First, viewers can watch Air Force take on Navy in Glendale, Colorado, using the USA Rugby Ustream site on Friday (1 October) in a traditional service academy clash starting at 6:20 p.m. local time (5:20 p.m. Pacific, 8:20 p.m. Eastern).

After that, viewers can watch new college powerhouse Life University (who has long had a top side made up of their chiropractic school’s players, but it unveiling an undergraduate side for the first time this year) host Virginia Tech on Saturday (2 October) in Marietta, Georgia, using Life’s video site.

If you want to see more matchups like this, get online this weekend and start generating traffic!

Why dwell on the topic so much when there is so much else to discuss? Well, over this site’s history, these are the top ten search engine keywords that have taken readers here:

Also, the most-visited page on this site, other than the main page, is an article (now outdated) from 2008 about free access to rugby union matches.

We get it. There are a few people out there who want to see rugby union free of charge on the Internet.

If you’re of a similar mind, there’s good news. Life University Rugby announced this week that starting tomorrow, all of its home matches will be broadcast online.

To watch the first broadcast, go to the club’s video site at 2:00 p.m. EAstern U.S. time tomorrow (Saturday, 15 April) and watch Life’s Rugby Super League quarterfinal match against the Chicago Griffins. Be sure to visit a bit early, though, because the site requires you to create a free account to have a look.

Let us know what you think, but remember: beggars can’t be choosers when it comes to free rugby union broadcasts in the United States, so don’t be too picky about the format or the quality. In the meantime, here’s a sneak peek at the home side:

The drama of March Madness, of course, is a great lure for television viewers, so it’s fitting that America’s rugby union version now has extensive live coverage as well. Given rugby’s niche status in the United States, though, the feed isn’t on the networks, but can be found on the UStream Internet site.

The producton values aren’t quite what you’re used to with broadcast television, but you can certainly follow the matches. There are two channels showing this weekend’s Men’s DI matches (here and here; there will also be some women’s matches on the first channel and a third channel is showing women’s matches and matches from Division II). Four of the weekend’s 16 men’s DI matches were already played today, but there are 12 to go as well as the women’s and Division II matches. Fill out your bracket, check the schedule, and log on to enjoy some spirited American rugby.

This Saturday is a pleasant exception to that trend, as Brigham Young University will play the University of Utah Saturday in a match that will be broadcast live worldwide on BYUTV. The match should be a big one, as BYU are the defending Collegiate Division I national champions and Utah are perennial national contenders. BYU and Utah will kick off at 1:00 p.m. local time (Noon Pacific U.S. time, 3:00 p.m. Eastern U.S. time).

To see the match, check whether your television provider has access to BYUTV or watch it live online on BYUTV’s online streaming site.

In the meantime, here are some highlights from BYU’s 2009 season to give you an idea of what’s in store for Saturday:

Clever, who also plays for the Golden Lions in South Africa, put his fitness on display on a recent episode of Fox Sports Net’s Sport Science. The clip, which is featured on USA Rugby CEO Nigel Melville’s blog, investigates Clevers athletic performance before and after a bout of dehydration.

The clip is instructive regarding the level of fitness achieved by top rugby union players, but it does leave one question: does Sport Science try to kill all of its guest atheletes?

And here’s an idea of how he got that fit:

The Americans’ competition will be tough, as they have been placed in a pool that includes Australia, Ireland, Italy, and a to-be-named European side. For now, though, we may as well just enjoy the full match footage of this past Saturday’s qualifer, courtest of the USA Rugby Ustream Channel:

First Half:

Second Half:

The Springboks’ loss to France was overshadowed by a debacle surrounding the performance of the South African national anthem. After the match, enraged Springbok representatives claimed that a poor rendition of the anthem insulted the vistors and affected their play.

Even after it was revealed that South African representatives were responsible for recommending the anthem’s performer, France found itself apologizing. The singer offered his own explanation that he had been sabotaged, though some government officials in South Africa were unconvinced and went so far as to suggest the performance was an act of treason. (Though it bears mention that this particular anthem has been butchered in the past by home crowds as well, and more deliberately.)

We’re hoping that the whole fiasco is over, but we are also reminded that the issue of suspiciously subpar anthem performances for visiting sides is not terribly uncommon. On the same weekend, for example, there were murmurs about a sound failure during the performance of New Zealand’s national anthem before the All Blacks put away Italy. Earlier this year, the United States’ loss to Canada was prefaced by an error in the American anthem’s performance.

The idea of pinning a loss or a poor performance on a sabotoged anthem might be a stretch, although it wouldn’t be the first time a hometown conspiracy was blamed for a rugby union loss. That said, one has to wonder if we might see some sort of regulatory efforts from the International Rugby Board to ensure consistent standards applied to anthems and other pre-match events.

In case you haven’t yet got to hear the anthem heard ’round the world, here is a clip of that much-maligned performance from this past weekend:

And here’s another performance of the anthem for comparison.

And just for good measure, here’s one more effort to make amends by the now-infamous singer:

There’s not much musical nous here at Armchair Playmaker, so you’ll have to draw your own conclusions.

We were wrong. Before his AFL career begins, Hunt plans to wear a shirt with sleeves for just a bit longer by playing rugby union for six months with Biarritz in France. This means that if all goes according to plan, Hunt will have played three football codes at a top professional level in the space of a year. So far, he seems to be enjoying the journey.

Some have already been questioning the intent behind Hunt’s frequent code-hopping. We won’t speculate on what’s behind the sport-swapping, but if it’s all about the publicity, Hunt may want to get Nike on the telephone. After all, this is starting to look very familiar to some of us in the United States:

The similarities grow even eerier when we recall that Hunt is a big fan of basketball and the NFL.

Here’s hoping things go well for the multi-talented athlete. Fortunately for Karmichael Hunt, there shouldn’t be any sign of “Rabbits” Warren (see video in link) or Fuifui Moimoi (see second video in link) in Biarritz or the AFL.

Among the most memorable Eels players for the American audience week in and week out must have been Tongan-born Fuifui Moimoi (who is also eligible to play for New Zealand internationally). He got audiences’ attention with hits so big that they can only be appreciated fully with the aid of science (sometimes a little too big), though his memorable name may have garnered as much notice from new viewers as his tremendous play.

If you found yourself becoming a new fan of Moimoi’s, but were as captivated by the cult figure’s interesting moniker as you were by his tremendous efforts, you’re not alone. Moimoi is the subject of a song focused on his name and acheivements, as seen below:

We assume he doesn’t mind the song because it will be playing when he enters the boxing ring for a charity match (the bout has been delayed by the Eels’ success). If you’re not a fan, though, you can see examples of Fuifui’s imposing play without the soundtrack:

Now and then, of course, Moimoi is on the receiving end as well:

Here’s hoping Spike TV and other U.S. networks see fit to show us more of Moimoi and the NRL’s other luminaries in the future!

The documentary, whose title is a play on the “Sleeping Giant” term often used to describe the state of rugby union in America, will not be released in major theaters but will aim for other exposure via film festivals, television, sales, rentals, and online streaming delivery.

Visit the film’s official site for more information on its pending release, and have a look at the trailer below for an advance look:

A Giant Awakens – Trailer HD 1 from sylvain doreau on Vimeo.

In the meantime, you may want to have a look at the 2008 documentary Try for another chance to see American rugby on film. It is available for twenty U.S. dollars, and can be previewed below: