It’s time to wrap up the Big 10 with all eight teams participating in the Big 10’s rugby conference playing at University of Notre Dame Saturday.
Notre Dame, of course, is not a traditional Big 10 school but as recent shifts in college sports have sent traditional conference associations into turmoil, the Fighting Irish are much more Big 10 than many others.
As is tradition within this conference, there will be placement games for everyone:
Championship Game: Indiana vs Michigan State
3rd-4th Game: Ohio State vs Illinois
5th-6th Game: Michigan vs Wisconsin
7th-8th Game: Notre Dame vs Purdue
For Wisconsin this has been a resurgent year, but we’ve seen those also from Illinois and, especially Michigan State.
The Spartans got by Illinois 27-21 to book their place in the final behind tries from center Robbie Smith, lock Jacob LaFave, fullback Tom Downey, and No. 8 Jeronimo Ballesty converting all three tries while adding a key late penalty to make it a six-point game. Reserve back Eduardo Ferdinandi also kicked a penalty.
“Every player put in a good performance,” said Head Coach Jim Rogers. who nonetheless got a key defensive contribution from flanker Miles Bell.
“It’s a huge win for us as a team, and the program historically,” added Rogers “We’re already guaranteed our best finish in the Big Ten, but the season isn’t over. One more Big Ten game. It’ll be a really tough game against an Indiana team that, as always, is playing some really good rugby.”
