Resurgent Navy Shuts Out Dartmouth
Th US Naval Academy put in one of their best defensive efforts Saturday and seem to have turned the corner as they shut out Dartmouth 29-0.
After giving up 151 points in three straight games either side of the Winter Break, Navy held Clemson to ten points on February 19 and now have a shutout to point to.
This was, however, Dartmouth's first game of the New Year, and so they weren't at mid-season form by any stretch of the imagination, but Navy still has begun to put together some strong results.
"They are Dartmouth," said Navy Head Coach Mike Flanagan. "They move the ball and attack from anywhere. They are very hard to pin down. We again had a good defensive performance. The guys fronted up all day."
Western Washington Takes Control in PNW
Western Washington as much as clinched 1st in the Northwest Collegiate Rugby Conference Saturday with a 62-7 defeat of their closest rivals, University of Washington.
UW upset WWU in the conference championship game last year (there won't be a similar game this year), and the Vikings got big revenge this weekend, moving to 6-0 and dropping the Huskies to 4-1-1. While technically UW can still surpass WWU, the chances are very slim that this will happen, and Western will represent the NCRC in USA Rugby's DIAA playoffs.
Life Holds Off Davenport
Life University moved to 3-0 in the DIA Mid-South Conference after a 27-3 defeat of Davenport in Marietta, Ga.
Lindenwood Over Clemson in CRC Qualifier
Lindenwood put an emphatic stamp on the Men's College bracket at the Las Vegas Invitational with a 29-0 shutout of Clemson in the final at Sam Boyd Stadium.
Lindenwood, Clemson to Fight for CRC Spot
Lindenwood will play Clemson in the final of the Men’s College 7s at the Las Vegas Invitational.
Di Men's College Games Mar 3-5
With the festivities in Las Vegas going on, it's easy to forget that there's business to be done this week in college rugby.
Among the big games, Saint Mary's can put a stamp on their California Conference season with a win over San Diego State (Game kicks off at 1pm PT and will be live-streamed here.) Meanwhile, the Mid-South keeps on with Davenport once again on the road, this time at Life. With Life having slammed Arkansas State two weeks ago and then beaten Lindenwood, you'd think the Running Eagles would have the edge here.
Dartmouth Kicks Off Busy Spring
Spring is in the air for most of the country, grass is growing and the sun is shining; it is finally rugby season, even for northern teams like Dartmouth.
Cal Looks to UBC Rematch
Cal will be in Vancouver, BC this weekend to look to get a revenge victory over the UBC Thunderbirds and take the two-game series between the two teams.
Cal lost 28-17 in Berkeley in February, but it wasn't a total disaster as the Bears trailed 28-3 late in the game before a series of penalties against the Thunderbirds led to converted two Cal tries in the final three minutes.
Without those tries, the hole Cal has to dig out of would have been imposing indeed.
With Confidence from Loss, LSU Eyes Red River Title
LSU can clinch the Red River South with a win over Texas A&M this weekend, but in fact it's pretty much a foregone conclusion win or lose.
The Tigers have two more games left in the season, while current 1st-place A&M is done for the regular season. All LSU needs is one win out of those three games. They should get it, as the Tigers are currently undefeated at 5-0 in the conference.
However, the weird thing about college rugby is that LSU's most notable performance might have been a loss. When they fell 27-17 to Arkansas State, leading that game late, as well, that's when many started to take notice.
NEC Wins Their Pool at LVI
(David Barpal photos.) New England College is into the Men's College 7s CRC Qualifier quarterfinals at the Las Vegas Invitational, and it was tough sledding to get there.
NEC beat Grand Canyon 19-12 in the opening game of the day, and had to slog it out against Utah State 26-12 as well. They also beat Colorado State-Pueblo 54-0.
"We've got some good, smart, shifty guys with good rugby IQ," said NEC Head Coach Tal Bayer. "We're not the biggest but we've got skills."
CWU Looks Strong at LVI
Central Washington looked very strong Thursday in the opening day of the Las Vegas Invitational CRC Qualifier.
The Wildcats shut out Buffalo 34-0, Tulane 50-0, and beat Georgetown 34-5 on their way to the second-best points difference of the day (Lindenwood was a little better).
“It was a good team performance and defense was working well for us,” said Head Coach Todd Thornley, adding that his players did well to trust each other and not over-pursue attackers.
“We made some good decisions and when we had a good one-on-one matchup we made it work,” said Thornley, who added that his team’s 50-0 defeat of Tulane was possibly his team’s strongest performance.
The Wildcats were very strong at the point of contact, as would be expected. They have a number of athletic, mobile big men.
LVI CRC Qualifier Latest - Who Made th QFs
Here's the latest from the Men's College 7s CRC Qualifier at the Las Vegas Invitational.
NCRC Latest - Big Games Coming Up
The NCRC has a big weekend coming, after an intriguing set of games on Saturday.
The less said about Western Washington's 25-try, 159-0 shutout of Eastern Washington the better. To keep it short, WWU is better than EWU, and is looking to regain that NCRC title.
Washington edged Boise State last week to stay close at 4-0-1, while Oregon is there, too, at 3-2-1. The team to watch, of course, is Gonzaga, who are 3-0 and were idle last week. Gonzaga plays Boise State on Saturday at noon Mountain Time. Live stream is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Arkansas Wins Big XII 7s
The Arkansas Razorbacks put on quite a show as they rolled to the Big XII 7s championship this past weekend in Norman, Okla.
It was a long day for all of the teams as they battled through a series of competitive games. Playing a tough 7s tournament is difficult, and to play five or six games in a day even more so. Arkansas seemed to be the team that handled the fatigue the best and learned along the way.
The Razorbacks lost their opening game to North Texas 21-19. But after that they beat Kansas State 24-14, and Iowa State 47-0 to make the semis.
Meanwhile, Oklahoma and West Virginia looked very strong in their pools, and it may well have been that Pool C was so difficult that prepared Arkansas for the nockout stages.
