Western Washington Wins CRAA D1AA 7s
Western Washington University shut out the University of Oregon to win CRAA's D1AA 7s Sunday in Bellingham, Wash.
WWU's defense was outstanding all weekend, as they allowed only 34 points in six games. Oregon's defense was equally as good, and in fact they came into the final having shut out four straight opponents, including San Jose State in the semifinal (31-0).
Western defeated Iowa State 38-12 in their semi.
Unpredictable Weekend in Store at CRAA D1AA Sevens
CRAA's D1AA Men's 7s kicks off Saturday morning with 10 teams fighting it out in Bellingham, Wash.
Pool A
Iowa State
Sam Houston
Oregon
Stanford
NCRC Selects
Pool B
Western Washington
San Jose State
UTSA
Iowa
Texas State
So we have a Bowl Game winner in SHSU and a CRAA D1AA 15s finalist in ISU in Pool A, and a team that missed out on the 15s final by a single point in the other pool (WWU) plus a bunch of very competitive teams.
San Diego Reloads, and Keeps Reloading
The University of San Diego’s CRAA D1AA championship was not without hiccups, but in the end it was brilliantly finished.
Having graduated a small number of players who were nonetheless hugely influential—former No. 8 Michael Ramos could well have been the best D1AA player in the country—the Toreros were also dealing with a slight change in their season, with a smaller California South D1AA Conference.
“Yes our conference is small but there’s something to be said for that,” said USD Director of Rugby Kevin Eaton. “There are other conferences that are small that do well. We’ve played in a conference that’s been historically larger, but even then we had some scorelines that weren’t reflective of competitive games.”
NCR Named New Commissioner of Men's Small College Rugby
(NCR Release)—National Collegiate Rugby (NCR) has appointed Zach Lanning as the new Men's Small College Commissioner.
Lanning will lead the Competitions Committee for the 250 Small College teams across the country and manage the national playoffs and championship pathways for both the 15s and 7s seasons. Lanning will report to the Men’s Competition Director, Brad Dufek.
“I'm honored to join the team at NCR, and especially excited to help foster the small college rugby spirit that has been the hallmark of the organization," said Lanning. "The organization's strong growth over the last few years is a testament to the tireless work and dedication by many individuals and I look forward to contributing to the further success of college rugby.”
UNC Chapel Hill Names Rasmus New Men's Head Rugby Coach
CHAPEL HILL, NC– The University of North Carolina Tar Heels men's rugby team has made an early offseason coaching move, appointing Joey Rasmus as Head Coach of the rising club program.
Rasmus kicks off a new era of professional coaching at his alma mater, bringing with him a reputation as a program builder.
Rasmus sprung onto the college rugby scene in 2019 with the University of Illinois men, an outfit that had struggled to find its footing since joining D1A in 2012. In Rasmus’ first season, the Illini achieved their first-ever D1A Top 25 ranking and got a little love from GRR on being the biggest surprise of the 2019 season.
A Look at The Who and What of College Sevens
College 7s almost (almost) finished and we have a whole bunch of champions.
Last Week
Harvard won the CRAA Women's Premier 7s, showcasing some nice parity between NIRA and D1 Elite. OK, true, the D1 Elite leading teams, Lindenwood and Life, had to bounce quickly from 15s to 7s. Lindenwood came 2nd in both D1 Elite and the Premier 7s, which is tough to do. But Harvard did the double, NIRA D1 championship in the fall and the Premier 7s in the spring.
A nod to Davenport which finished 1st in NIRA D2 and then took 3rd overall in the Premier 7s. Not bad at all.
Premier 7s Order of Finish:
1. Harvard
2. Lindenwood
3. Davenport
4. Dartmouth
5. Sacred Heart
6. Life
7. LIU
8. Princeton
9. Central Washington
10. Penn State
How a Glimpse of Another World Fueled Wyatt Parry
Wyatt Parry’s journey to being the Rudy Scholz Award-winner took a side trip a few years ago, and it was one that had a profound effect on him.
In the end he’s just a student-athlete and rugby player at BYU who was shocked to find out he’s won the accolade as the top men’s collegiate rugby player in the country.
“When Coach [Steve St. Pierre] called me I thought we were going to be discussing what the plan was for next season,” said the BYU flyhalf. “I had no idea it would be about the award. Knowing the competition out there for the Rudy Scholz Award it really took me by surprise. In the end, above all, I just felt really grateful.”
Parry grew up in St. George, Utah where he started playing rugby with the then-named Snow Canyon program in 7th grade.
Final Week of GRR D1A Rankings
Well, the end of the D1A season was thrilling, but the end of the rankings is not.
We make no changes. Everything seems, in the end, to be where they should be.
We had moved Saint Mary's up in our last rankings three weeks ago, and they stay at #1, of course. Navy remains #2. And all down the line.
