Serevi Sponsors Battle in the Bay 7s
Serevi Rugby has signed on as a name sponsor for the Battle in the Bay collegiate 7s tournament.
The tournament will be held on Treasure Island in San Francisco on October 25 and 26. Last year, St. Mary's defeated Central Washington to win that tournament. This year, Central Washington returns, as do the hosts, St. Mary's. Also expected at teams such as Utah, San Diego State, Cal Poly, UCLA, University of British Columbia, and Cal.
For tickets, click here:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/college-rugby-7s-battle-in-the-bay-tickets-...
Fairfield Impresses in Opening Weeks
Fairfield University’s torrid start in the Tri State Conference Men’s DII competition has shot them to #13 in the nation, and it could be we will see them move further up, although it won’t be until later in October, when they face NJIT and Molloy.
It could be Fairfield, which has outscored opponents 134-24 in the first two games, will enter those big games undefeated.
“We feel great,” said Fairfield hooker Anif McDonald. “We’ve been working really hard and still do two-a-days three days a week, and I think our fitness has had a lot to do with it all.”
New coach Ben Kelly, along with assistant Mark Downes, has had a big influence on the team, and he has emphasized fitness. McDonald said Fairfield has finished the stronger in each half.
Men DII College Rankings 2014-15 #2
Goff Rugby Report has updated its Men's DII College Rankings, expanding the list from 25 to 30 as more teams have started their season.
Among the major events and moves since the preseason rankings were unveiled:
Bryant, Coast Guard, and Niagara all lost games and were dropped from the rankings. However, keep an eye out for all.
Winona gets a bit of a pass despite losing to Northern Iowa due to some injuries, and we're kept them in for at least one more cycle. UNI jumps in.
DIA Rankings Week 2
USA Rugby has released its latest DIA Top 20, which is voted on by various officials and members of the press, including Goff Rugby Report's Alex Goff.
There's not much movement, although Kutztown moves past Lindenwood, and Davenport drops down a couple of spots. The only new team in the list is Arizona, which comes in at #18.
USA Rugby DIA Top 20 Week 2
1) Saint Mary's (1)
2) Life (2)
3) Kutztown (4)
4) Lindenwood (3)
5) Army (5)
6) Penn State (7)
7) Cal Poly (8)
8) Davenport (6)
9) Air Force (10)
10) Michigan (9)
11) Colorado (11)
12) Santa Clara (12)
13) San Diego State (13)
14) Oklahoma (14)
15) Indiana (15)
16) Wheeling Jesuit (16)
17) Colorado State (17)
18) Arizona (NR)
19) Ohio State (18)
20) Texas A&M (19)
Salisbury Battles Through
Salisbury University’s 29-17 defeat of UMBC was not what you’d expect.
The Sharks won one of the two national championships held last year, and are always near the top of the DII College heap. A winning margin of 12 points seems a bit small.
But there were mitigating factors. The first, and most important, is that UMBC is a much improved team. But it didn’t help Salisbury’s cause that the game had no referee assigned. On his own on Saturday as coach for the Sharks, Bill Creese was forced to officiate the match, leaving all game-time decisions (including subs and the halftime talk) to the players.
The result was a bit of a loose affair from the Sharks, who, of course, got into penalty trouble thanks to their coach.
CRC, Varsity Cup Land Sponsor
HORSHAM, Pa. - The CRC Invitational 7s and the Varsity Cup have signed on Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company as the name sponsor for those two privately-run rugby tournaments. What this means is that the signing of the Philadelphia-based Penn Mutual will keep the CRC in Philadelphia for the near future. The CRC will remain at PPL Park in Chester, Pa., just outside of Philadelphia, and will be called ”The Penn Mutual Collegiate Rugby Championship.” "The Penn Mutual Varsity Cup" final will remain at Rio Tinto Stadium in Salt Lake City. The deal, rumored to be six figures for each of the next three years, "is part of a long-term business-building strategy to extend the Penn Mutual brand to consumers, financial professionals, and student athletes,” says Eileen McDonnell, Penn Mutual’s Chairman, President & CEO.
Aircraft Charter Solutions PoW - Michael Marro
Iona College put Michael Marro on the wing last weekend and gave him one job - shadow St. Bonaventure’s towering Greg Johnson.
Now, that’s a big job for a freshman in any situation - worry about one of the other team’s weapons and make sure he doesn’t hurt you - but consider also that Johnson is 6-5 and 210 pounds, while Marro is 5-10 (most of that hair) and 165 pounds.
“He did a great job,” said Iona’s Mike Marcino. “He made the tackle every time.”
Marro was asked to corral the Bonnies’ outside attack - often on his own, and while he got help at times, he also did the job.
“He’s small, but the whole team is,” said Head Coach Bruce McLane. “Their players are pretty robust, and Marro did a nice job for us, because we needed him to.”
