OK, so, big breath, time to handicap the CRC.

This year’s competition is the best yet. With the local teams in their own competition in the City 4, organizers have been able to replace Drexel, Penn, Villanova, and LaSalle with the likes of Arkansas State, Air Force, and Clemson. That makes for more code games in pool play, and more potential for surprises.

Rugby fans and sports fans that don’t know much about rugby know a blowout when they see one, and usually they don’t like seeing them.

We won’t see too many runaway wins, and we will see a few upsets. Here’s what we think:

 

Pool A

Cal, Notre Dame, BC, Virginia Tech

As iffy as many of us were about Boston College being added to the CRC, they have shown themselves to be a capable team, and they have a shot at making the top two in this pool. We choose Notre Dame, which has been playing its best 7s in quite some time this season. Cal goes 3-0 - that’s a given.

 

Pool B

Kutztown, Air Force, Navy, Temple

We’re sure Kutztown will win this pool, and we’re sure that despite some hard work, Temple will be 4th. The question is who will win between Air Force and Navy. The Zoomies have a more 7s-capable squad 1 through 12, but Navy has Jack McAuliffe, and you know we like McAuliffe. We’re picking Air Force, but it’s a guess.

 

Pool C

Life, Indiana, Clemson, Alabama

This is the Pool of Death (big surprise, Life is in it). The Running Eagles will still win, but they might lose a game in doing so, and in fact we wouldn’t be surprised to see all four go 1-1-1. Alabama is used to surprising teams and we think they’ll win at least one. Clemson is good enough to win the pool, but Indiana is about as ruthless a team as you will see in the CRC. If Indiana makes the quarterfinals, they could go all the way.

We kind of secretly would love to see the much-unloved Alabama team just roll through. It will be tough for them, though.

 

Pool D

Arkansas State, UCLA, Michigan, Texas

Questions everywhere for all of these teams. Has the imminent coaching change at ASU ruined their chances of making a big move? They are still slammed with injuries, but those injuries hurt them less in 7s than in 15s. Michigan is the big question-mark. They could win this pool, while UCLA, you know, has quietly being working on stuff since their ouster from the Varsity Cup.

We’re picking ASU, UCLA, then Michigan, but it could certainly be shuffled around.

 

Pool E

St. Joseph’s, Penn State, Dartmouth, Arizona

We can’t choose. We’ve got a strong feeling that this might be the year for Penn State, but it’s important not to look past Dartmouth, which won this tournament twice, and St. Joseph’s, which plays more 7s than almost any other team in this tournament. Dartmouth has a current student who is captain of the USA 7s team, but Madison Hughes won't be available as he's being saved for the NACRA 7s. Tha's a blow to Dartmouth, as Hughes was a CRC MVP as a freshman, and would be a game-changer for Dartmouth. Hughes is in a green jersey, and the green jerseys win this pool. 

What to think of Arizona? We think the Wildcats may well be the team to watch for the next several years, but maybe not this year.

So that’s a long way of saying we don’t really know. We’re going with St. Joe’s atop the pool because we’ve seen them play the most, and it would be great for a local team to do well.

 

So that gives us five pool winners: Cal, Kutztown, Life, Arkansas State, and St. Joseph’s.

We need three second place teams and we’re thinking Indiana, Air Force, and Penn State or maybe UCLA. 

 

Any of these predictions could be woefully wrong. We like Notre Dame, Navy, Michigan, Clemson, and Alabama, to name some. They are all good enough to get into the top eight. As we said, this is a very competitive tournament. So coaches, don’t get bent out of shape if we don’t have you winning your pool - the games should almost all be close, and in 7s anything can happen.

 

Some more predictions and notes

The knockout round schedule for the CRC is nebulous. You’ll remember last year the tournament changed the semifinal matchups in the middle of the tournament. It is possible they will do so again. Who’s going to win? Our money is on Kutztown. Breakout team? Has to be St. Joseph’s. Players who will make a splash: Nu’u Aiava, Kutztown, Anthony Salaber, Cal, Jake Hidalgo, Indiana, Tyrus Baytops, Life, Dylan Carrion, Arkansas State, Victor Wu, Air Force (Ben Bermester is the best player on the Air Force team, but what he does isn’t flashy, so we put in the snappy Wu instead).

Number of teams n the CRC that would make the USA Rugby Top 8 … ha ha … you won’t get us to go there … yet.

And finally ... did you notice that there’s a music festival with the CRC tournament? So cute that they’re trying the music thing again …