CRAA Adding 7s Tournaments to Spring Finals Weekend in May

Aveva Stadium will be the backdrop for all four championship matches on May 6, 2023; the stadium hosted CRAA's Spring Championships in 2022 as well. 

CRAA has partnered with The Rugby Network (TRN) to provide free online streaming of all XVs and Sevens matches with professional broadcast production. TRN provides full 1080p HD streams with replays and highlights of every single  MLR match. They also produce weekly rugby shows, documentaries, and latest news from the MLR.

The College Rugby Association of America (CRAA) is a USA Rugby-sanctioned competition that includes premier divisions within Men’s and Women’s Collegiate rugby.  The competition  includes Men’s D1A, Women’s D1 Elite, Women’s D1 and Women’s D2.  CRAA is committed to creating the best possible experience for student athletes, keeping commercial resources in the collegiate game, and creating experiences for our members to engage their academic institutions and alumni.

So what might we expect from this weekend? First off, it seems clear that we will see the liked of Navy and Army in the D1A 15s playoffs, along with many of the other likely suspects, but by April 23 two teams will remain (the semifinals are slated for April 22). So six of the eight quarterfinalists will be available to play. Add in teams that just missed out on the playoffs (and there are some very good ones) teams that played mostly in the fall, and top DIAA teams, and you can easily fill out a very strong men's 7s competition. 

On the women's side, this is logically going to be what the 7s tournament in Atlanta last year (which is not being repeated) turned out to be—D1 Elite teams and NIRA teams in their lone championship crossover. Imagine Lindenwood, Dartmouth, Life, Harvard, Central Washington, Harvard, Penn State, Brown, Army, D1 winners Navy, and NIRA D2 finalists Queens and Davenport in a competition—it's a compelling group. We're not-so-secretly hoping to see Utah State there, too, as their game seems a nice fit for 7s.

What it will provide as a spectacle is a tight event that isn't trying to be all things to all people, but a high-level 7s event plus serious bowl games and three championship finals—five 15s games over two days plus, as we understand it, 52 7s games. On (probably) three fields, that's doable, as the 7s and the 15s combined will be about 28-29 hours of action over two days.