What we can say about all of this is the following:
St. Thomas and Air Force Produce Classic Bowl Game
CRAA's spring bowl games produced plenty of drama and a nice way for St. Thomas to cap off their season.
A relatively new varsity program, St. Thomas held off Air Force in a clash between the Florida D1AA champion and a talented but non-playoff D1A team. Both teams came to play rugby and both teams had talent on their rosters.
Every single player on the Air Force Academy team had picked up rugby as a first-year at the Academy; not one of them had played rugby in high school. And Air Force rugby does not have the on-campus status of West Point or the US Naval Academy—it's a club team. But they know how to play rugby. With No. 8 Jack Brown making meters and outside center Jackson Macias an elusive runner with a good boot, they were a dangerous team.
D1A Names All Americans
The College Rugby Association of America has named its Men's D1A All American selections.
A 1st-team, 2nd-team, and 3rd-team has been named.
Cal and Saint Mary's both have four players on the 1st team, while Navy comes in with three selections. However, interestingly, while a total of 10 Cal players are in the three groups of 23, and the same is true of Saint Mary's, Navy has no selections on the 2nd or 3rd teams. Fans of William Webb, Vaughn Schmitz, Sean MacLaney, and Jake Beitia might be disappointed.
Gael Force. Saint Mary's Holds Off Navy for D1A Championship
San Diego Dominant in CRAA D1AA Championship Win The University of San Diego's men's rugby team clinched the 2024 Collegiate Rugby Association of America (CRAA) Championship Final with an impressive 38-7 victory over Iowa State. The Toreros dominated the field at Aveva Stadium in Houston on May 4 to secure the top spot in the men's D1AA college competition. The USD backs were exciting, but it was their forwards who got the hard work done in the hot and humid weather to overwhelm the Cyclones in the first half. This article was constructed using the UReportNow AI game report development system and with human editing.
Gael Force. Saint Mary's Holds Off Navy for D1A Championship It's hard to imagine it could get any better. OK, maybe it could. Neither team was perfect. But then again, neither team abandoned their way of playing. Neither team backed down even a little bit. It was, in the end, the most entertaining, the most intense, and the most dramatic D1A final you could wish for. Saint Mary's held off Navy 26-22 to win the D1A final, logging their first victory since 2017 and fourth overall—tied with Life for the most since D1A was begun in 2011. Playing their open, pass to anyone and run from anywhere game, the Gaels ran out to a 26-5 lead, only to see Navy come storming back and almost take it. Certainly the Gaels seemed loose. They arrived in Houston with tie-dye warmup shirts evoking their Bay Area roots and perhaps providing a contrast to the at-attention Naval Cadets. They played like it. Within the first few minutes Saint Mary's was on top.
CRAA 15s Season Capped With Finals Weekend in Houston CRAA’s Finalist Weekend kicks off on Friday with the pool play for the Women’s Premier and Women’s College-Club 7s. But there’s plenty more going on in Houston (aside form the thunderstorms delaying air traffic). Saturday and Sunday will see four championship matches plus two bowl games. All of this will be shown live on The Rugby Network: http://therugbynetwork.com/ Here’s a closer look at the 7s tournament: CRAA Women's 7s Set for This Weekend Here’s a look at the 15s games: Bowl Game: Air Force Academy vs St. Thomas University Kickoff Saturday, 10:30AM This is an interesting Bowl Game in that it is a D1A team that’s been around for a while in Air Force, and relatively new D1AA team St. Thomas. St.
Men D1AA College Rankings Week 26 Obviously there isn't a lot of D1AA action going but it's all pretty important. San Diego qualified for the CRAA final and they stay at #4 for the moment. But since Western Washington almost beat them they do move up. They lost on kind of a freak play. Have a look. So that's what we have right now. The final is this weekend, with Iowa State and San Diego in the CRAA D1AA final; St. Thomas plays Air Force; SHSU plays Florida. Can anyone move further up with these games? Absolutely they can. Can USD or ISU or St. Thomas get a #1 ranking over and above Kentucky? Yes. How? Not sure. Ask us next week.
Wyatt Parry Wins 2024 Scholz Award Wyatt Parry of BYU has been named the 2024 winner of the Rudy Scholz Award as the best male collegiate rugby player in the United States. A product of what is now the Tribal rugby program in St. George, Utah, Parry is the architect of a high-flying BYU attack and he led BYU to two straight D1A semifinal appearances. Parry beat out a hugely competitive field of finalists that also included Dom Besag from Saint Mary’s, Evan Roode from Arkansas State, and Eduan van Heerden from Lindenwood. The Rudy Scholz Award is named after Rudolph Scholz (1896-1981), who played for Santa Clara and as a halfback helped lead the USA to Olympic gold medals in rugby in 1920 and 1924. He served in both World Wars, volunteering to serve in World War II when he was in his 40s, and was decorated in both.
