CWU Favored in NCRC 7sThe Northwest Collegiate Rugby Conference 7s championships kick off Saturday at Central Washington University in a two-day affair that is an excellent test not only of the programs’ skill, but endurance. The hosts have won this tournament every year it’s been held, and are favored again this year, although teams such as Oregon State, Washington State, and Western Washington might have something to say about that. “We always go into these tournaments with an eye to win it,” said CWU Head Coach Tony Pacheco. “We want to win, but we have to be smart about it. Let’s worry about Day One on Day One.
WMU at BGSU Top MAC Slate
Despite losing an early cross-division game with Dayton, Western Michigan is in position to take the lead in the Mid-American Conference North with a victory over Bowling Green.
Western’s recent results - 44-0 over Northern Illinois last weekend, and 61-22 over Ball State the week before - vaulted them into #48 in the Goff Rugby Report Men’s DI rankings, but they are still far behind Bowling Green, who are #23, although both are 2-0 in games that count toward the standings.
WMU Head Coach Mark Allen just wants to put in a good performance.
“We’re getting better every game,” said Allen. “We had a really good week of practice, and while we’re pretty young, we have a pretty athletic squad and I think we’re more fit than we were at this point last year.”
Michigan v Indiana Highlights Big Ten Weekend
After beating rivals Michigan State last weekend, the University of Michigan Wolverines look ahead to a difficult task against Indiana.
Both teams are 3-0 in the Big Ten Universities Conference, and while Indiana can’t go on to the playoffs due to eligibility infractions from last season, they can still have the best record in the conference, and that’s what they will be shooting for.
Michigan Head Coach Brandon Sparks expects it to be a tough game.
“It’s a big game but so was Michigan State - that’s a rivalry game with a lot of emotion, and sometimes you can play with a little bit too much emotion,” said Sparks. “I think the Michigan State game was a good mental test for us to be able to handle an emotional game.”
Magee Sparks Army Comeback FallAs the West Point rugby team looks forward to a tough series of games in their first fall of varsity rugby, one player keeps getting mentioned in games they play.Flanker and co-captain Collum Magee continues to be a handful on both sides of the ball for the Black Knights, and the firstie (senior) is a big part of why Army is unbeaten and climbing up the rankings.
Magee was an accomplished football player in high school in St. Louis and in fact played at Central Missouri before enrolling at West Point. He never played rugby before then.“I had a bunch of buddies at West Point who were playing rugby,and they told me ‘you’ll transition well,’” Magee told Goff Rugby Report. “I guess I did.”Magee played hooker, then center, and finally flanker, which is where he’s happy to stay.
ACRC Coaches Poll Week 6
There's a little bit of change in the ACRC Coaches Poll for this week. The top three of Kutztown, Penn State, and Army stay the same despite Army's win over Penn State earlier in the season. Army's close escape from Iona might be part of the reason, while PSU seems to be improving.
AIC once again moves past Dartmouth after a big victory over Boston College. Michigan edges up, and Wheeling Jesuit, after a good result over St. Bonaventure, moves up two.
Several teams jumped back into the rankings. A select few liked what Florida is up to, while Iona's close loss to Army bumped them up. Miami, Kentucky, and Tennessee also move in.
Roger Williams Relishes Big WinLife in DII seems to agree with the Roger Williams rugby program, and they made an emphatic statement this past weekend in shutting out Salve Regina 18-0 to take sole possession of 1st place in the Colonial Coast Conference.
“It was a strong defensive effort from my boys,” said Head Coach Chris Palombo.
They needed it. In wet conditions with a hard rain the game was slow. For RWU, this was an adjustment, as the Hawks had been averaging almost 50 points a game. They had also played stingy D, however, and that’s what saw them through - that and a smart game plan that respected Salve Regina’s 4-0 record.
They needed it. In wet conditions with a hard rain the game was slow. For RWU, this was an adjustment, as the Hawks had been averaging almost 50 points a game. They had also played stingy D, however, and that’s what saw them through - that and a smart game plan that respected Salve Regina’s 4-0 record.
Columbia SC to Host SCRC Finals
Knoxville, TN - The Southeastern Collegiate Rugby Conference has announced that Columbia, South Carolina will serve as the official site for the fourth annual SCRC Championship Weekend scheduled for November 15th & 16th. The Columbia Regional Sports Council and Visitors Bureau and the University of South Carolina will be serving as the hosts, with matches to take place at the Strom Rugby Field on campus.
The following match times have been established:
Saturday, November 15
1:00 PM West #1 v East #2
3:00 PM East #1 v West #2
Sunday, November 16
1:00 PM Championship
Aircraft Charter Solutions PoW - Nu'u AiavaThe Big Island of Hawai’i may be known for volcanoes and sugarcane, but neither slow lava flows or or sugar rightly describe the impact Nu’u Aiava has had on the Kutztown University rugby team.
