February 16th, 2014:

To the Members of the UFRFC, Past and Present,

The New Year once again heralds an important period of the collegiate rugby season: the SCRC Competition. A brief winter off-season afforded your Florida Gators more than enough time to consider the adversities faced last Fall, and they have come back looking for blood.

The Fall '13 season came to an upsetting end on the weekend of Florida Cup. After a hard 80 minutes, the Gator 15's squad was forced to walk away from a 8-13 defeat against FAU. With the feeling that they were left unproven, they had to turn to the larger stage of the SEC to show what Gator Rugby is all about.

The Gators had just a few short weeks to prepare themselves for the season opener against a very on form University of South Carolina. Unfortunately, the travelling UF side found themselves down 5-21 at half time not the start they had wanted. While a passionate second half comeback brought the game to within one possession, the clock was against them, and the Gators were left on the wrong side of a 17-24 result. This would be the same result for the Killer B's.

Knowing that a second loss would crush their chances for an SCRC Championship, UF returned to Gainesville with renewed vigor. And while the city of Athens prepared itself for the bienniel return of the UF Rugby Club, the Gators hit the practice fields hard to improve on their shortcomings. Fortunately the second road trip of the semester proved to be a great success, with both A (32-24) and B (28-13) side wins against an improved UGA and the UFRFC managing to make it out of the city mostly unscathed.

This weekend presented the club with their first home game and a vital opportunity: a match against the University of Tennessee. And as you know, the UFRFC enjoys a long history with the Volunteers. Fueled by improving perfomances, a vision for the SCRC Championship, and a great showing of support, the Gators came out strong right from the first minute to secure a well desired 36-11 victory.

The 2-1 Gators will be spending their coming bye-weeks playing some tough rugby. Next

weekend (February 22nd) sends the club down to Fort Lauderdale to play in the Men's Division at Ruggerfest, featuring the likes of our very own MasterGators! And the following weekend (February 28th) pits the Gators against Florida State University for Gordo's Cup, which will be played in Tallahassee.

Remaining UFRFC Spring '14 Schedule:

Date 02/16/14 02/22/14 02/28/14 03/08/14 03/15/13 03/22/14 03/29/14

15's Event University of Tennessee (UT) Ruggerfest Florida State University (FSU) Bye week Vanderbilt University (Vandy) Auburn University (AU) University of Kentucky

Location Gainesville, FL Ft. Lauderdale, FL Tallahassee, FL Gainesville, FL Gainesville, FL Ft. Lauderdale, FL

This semester, we also look forward to the Spring '13 UFRFC Alumni Weekend, to be held the weekend of March 15th (the weekend of the Vanderbilt game). Highlighted in blue above, the weekend will consist of a 15's SEC match against Vanderbilt University, the post game social, the alumni game, and Saturday night festivities. What will be an incredible weekend will help mark the 44th year of blood, sweat, and tradition that is the UFRFC.

Note: The Saturday night festivities are intended to be our annual Spring Celebration. Come out (in proper attire!) for an incredible time!

All in all, we are very much looking forward to making this another great weekend of celebrating the past, present, and future with the Alumni of the UFRFC. For those who made it out last semester it was a great time, even as we missed our Gator 7's squad (who was in Greensboro for the National Collegiate 7's Championship). This semester we will be showing in full force, and we hope that you all can make it out too. The MasterGators are always an integral part of the UFRFC, and the best times are when we can come together, current players and past, and celebrate everything that our club stands for. Brought together by a love for all that is Rugby, bound together by the brotherhood that is the UFRFC.

Once a Gator rugger, always a Gator rugger.

Regards,

Jack Christmas Alumni University of Florida Men's Rugby alumni.rugbyuf@gmail.com rugbyuf@gmail.com www.ufrugby.com www.facebook.com/pages/Gator-Rugby/275983829106884