorage this weekend to compete in the state tournament.(Staff photo by Joe Correia)Ruggers to battle in state tourneyBy JOHN M. SWEENEY Sports WriterDuring the course of their three month season, the Fairbanks Sundawgs rugby team played 12 games.This weekend in the state championship tournament, they’ll play six games in 30 hours.Although the contests won’t be regulation in length (shortened to two 25-minute halves instead of two 40-minute halves), the tourney Saturday and Sunday in Anchorage will be very demanding for all seven state squads.This year, the Sundawgs won five, lost six and tied one in their second Season of operation. Team captain Rick McCarthy considers the ’Dawgs a dark-horse candidate to win the Alaska championship.“We’ve had a vast improvement over last year,” McCarthy said. In 1982, the Sundawgs were 1-10-1.“This season we established ourselves as a very physical rugby team—we can play with anybody now.“In five of our six losses,’’ McCarthy added, “we were beaten by three points or less.”The Sundawgs will play each of the other six Alaska teams in the round-robin tournament. Games will be at Bartlett Junior High School or Fort Richardson.Saturday’s schedule calls for a game at noon with the Anchorage Hooks, a 3 p.m. contest against the Anchorage Dragons and a 4:30 tilt against the Homer Irish Lords.Sunday, play begins at 10 a.m. against the defending champion Anchorage Phantoms, continues at 1 p.m. against the Fort Richardson Snow Hawks and concludes at 4 against the Anchorage Barbarians.During the season, Fairbanks handed Homer its first loss of the year after Homer did the same to the defending champion Phantoms.Two weeks ago in Anchorage, the Sundawgs lost two close games—18-16 to the Barbarians and 7-6 to the Dragons.“We’ve been taking it somewhat easy the last few weeks,” McCar thy said. “Because we’re so physical, we had some severe in juries early in the season. But they’ve all healed now and we re ready for this.”The Sundawgs are taking their entire 30-plus-man roster down to Anchorage. Slated to start for Fairbanks in the scrum are: Tom Scullion, McCarthy, Nick Ray, Karl Monetti, Kurt Smith, Ernie Icencee, Guy Lee and Matt Hodes with Mike Alexander, Eric Beutow, Steve Cowper and Bill Strauss in reserve.Backfield starters are expected to be Pete O’Rourke, Ken McGrath, Dick Ellsworth, Con Duffy, Bill St. Pierre, Troy Brown and Rick Buchanan with Cal Chapman, Dave Wike, Buzz Otis and Steve McCormack backing them up.The Sundawgs, Fairbanks’ only rugby team, were 0-5 in last year’s state tournament.
Newspaper Details
Fairbanks Daily News Miner
Fairbanks, Alaska, US
Thu, Aug 18, 1983
Page 15
Full Page
Clipped by
Monty R.
USA 23 Aug 2023
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