Men DI College Rankings #2
Goff Rugby Report has unveiled Week 2 of its Men's DI College Rankings, which includes all teams in DIA, DIAA, ACRC, and the Varsity Cup.
Mot of the teams in the ranking are not playing yet, and thus there's little change. But there are a few adjustments:
Lindenwood moves up a spot after defeating Palmer College, moving Navy down a place.
Penn State moves up from 16 to 12 after beating Davenport.
Army moves up to #20 after beating Cornell.
Four teams come into the rankins after we expand the list to 35, with AIC, LSU, Texas A&M and Iona all joining.
ACRC Coaches Poll Week 2
Coaches from the ACRC have photed on their latest Top 20.
Coaches are asked by Goff Rugby Report to vote on their inidivual Top 10. Points are assigned (including points for honorable mentions), and the totla points determine the rankings.
After winning handily this weekend over Buffalo, Kutztown remains at #1, and Penn State, which beat Davenport, is #2. Army moves up to #3 after winning handily over Cornell, and AIC moves up to #4, while idle Dartmouth slips two spots.
The biggest mover is Iona, which defeated last week's #12, St. Bonaventure, and thus the Gaels move from the ranks of Honorable Mention to #13. Also moving into the ranks are NC State, North Texas, and Alabama.
Wisconsin, along wth three vy League teams, Brown, Cornell, and Harvard, drop out.
More on Bowling Green v OSU Thriller
Bowling Green is 3-0 and might well feel fortunate to be so, after their nail-biting 31-29 defeat of a much-improved Ohio State Saturday.
While this was still an early-season game, and brought with it the inherent mistakes, it still brought with it plenty of excitement, too.
"They played us well - they always seem to play us well," said BGSU Head Coach Tony Mazzarella. "We made some mistakes. We were sloppy in gal-handling, but somehow we puled it out."
With the score 26-26 and just three minutes to go, Ohio State took the lead with a penalty kick. Receiving the restart, Bowling Green knew they had one shot.
AIC Youngsters Gallop to Victory
American International College is now 1-0 in The ECRC after taking apart Northeastern 46-5 Saturday.
For Head Coach Josh Macy, it was a victory that he welcomed against a Northeastern team that is going through some transitions.
“They graduated some really great players last year,” said Macy. “For us it was a comfortable win. We played structured rugby, but really I think we only played the way we wanted to about two-thirds of the time.”
Still a very young team, AIC is asking a lot of freshman flyhalf Jihad Khabir, whose job it is to get the offense moving. It’s rare to see a freshman with that job, but he is, said Macy “adjusting.”
All of them are adjusting, as AIC is a young team, and one that sometimes has to harness its enthusiasm.
Rhode Island, UVM, Norwich Winners in New England
Rhode Island, Norwich, and Vermont were all victors in the Men's DII New England Rugby Conference this past weekend.
The University of Rhode Island opened NERC Conference play Saturday with a resounding 51-26 victory over Boston University in Kingston, RI. The Rams wasted no time in opening the scoring, taking advantage of a BU miscue on the opening kickoff to attack the BU line off the ensuing scrum, and though BU repelled the first few attacks, Kevin Almond was able to crash over from the back of a ruck for the game’s first try two minutes into the game.
Two 2-0 in Wisconsin - One Scary
Two winners in Wisconsin, and two teams now 2-0 in the WIIL Conference, but also two teams with very different stories.
For UW-Stout, it was a good day, but a tense one, as they pulled out a 41-36 squeaker against previously 0-1 UW-Platteville. Brad Dufek, Damon King, Kyle Klanderman, Stetson Smith, and Travis Swirth were among the try-scorers in a game that we not expected to be that close.
At 2-0, Stout are in good position, but have to be concerned about being pushed. Why? In part because UW-Whitewater looked treacherous. After beating Marquette 81-15 in Week One, UWW did one better, hammering UW-LaCrosse 114-0 on Saturday.
LSU, Mississippi State, Florida Win in SCRC
LSU, Florida, and Mississippi State all emerged winners this weekend in the SCRC Collegiate Conference.
Mississippi State played at Ole Miss Sunday, and the Maddawgs won 33-12 with tries from Terrance Matthews, Pieter Both, Alex Schultz, Tim Brown, and Demarrion Haynes. Schultz added eight points and conversions, while Both added another.
Meanwhile, defending champs LSU were impressive in their 79-15 demolition of the Georgia Bulldogs. Todd Dupre scored the first two tries for the Tigers, while Wes LaBorde, Brennan Falcon, Patrick Holden, Chance Mitchell, and Christian Bower were among the scorers. Alec Miller kicked seven conversions.
College Eligibility Polls So Far
Readers continue to vote on Goff Rugby Report's short College Eligibility survey, which appears in this column:
Fixing Eligibility Rules Not So Easy
The results so far are as follows:
Should Military Service be exempt from any "Eligibility Clock" in college rugby, even if it means a student can return from military service at 26 and keep playing?
Yes: 62.9%
No: 37.1%
