Reminders

Capital Rugby Union – 2026 Annual General Meeting

When? Wednesday, August 12 – 7-9 pm
Where? Google Meet:
https://meet.google.com/uzv-qxsq-nia or dial: ‪(US) +1 225-424-8029‬ PIN: ‪456 267 128‬#
Info? Link to current Agenda (Google Doc) and other items:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSnVca0QPevh3g4oip5uAuTPLnHMreRH4MI42bHh9om5ol03faRMXWw5s4igh4nM7f0aIebhNPktrH5/pub

As always, each club needs to send a rep! Mark this on your calendar now. Also, some reminders…

Rugby Xplorer shuts down after the Club 7s Nationals and is reorganized for the “new” year. After that, registration will be opened on/around August 14 and schedules will be loaded.

All: Do NOT register for the 2026-2027 registration cycle until you receive notice of this. Continuing 2025-26 players have current valid registration coverage through August 31, 2026.

Your club may likely have new/unregistered players. If so, players joining the club in August for training, but prior to August 14th, must have a weekly membership until 2026-27 registration opens.

Coaches: you need to make sure your background checks and SafeSport cert are still valid (check your RX account) and when they expire.

Sevens info (link).

Minutes of Senior Club Council Meetings (once/month; current and prior).

2025-2026 player registration: https://myaccount.rugbyxplorer.com.au/ (we have info about RX at https://rugby.org/registration/).

Competition Compliance Reminders.

Conference match reporting must be done within 48 hours and Techzones are required. Match reporting will be done in Rugby Xplorer Match Day or via the web app. All replacements must be entered or the subs do not get playing credit.

The privacy option that causes the display of “Name Withheld” in RX rosters cannot be used. More info.

USAR Club Fee. Club Admins, please ensure that your USAR Club Fee is paid. Go to https://admin.rugbyxplorer.com.au, Administration, My Club, Compliance. You can pay the USAR club fee there and see the other items needed.

World Rugby Law Changes on January 1

USAR and its member clubs will implement the new World Rugby Law Changes on January 1: https://usa.rugby/news/world-rugby-law-changes-set-to-implement-on-january-1-20241210

Briefly:

* Players who were part of a ruck or maul may not play an opponent taking the ball from the ruck or maul. At scrums, the scrum-half of the team not in possession may not go past the center of the tunnel.

* Conversion kicks must be taken within 60 seconds (down from 90) [the 30 second limit remains for Sevens].

* Lineouts must be formed within 30 seconds (the same as already in law for scrums.)

* Play continues on a throw not straight at an uncontested lineout.

There are nuances to these and USAR will be providing the following:

USA Rugby will be hosting a webinar to review the changes and answer your questions on Tuesday, 7 January 2025, 8:30pm EST. The link to register is at the above USAR link.

FAQs and an update to the USA Game Management Guidelines for the 2024-25 season will be available around 15 December at https://usa.rugby/referee-resources

Men’s and Women’s Selects (2024-2025)

POC is Steven Davis sldavis20@gmail.com

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Men’s Selects Overview:

Open Tryout

  • November 23rd in DMV area (TBD)

Intrasquad match

  • December 7th, location TBD

Multi-day high performance camp

  • Early January(likely the weekend of the 4th), for our invited 40-ish player pool. Our goal for this immersive weekend is to cover off-field and on-field topics that will help raise everyone’s level of rugby knowledge, strategy, culture and play. Time will be devoted to team-run.

Games for January-early March TBD and announced later.

*** Our timeline will be a bit different this season, in that there will not be open tryouts after the November camp. This is our policy to meet the expressed wishes of players and coaches for an earlier selection process, and more time together as a team/pool. All player pool selections will be made based on participation in the fall camp and B/G match. If you are unable to make the open camp, you MUST communicate to the coaches your desire to be considered for selection. Greater consideration will be made in this instance for players who forward recommendations from their coache(es) and/or have participated with Selects in the past.

Interested? https://bit.ly/4digOes

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Overview:

Tryout over the next few weeks

  • September 22nd in Raleigh from 11am-3pm
  • October 13th in the DC area

Invite camp

  • November 3rd, Fredericksburg/DC area…..selections made within 24 hours

Team Run/Practice

  • likely November 16th weekend

Mary Graham tournament in Dallas Texas
*December 7-8

Multi-day high performance camp

  • Early January, for our invited 40-ish player pool. Our goal for this immersive weekend is to cover off-field and on-field topics that will help raise everyone’s level of rugby knowledge, strategy, culture and play.

Games for late January-early March TBD and announced later.

*** Our timeline will be a bit different this season, in that there will not be open tryouts after the fall season. All player pool selections will be made based on participation in the fall camps and events. If you are unable to make an open camp, you MUST communicate to the coaches your desire to be considered for selection. Greater consideration will be made in this instance for players who forward recommendations from their coache(es) and/or have participated with Selects in the past.

Please fill out the interest form: https://bit.ly/3TxkLEJ