Six more teams have secured qualification to USA Rugby’s Men’s College 7s Championships, with three of them also garnering an invitation to the CRC.

Here’s how it went down this weekend:

Indiana won the Big Ten Universities 7s as expected. IU had little trouble making their way through the field of opponents, beating Northwest 49-5, Iowa 33-12, Purdue 31-0, and Michigan 19-0 in the semis. There they faced Wisconsin, which got a bye into the Big Ten finals because they were playing in the DIA 15s playoffs. Wisconsin needed overtime to get by Purdue in the semis, and then ran into the IU buzz saw and lost 38-7.

Indiana gets an invitation to the CRC in Chester, Pa. May 30-31, and the USA championship May 23-24 in Denver.

In the Empire 7s, Stony Brook made the final and was the top-finishing in-conference team. But the Seawolves lost to a dominant Kutztown team 38-0 in the final. With Kutztown being a CRC team, it’s unclear whether Stony Brook did enough to get a USA championship invitation.

St. Joseph’s were favored to win the Keystone 7s, and did so, but it wasn’t easy, as they had to battle Temple 19-14 to take the title. St. Joe’s is already slated to go to the CRC and it’s unlikely the Hawks will also go to Denver.

Miami (Ohio) played their best day of 7s this year and shocked Bowling Green 27-24 in the final of the MAC 7s. Miami has qualified for Denver, and Bowling Green, which won the Notre Dame College 7s a week ago, is going, as well.

In another shocker - a big one - Alabama upset South Carolina 22-21 in the semis, while Mississippi State upset Tennessee in the semis, as well. The Tide then defeated MSU 24-14 in the final. This was the second time Alabama had pulled off a playoff shocker, as the Crimson Tide had beaten Tennessee in the 15s semis last fall. Alabama has an invitation to both the CRC and USA Rugby tournaments.  

And finally, on Sunday, in the Atlantic Coast Rugby Conference, Virginia Tech broke open a 12-12 tie with two tries, and then held off a late Clemson surge to win 26-19 in the final on Sunday after a two-day tournament. Virginia Tech has already accepted an invitation to the CRC, and so this automatic bid from the ACRL is blown wide open. It could be that Clemson, 2nd in the ACRL, gets an invitation, or another team from somewhere else is asked, instead.

 

 

Teams that automatically qualified for the USA Rugby’s Men’s DI College 7s championships in Denver and we expect to attend:

San Diego State

Central Washington

Nevada

Central Florida

West Virginia

Bowling Green

Air Force

AIC

Miami (OH)

 

 

Teams that qualified that are also going to the CRC and may or may not go to Denver:

Dartmouth (Ivy League)

Kutztown (Empire)

Alabama (SCRC)

Indiana (Big Ten)

Virginia Tech (ACRL)

 

Teams that qualified but are confirmed to be CRC-only:

Cal (PAC, BIB)

UCLA (West Coast)

St. Joseph’s (Keystone)

 

 

Teams in contention for an at-large big:

Arizona State

Western Washington

Utah

Sacramento State

Kansas State

St. Bonaventure

Mississippi State

Clemson

Tennessee

Colorado State

Kansas State

Wisconsin

Stony Brook

 

Qualifiers remaining: 2

 

 

Here is the list of CRC teams:

Air Force

Alabama

Arizona

Arkansas State

Boston College

Cal

Dartmouth

Indiana

Kutztown

Life

Michigan

Navy

Notre Dame

Penn State

St. Joseph’s

Temple

Texas

Virginia Tech

UCLA

- One More to be decided