New Head Coach for Kennesaw State Men's Rugby
Kennesaw State University men's rugby has named a new Head Coach.
Former Canadian international and Rugby ATL player Matt Heaton will head up the program beginning this coming fall.
Heaton was capped 31 times for Canada and also played for Otley and Darlington in the United Kingdom before joining Rugby ATL in Major League Rugby.
Life Men Lead the Way in CRAA Premier 7s
Life University did the double, winning the Men's Premier 7s Sunday just after their women's team did the same.
Comeback Kids: Life Women Take CRAA Premier 7s
Both Life and Lindenwood came into the game missing some impressive attacking players, with Lion Nic Hardrict II and Darius Law both unable to play. With the weather clearing up after a rainy Sunday in Houston, these two teams so familiar with each other worked enormously hard to not let either get any continuity.
But they're used to that and eventually a superb flat pass from Will Groves out to Kobe Millar put the big man through for a try for Lindenwood and a 7-0 lead.
Lewis Gray Wins 2023 Rudy Scholz Award
US Naval Academy center Lewis Gray has been named the 2023 Rudy Scholz Award winner as the best men’s collegiate rugby player of the 2022-2023 season.
Gray has been the scoring leader and emotional leader of the team in its 18-0 run to a national D1A championship, capped by Saturday’s 28-22 defeat of Cal.
In that game Gray’s contribution was certainly more on the emotional and defensive side. While he was a key ground-gainer, it was Gray’s emotional speech during a break for hydration in the first half that turned Navy’s fortunes around.
And, as time was almost up and Cal threatened to score a potential game-winner, it was Gray’s tackle that jarred the ball loose to allow the Midshipmen to run out the clock.
Navy Caps Off 18-0 Season With Dramatic Final Win Over Cal
One of the most enjoyable D1A seasons in recent memory had to end this way.
In one of the best national finals in D1A history capped off the season with Navy's come-from-behind victory over Cal.
Cal came into the game with the memory of a 33-28 loss to the Midshipmen in March. To deal with Navy's unceasing defensive front, the Bears had a plan, and it was working. The plans was essentially to be quick with the ball whenever they could. Whe the ball was available, forwards would pick-and-go, forcing Navy to devote more and more players to close-in defense.
Navy and Cal Set for a Thriller D1A Final
A hugely competitive D1A playoff culminates Saturday at Aveva Stadium in Houston with Navy and Cal facing off.
The 17-0 Navy Midshipmen come in after just barely escaping Lindenwood 12-10 in the semifinal. Cal (13-3) meanwhile exploded for 55 points to beat BYU in their semi. Such a close game and yet it was twi the winning margin of Cal (13-3), which held off Saint Mary's 29-28.
The game will be shown live on The Rugby Network 7:30PM ET Saturday.
Who Is This Navy Team in the D1A Final?
At the early part of the 2022-2023 season you kind of had a feeling Navy would be here in the D1A final.
The season had a slow buildup because the Midshipmen were heavily favored in their early games. But they started to make it happen from there. An 18-3 win over Mary Washington was an example of how they can pull out an offensively-challenged result. They battled hard with Penn State and Notre Dame College.
Navy vs Cal D1A Final Saturday 7:30PM ET Live on The Rugby Network
What we at GRR saw at the NDC game was a team that had more to give, but were pushed, hard. And they won. Eventually they won relatively well (36-21). And what fans saw there was a team that would fight for it.
Gutting It Out, IUP Pulls Out Second Straight CRC Championship
Perhaps the least surprising win at the CRCs was IUP.
Bringing back several players that ran through to the D2 championship in 2022, the Hawks were nicely-poised to do it again in 2023.
But there were questions, mostly about team unity. With players finishing their studies, dealing with injuries, and other reasons for not being available, IUP never had the same lineup twice.
Every tournament had a new mix of athletes, but Head Coach Seth Erwin made it work for him.
“Nobody got burned out,” said Erwin. “We developed a lot of depth. Last year we only went with nine players and this weekend we had the full 12. The one thing I’m thankful for is they’re a bunch of fit kids. They go to the gym together, they work hard.
“We used 26 different guys in seven tournaments and 22 scored during the season; it made choosing the team interesting.”
Strong In-Game Finishes See Cal to D1A Final
Cal's journey to the D1A final has been an interesting one.
As coaches often say, you learn more from losses than you do from wins, but Cal's history has centered around not worrying about winning, or how much the Bears win by. Instead, it has been about achieving a rarely-reached standard.
Cal players might win a game by 60 and find their performance taken apart on film review, because it's about the execution not the result. Until of course it is about the result, because everyone likes to win championships.
What was weird about this season was that for the first time in any full season for a very long time Cal didn't play University of British Columbia. Whatever the reasons for that, the annual two-game series was always considered a valuable test for the Bears. This year that test was replaced by ... well, we'll get back to that.
