Regular readers of this blog will be aware that our favourite American side the UW-Milwaukee Lady Panthers have won their way through to this season’s USA Rugby Women’s Collegiate National Championships.
This is the first time in the history of USA Rugby that a team from Wisconsin, in the American Midwest, has competed in the final stages and it’s a great honour for The FRU to be associated with such a great team of rugby mad young ladies.
I fondly remember the girls first trip to Ireland where they played Cooke Ladies, Armagh Ladies, a Combined University side and finished the tour off with a match in Dublin against an Ireland select side. It was a pleasure to assist with their tour and the girls certainly played some exciting and aggressive rugby leaving a lasting impression wherever they played. However my abiding memory of their tour is their appearance at the Ulster v Bourgoin Heineken Cup match where one of their party burst into tears in sheer delight at getting a hug from Andrew Trimble!
In the couple of years since, we’ve kept in close touch with the girls through the Justin Fitzpatrick Rugby Camps in the States and from their trips over here to support Ulster whenever they got a chance.
Over this time the girls have moved from the Midwest Division II to Midwest Division I Champions and they now go forward to represent Midwest Collegiate Rugby on Saturday 17th April when they play the Pacific Coast champions in the pool stages of the USA Rugby National Finals in Sanford, Florida. Their opening match will be broadcast live in The States and we’ll try and get some form of coverage on here.
How they got there:
Due to the snowy winters in the Midwest there are no outdoor field sports from November to March so the rugby season is split into two halves.
From September to November the teams compete in their respective leagues culminating in Area Finals and from March to May the teams compete in National Finals or tournament play.
Despite losing their opening two fixtures in the league the Panthers managed to win three on the bounce to force their way into the Midwest Division 1 Quarterfinals.
In a one-sided match the Milwaukee girls beat Indiana University by a convincing 63- 5 to qualify for the Midwest Division 1 Final Four in Iowa Falls, IA. A fantastic achievement for their first season in Division 1.
In the Midwest Finals UW-Milwaukee Women beat the University of Michigan 34 –12 in the semi final with Bruni (3), Martin (2) and Ney all scoring tries.
In the following day’s final the girls managed to get revenge over the University of Northern Iowa in an intense encounter to win by 15 – 5 with Bruni scoring two tries and Martin one. With their victory, the UW-Milwaukee Women advanced to the USA Rugby National Division I Championships as the #9 seed in the tournament.
There are 16 teams from all across America in the National Championships split into four pools of four teams and the girls now face a further two matches to see if they can take the ultimate step and make it all the way through to the Finals at the end of April.
The FRU would like to wish the girls all the best for the finals and if you would like to add your good wishes please feel free to leave a message below.
More like this:
7 Responses to “Panthers in National Championships”
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
I was delighted to read of your continued success this season and would like to wish you all a very successful time in Florida, both on and off the pitch!
Go Panthers!
Rate this comment. Like or dislike?
0 
0
Congratulations on progress so far and lets hope for lots more success this weekend. Come on you Panthers!!!
Rate this comment. Like or dislike?
0 
0
Get stuck in girls.
Take no prisoners.
Rate this comment. Like or dislike?
0 
0
Fantastic to see you doing so well. Hope you go all the way to the title.
Cheers,
Rocky.
Rate this comment. Like or dislike?
0 
0
Good luck girls. Here’s hoping you get the results and get through to the finals.
Rate this comment. Like or dislike?
0 
0
Best of luck in the National Championship Finals girls……Go Panthers!!!!!!
Rate this comment. Like or dislike?
0 
0
Congratulations on your tremendous results so far this season and ”Good Luck” for the forthcoming matches.
Rate this comment. Like or dislike?
0 
0