RUGBY: IT'S SHORT, SWEET FOR THE FANS OF THIS VERSION.Byline: Scott French Staff Writer The rugby world is abuzz over William Ryder William Ryder (born 6 June 1982) He is 1.74m tall and weighs 77kg is a Fijian rugby union footballer. Ryder is well known within the rugby sevens community, as he has produced some of the best performances for the Fiji national sevens side. , the rising 23-year-old Fijian whose hat trick hat trick n. Sports 1. Three goals scored by one player in one game, as in ice hockey. 2. Three wickets taken in cricket by a bowler in three consecutive balls. 3. last weekend in New Zealand New Zealand (zē`lənd), island country (2005 est. pop. 4,035,000), 104,454 sq mi (270,534 sq km), in the S Pacific Ocean, over 1,000 mi (1,600 km) SE of Australia. The capital is Wellington; the largest city and leading port is Auckland. gave the reigning World Cup champion its second successive triumph on the IRB IRB See: Industrial Revenue Bond Rugby Sevens Rugby sevens is a variant of rugby union in which only seven players per side feature, instead of the full 15. The version of rugby union is very popular, with notable competitions including the IRB Sevens World Series and the Rugby World Cup Sevens. tour. Ryder and Fiji seek to make it three in a row this weekend at Home Depot Center, which is staging the USA Sevens for the third time, and if it attracts little attention here, media and fans from Wellington to London and Melbourne to Cape Town can't get enough. Rugby Sevens, an 122-year-old offshoot of rugby union that has grown in popularity in the sport's strongholds, is much what it sounds like: seven-a-side rugby, played on a regulation field under substantially the same rules as the 15-player game. Each contest lasts only 15 minutes, and 44 of them - involving 16 nations - will be played before a USA Sevens champion is crowned sometime around 6 p.m. Sunday. HDC (Hard Disk Controller) See disk controller. HDC - Disk Controller is the fourth of eight stops on the International Rugby Board The International Rugby Board (IRB) is the world governing and law-making body for the sport of rugby union, and previously for rugby football. It was founded in 1886 as the International Rugby Football Board (IRFB) by Scotland, Wales and Ireland. series, which wraps up at Twickenham, in England, the first weekend in June. Argentina won the first USA Sevens, in 2004, and New Zealand captured last year's title. The U.S. squad, led by Denver-based veterans Jone Naqica and Kevin Whitcher, is grouped with England, France and Kenya in Pool A, one of four first-round groups. The Americans play their first match, against France, today at 12:34 p.m. Action begins at 10 a.m. today and Sunday. Fiji, which won the World Cup in Hong Kong last May and leads the current series after victories Dec. 10 in George, South Africa, and last weekend in Wellington, New Zealand, has lost captain Jone Daunivucu to a hand injury, a development that has made headlines around the world. The presence of Ryder and Sevens legend Waisale Serevi on the islanders' roster apparently mitigates much concern. ``I played against Serevi, and he was the master of the game ...,'' South Africa coach Paul Treu told the IRB Sevens Web site. ``If people talked about Sevens, they talked about Serevi. And in the same breath, people are starting to talk about Ryder.'' Scott French, (818) 713-3627 scott.french(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): box Box: USA SEVENS |
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