Unity and a Quick Turnaround as USD Wins CRC
University of San Diego will be playing Iowa State in the ACR D1AA final this coming weekend in Denver, but they already have a major championship trophy as they won the CRC D1 Club men's championship in the DC area last weekend.
While we all know the weather was rough at the CRC 7s, the good news for San Diego was the weather has been pretty awful in Southern California so they didn't really have to adjust. Adjusting quickly from 15s to 7s was also something they could handle as almost the entire winter/spring has been about 15s for the Toreros.
A lot of that has to do with the work of Head Coach Charlie Purdon.
Mount Gets Defensive in Ride to CRC Title
Did Mount St. Mary's finally put to bed the idea that you have to play 7s for months to be successful?
It certainly seemed that way. MSM played less than three tournaments (one tournament, one less-serious warmup tournament, and another called midway through on account of weather) and yet managed to win the CRC D1 Premier cup. How did they manage it? They managed it in part because 15s is still rugby, and good rugby wins.
"To be quite honest our players just really came together," said Mount St. Mary's Director of Rugby Jay Myles. "We only played eight 7s matches this spring. Our main focus was to focus on 15s and get defensive the foundation put down. And when we moved to 7s our connections were good, our tackling was good. I could not be more proud of our defense and our one-up tackles."
Wet and Windy CRC's Have Four Men's Finals Set
Here's a look at the men's brackets at the CRC 7s.
Small College
Cardiac kids Springfield won three games by a single conversion each to get to the top four in the CRC Men's Small College division.
Springfield beat John Carroll, Susquehanna, and Cal Poly Humboldt all by the identical score of 14-12.
Those first two games were pool play and the last one in the quarterfinals.
That set up a semifinal with Wabash, which Springfield won 26-20—four victories by a total of 12 points—as they made the final.
There, Springfield will play Babson, which slammed Richmond 42-0 and got by Northwest champs Western Oregon 14-0. That was enough to get Babson one of the byes straight to the semifinal (2-0 with a +56 points difference). The other team to get one was Wabash (2-0,, +57).
In the semi Babson held off Coastal Carolina 21-5.
Bowling Green Rugby to Rename Field After Roger Mazzarella
Bowling Green State University and the BGSU Rugby Football Club will hold a field renaming ceremony at College Park Rugby Field in Bowling Green at 10AM on May 6, renaming the field after longtime Bowling Green Rugby patriarch Roger Mazzarella.
Starting in the Fall of 2023, BGSU Rugby home games will henceforth be played at Roger Mazzarella Rugby Field. To coincide with the field renaming ceremony, the Mayor of Bowling Green, Ohio, Michael Aspacher, has announced that the City of Bowling Green has declared May 6, 2023 “Roger Mazzarella Day.”
Following the ceremony at 11AM will be the annual BGSU Rugby Alumni game and cookout; fans and friends of Roger are welcome to stay and enjoy the match and celebrate his much-deserved honor as the field’s new namesake.
A gala honoring Roger and his day will be held from 5-7PM at Olscamp Hall on BGSU’s campus.
CRAA Finals Weekend Features 15s and 7s
The CRAA Championship weekend schedule is set as five 15s games and two 7s tournaments descend on SaberCats Stadium in Houston.
The Rugby Network will be carrying these games live.
Here’s what’s at stake:
D1A National Championship Final
Navy takes on Cal in a massive D1A final. This is a rematch of the 1994 USA Rugby D1 final which Cal won. It is Navy’s first appearance in the D1A final, and Cal’s 4th.
Kickoff: Saturday, May 6, 6:35PM
Teams and Comments in Men's Divisions of CRC 7s
The NCR CRC has its men's competitions set, with brackets and pools finalized.
Premier Bracket
The Premier Men's Division is a bracket format with 32 teams. The teams play one game to advance to the final 16 with the teams that lose that first round into a consolation bracket.
There will be multiple consolation brackets as each round concludes. But here are the matchups with some comments:
Indiana vs Tennessee
Dartmouth vs Marian
All four of these teams have seen success in 7s but it does seem like Indiana, despite losing the Big 10 final, are the more polished and seasoned team.
Queens vs Air Force
Brown vs Navy
This is a Navy reserve side since they are in the D1A final. Brown has plenty of talent but overall this is a bit of a tossup bracket. Keep an eye on Air Force.
Cal Storms Past BYU in Big Second Half
Cal rode a massive scoring burst in the second half to defeat longtime rivals BYU 55-31 Saturday at Witter Rugby Field in Berkeley.
This was the second of two D1A semifinals on Saturday, with Navy having won 12-10 earlier in the day.
“Congratulations to BYU on a really fine season,” said Cal Head Coach Jack Clark. “Proud of our boys for advancing.”
This was a game that went in waves, with the first storm surge coming from Cal early on. No. 8 Alex Aguero powered his way over just two minutes into the match and that try was converted by co-captain Max Schumacher for a 7-0 lead. The Bears had momentum and a nifty run from center Rand Santos three minutes later made it a 12-0 game before the crowd had settled into their seats.
