Iona and Other Non-Conf. Winners
Iona College were impressive in Saturday’s clash with Fordham, beating their rivals 53-3 in a non-conference ACRC matchup.
Iona held sway in the lineouts and scrums, played good defense, and were just a little faster to the ball and with the ball than a hard-nosed Fordham team.
Eight Iona players scored tries, three of them freshmen. Sophomore John Petteruti was the only player to score more than one; he notched two tries.
Also this weekend in ACRC non-conference games, St. Bonaventure beat Syracuse 81-0, and Ohio State beat Buffalo 36-8 in a game where UB led 8-7 early in the second half.
AIC at Army was called off due to weather.
Rivalry is Hot as Iona Visits Fordham
There are few rivalries like a rivalry between Catholic schools and it’s a good one this weekend as the Jesuit college of Fordham takes on the Christian Brothers college Iona in a non-conference ACRC game.
While these non-conference games have no bearing on the standings, they do have a bearing on rankings - not only between individual schools, but conferences as well, and thus a bearing on what teams play each other in the bowl games in November.
So if pride wasn’t enough, there’s more of a reason to win.
Fordham was 3-6 in the Empire Conference in 2013, just a shade behind Ioan, which finished 3-5-1. Iona has moved to the Rugby East, but both teams are looking to move up with improved rosters.
Fordham coach Jimmy Wright said his team has enjoyed an influx of talented young players.
Keystone Leaders Get Pre-Season TestsAnother hyper-competitive Keystone Conference season is two weeks away, but already the top teams are getting on the field. Last year, St. Joe’s, Shippensburg, and West Virginia all ended with 2013 fall season with 5-1 records, with the Red Hawks losing out on bonus points, and WVU edging Ship on points difference. WVU beat Princeton to make the national DIAA quarterfinals in the spring, before losing to San Diego, but it seems clear both Shippensburg and St. Joseph's are at that level, as well. West Virginia now faces varsity DII team Notre Dame College as part of NDC’s push to harden their players (in competitive terms) by playing DI opponents. It’s a first run-out for WVU and they might be undercut by Notre Dame, which has already played a couple of games. St.
USA Rugby Announces College Playoff System
BOULDER, Colo. – USA Rugby confirmed Thursday a Men's DII college championships system to finish in the fall, and a fall playoff system for Men's DI college teams playing in the fall, as well as Women's DI and DII college teams playing in the fall.
For more on this, click here: http://www.goffrugbyreport.com/college-men/usar-confirm-college-champ-pl...
The College Management Council approved the championship pathways for member clubs, allowing winners of the fall and spring Regionals to meet May 8-10, 2015, to contest the USA Rugby Collegiate National Championships.
MAC Kicks Off
The Mid-American Conference may be in a flux as to whether they are part of ACRC or not, but they will most definitely grab at a chance for the newly-unveiled USA Rugby fall playoff structure.
And whether any of that happens smoothly or not, league play begins Saturday. And while Bowling Green were the class of the MAC in the fall of 2013, there is a long line of teams hoping to overcome them.
One of them is in action this weekend, as Dayton (3-3-1 in 2013) visit Central Michigan (1-6 in 2013). Ohio is back from suspension and eases in carefully against Ball State, who were winless last season.
Another team that didn’t play in the league last year is Louisville, which has moved into the MAC and is looking to pull a few surprises. Louisville tied Western Kentucky last weekend in a warmup, but playing the defending champs at Bowling Green won’t be an easy task.
Arkansas State Looks to Challenging Schedule
Arkansas State University's men's team has finalized its 2014-2015 schedule, which includes a tour to California, where they will meet defending DIA champions St. Mary's, and a clash with DIA runners up Life University.
In addition, the Red Wolves will take on two top men's clubs - Glendale and Life University - before they enter the Varsity Cup single-elimination invitational in April.
ASU will also enter both the USA Rugby 7s Championships and the Collegiate Rugby Championship invitational (CRC) in the spring.
How New Playoffs Affect YouWith USA Rugby’s announcement that they are marrying fall rugby and spring rugby playoffs, you might be forgiven if you aren’t quite sure how your team might get to a national championship. What this move by USA Rugby does is at least attempt to take out the confusion that reigned last year. In 2013-14, there was an ACRC playoff in the fall, which was a championship of some form; there were conferences that played in the fall and then refused to move on to the spring playoffs, because they were essentially done; we had a DIA playoff that was, not to put too fine a point on it, unsatisfactory. It was confusion. So, how does this change things?
