Stateside With Rosalea: Rugby with a Cause

DC’s cold weather lifted for a day on Sunday, November 18, making for a very pleasant outing to Trinity University to watch some rugby. Since 1997, the NZ Embassy has fielded a rugby squad to play a local select side and in the process benefit school rugby programs and allow selectors to see potential Mid-Atlantic RFU players in action.

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The schedule of games started at 9:45 am, with both mens and womens matches. Best T-shirt prize goes to this one for the DC Furies.

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A bowl of chilli and some cornbread, sold to benefit Hyde School, hit the spot for many . Hyde, a charter school in DC’s troubled NE area, is the recipient of the money raised at the Ambassador’s Shield events. In the background, the Ambassador’s XV gets ready to go onto the field.

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The half-hour games played earlier in the day weren’t enough to tire out these youthful players, who had their own spontaneous game going while the main match was on. Later, they also patrolled the grounds on garbage detail.

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It was a hard-fought game. Here, the MARFU Select Side wins the ball from a scrum.

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The Kiwis won back the shield, which they lost to MARFU last year.

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Ambassador Roy Ferguson (center) joked in his presentation speech that he was pleased with the win as it would enable him to keep his job.

For more information about the Shield and the school it benefits, see below:

http://www.ambassadorsshield.com/index.html

http://www.ambassadorsshield.com/links.html

http://www.hydedc.org/

rosalea.barker@gmail.com

--PEACE—

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