The Big Island native usually has one specific word associated with him - electric - and certainly the outside back has sparked the Bears in his first year there.This past weekend, Aiava scored four tries as Kutztown defeated a well-regarded Maryland team in a non-conference clash. Head Coach Gregg Jones was all smiles and praised Aiava for that electricity we mentioned.
Whitewater Crushes Rivals
The past weekend saw several pairs of teams at the top of their DII conferences play each other; sometimes the result was a close, exciting game, and sometimes it was lopsided.
In Wisconsin, it was the latter as undefeated UW-Whitewater took on equally undefeated UW-Stout. When the dust had settled, Whitewater had won 53-5, and made it very plain who was on top of the heap in the WIIL North.
The game wasn’t easy, insisted Warhawks club president Joe Grams.
“It was a pretty intense, physical game” he said. “The game was really tight in the first half, but we had a good talk at halftime and cut down on our mistakes.”
Top of the list of mistakes was trying to make every movement result in a try, said Grams. Players were forcing that one extra offload rather than setting the ruck and being patient.
Men DI College Rankings Week 6
We took a week off from our DI rankings in part because there wasn't much to change (although Oklahoma might have had something to say about that).
Not a lot changes at the top level, but we do shift around further down, including adding more teams to make this a Top 50. Oklahoma leads a string of teams moving into the rankings, including Virginia Tech, Stony Brook, St. Joe's, and Kings Point.
Teams moving up include Air Force from #21 to #15, jut ahead of Navy, and AIC, from #33 to #28. Several idle teams slip down, but that's what happens when you're not playing and you're in the middle of the pack. We don't drop down the top three because we know they are strong. Someone had to do something special against another very good team to go above them.
Health, Wins Returning for OSUThe respiratory illness that has hit many colleges students this fall hit the Ohio State men’s rugby team especially hard, and for three weeks the Buckeyes have had to cobble together a team made up of those who were healthy enough to play.
They were fortunate, though, to have two of those games be against non-conference opponents.
This past weekend, things started to look a little brighter in Columbus, where the Buckeyes defeated Minnesota 55-7. It was a relatively dominant performance against a solid Gopher outfit, and one that has Michigan - their next opponents, taking notice.
“It was a good result,” said Director of Rugby Tom Rooney. “We have been fighting injury and sickness all year. So, by result, we are deeper and swapping positions immediately is no longer a challenge.”
This past weekend, things started to look a little brighter in Columbus, where the Buckeyes defeated Minnesota 55-7. It was a relatively dominant performance against a solid Gopher outfit, and one that has Michigan - their next opponents, taking notice.
“It was a good result,” said Director of Rugby Tom Rooney. “We have been fighting injury and sickness all year. So, by result, we are deeper and swapping positions immediately is no longer a challenge.”
Georgetown Wins Monday SpecialIn a game postponed until Monday evening, Georgetown defeated George Mason University 44-24 to move to 4-1 and clinch a playoff spot in the Potomac DII Men's College Rugby Conference. In wet conditions at in DC, Georgetown was paced by Stephen Tigani, who scored three tries, all in the second half. Conor Shea scored two for the Hoyas, while DJ Angelini, Zach Rego, and Cormac Carr also touched down. Charlie Sullivan added two conversions. GMU dropped to 2-3. Georgetown moved up to 2nd after the game, moving past 3-1 Salisbury.
DII Men College Latest
Several Men's DII leagues saw their top end clarified after results this past weekend.
In WIsconsin, UW-Whitewater slammed UW-Stout in a game of undefeated teams, with Whitewater taking it 53-5. That made it clear who will be the top dogs in the WIIL North, and they only have to wait for the WIIL South to sort itself out, with Illinois State looking very strong, and Loyola hanging in there. But it could be that Stout is the second-best team in that conference, and might be meeting the Warhawks again in the final in November.
In Minnesota, UM-Duluth remains the leaders in the Northern Lights, and that is unlikely to change. The Fighting Penquins won 100-5 over Bemidji State.
SLU Hammers Unbeaten RivalsTwo undefeated DII Men’s College teams clashed this past weekend in the Gateway Conference, but it was not the tight contest of dominant teams everyone expected.St. Louis University hammered previously-undefeated Principia 68-0.
Wet weather made it muddy going and yet the slow ground didn’t seem to stop SLU, which caused the Thunder Chickens all sorts of problems in the lineouts.
“We knew they had a good jumper and we targeted contesting the throws against him and it worked,” said SLU Head Coach Justin Whitton. “Disrupting that lineout really set the tone for us.”
“We knew they had a good jumper and we targeted contesting the throws against him and it worked,” said SLU Head Coach Justin Whitton. “Disrupting that lineout really set the tone for us.”
Young South Carolina Handles Alabama
Columbia, SC - The University of South Carolina Rugby hosted the University of Alabama this past weekend and came out victorious over the Tide, 26-15 in SCRC action.
