The Collegiate season officially ends this weekend with the CRAA Men’s 7s in Iowa City, Iowa.
For the first time in several years, CRAA will host a D1A-level tournament as well as their more regular D1AA event. The D1A bracket is small, and in a way a small step back into this realm, but it’s there, which wasn’t the case over the last two seasons.
For the D1A group, then, Life, Saint Mary’s, Lindenwood, McKendree, Air Force, and Davenport will compete.
Saint Mary’s will be run by alumnus Mike McCarthy and captain Marti Storti (Gaels Head Coach is attending a funeral). They have a relatively young side as prior commitments leave out several of the players many fans would pick for this roster. But they are ably led by Storti as well as Dom Besag, Ollie Cline, and Iosefa Toiaivao. Watch out for freshmen Dominic Peterson and Caleb Ray.
“We’re excited for the weekend ahead,” McCarthy told GRR.”The way 7s works out, we obviously don't get a lot of time to prepare, and, yes, due to the time of year, a few guys are unavailable with final exams, graduation ceremonies etcetera. But as a coach, I'm fortunate that coming off the back of a 15s season, most guys are relatively fit and show up with some level of competency in the basics of play—pass, catch, tackle. So mostly we've focused on the transition from 15s to 7s in terms of spacing. The fundamentals of the game are the same,;we've just worked on adjusting width, depth, timing, connection.”
All teams can take a roster of 15, but Lindenwood, with graduation, exams, and other commitments, will take 11. They are, however, set to do well.
“We’re not short of good rugby players,” said Head Coach Josh Macy. “And these events can be special. Some of the best times my alumni talk about has been about those big 7s tournaments they played in together.”
Keep an eye on Hassan Lin, who has played high-level 7s for Hong Kong, and young scrumhalf Malan Graham, who had some injury issues that kept him off the field this spring, but is back now and ready to do. Englishman Mo Ratnage played touch rugby at a high level and the freshman could have a breakout weekend.
Life, under Coaches Benny Matteialona and Donovan Law know what they’re about in the 7s game and they have their players also going through a bit of a boot camp. Davenport has had even less time, as they played in the CRAA finals weekend last week, winning the Challenger Final. So they will have to rely on their overall skill and win that physicality battle.
Air Force and McKendree have 7s talent and have had some more time to prepare. This will be a challenge for them, but they will have had time to target this tournament.