MAC Schedule
Full schedule of the Mid-American college conference.
The conference has been split up into two divisions:
Kutztown to Canada for Two
Kutztown University gets on the field this weekend with a two-game trip to Canada, where they will face Ottawa University and then Algonquin.
Algonquin were the Ontario East Division champions on 2013 with a 6-0 record, finishing second in the Ontario Collegiate Athletic Association playoffs and earning coach Geoff Tomlinson Coach of the Year honors.
It’s that game, on Sunday, the the Bears are targeting as the game to win.
Kutztown will run out as many players as possible on the weekend to get them game time, but not all players will play as visa and passport issues left some players home. As a result, sparkplug scrumhalf Niku Kruger will not be there, which means freshman recruit Nu’u Aiava, who is slated to play as an outside back, will likely see time in the #9 jersey.
With the likes of Robert Stortz on the field, KU has plenty of pace out wide.
USAR to Confirm College Champ Plans for 7s, FallUSA Rugby is expected to make some major announcements very soon regarding college championships. It appears that there will be a fall championship for DI and DII rugby, as-yet unnamed. But one source said that there will be a "fall pathway" to a championship, with ACRC and ACRA not being an impediment. Teams and conferences will be invited to participate. This comes as some teams from the ACRC, notably Bowling Green, have pushed for some sort of championship over and above the bowl system the affiliation of conferences had planned for November. One proposal was that winners of four of the ACRC conferences meet in Charlotte, NC, where the ACRC bowl games will be held, and play a semifinal-final series over the weekend. That plan was pushed to USA Rugby, which has expanded the idea.
ACRC Uses Conference-Bowl Model
The fall college season is underway and league games are coming soon.
It’s a tough time for many programs as they try to fit in setting up a team for league player, installing the game plan, and also introducing the game to new players.
In DI men’s college rugby, all eyes, for the most part, are on the ACRC - a loose affiliation of conferences that play their league season in the fall, and finish off with bowl games in November.
After that, ACRC teams go their separate ways. Some will concentrate on playing developmental 15s, some will play 7s, some will look to play in the DIA playoffs or the Varsity Cup, or perhaps combination of all of those.
Because the ACRC runs only in the fall, there’s no conflict between what the ACRC conferences do and USA Rugby’s post-season, or even the Varsity Cup invitational post-season.
Kentucky Names Scholarship Winners
The University of Kentucky rugby team has announced the two players who receive scholarships sponsored by their rugby alumni.
The John Laboon award goes to Erik Nason, a 6-2, 225 flanker who has played for UK for three years after spending four years in the US Marine Corps. A hard worker and a leader, Nason enters his senior year and will receive $1,250 each semester as he pursues his degree in History.
The Dick Jones award goes to CJ Leadingham. The 5-1, 195 scrumhalf is in his third year at UK. Last year he established himself as one of the leaders on the team and is a vocal spark for the squad at the base of the scrum.
The scholarship also provides the psychology major with $1,250 for each semester.
Michigan, Notre Dame Renew Rivalry
As far as rivalries go it doesn't get better, or older, than the Notre Dame Fighting Irish against the University of Michigan Wolverines. Last year saw Michigan come out the winner with an 18-0 final in Ann Arbor and the men from South Bend will be looking to fix last year’s mistakes as they welcome Michigan to Stinson Rugby FIeld this Friday, September 5th with the Jv/Academy sides kicking off at 5:30 and the first team’s at 7:30pm.
This year will see the introduction of the DeHaven & Harless Trophy. The trophy will be contested every year between the rugby squads and celebrate the men who were responsible for introducing 'rugby football' to the two schools.
Player of the Week - Wes Parker
If you research where most top American rugby players come from you will start to see some states mentioned repeatedly; one you won’t see often is Kentucky.
But Wes Parker is looking to be one of those rare Kentuckians that makes it big in rugby, and perhaps boosts the sport in the Bluegrass State in the process.
Parker toured with the High School All Americans this summer, and is now enrolled at Lindenwood University, where he is majoring in Exercise Science. The 6-3 loose forward starred for the Lindenwood ends in their defeat of Indiana this past weekend and was also an effective impact sub for the 1sts in the same fixture.
