The top six teams in the Empire Conference are playing the top six teams in the ECRC Saturday in Saratoga Springs, NY.

This challenge match event will be an interesting chance to measure the relative strengths of the two groups of teams. It is also a precursor to a merger. The two conferences are expected to merge next fall. There won't be that much of a change on how they do business - the teams will likely be split along geographic lines - but the idea is that even with the occasional crossover games, these teams can all get better.

The top teams in the conference, Binghamton for the Empire and AIC for the ECRC, will face off. Similarly, the 2nd-place teams - Syracuse and Boston Collegr - 3rd-place, and so on, will play each other.

"We're pretty excited for it," said Binghamton captain and prop Nick Coppola. "We're playing AIC so I guess we a little curious as to how we match up against what's basically a varsity program. Our team plays to the level of our opponent, and we know when we play AIC it's a chance to rank ourselves and see where we are."

UMass Head Coach Phil Ciccarelli said his team has continued to get better and played some good overall rugby. 

"We're starting to get a lot more kids who have played rugby before, and we've got some good athletes," he added. "This has been a good season for us, and we have something to play for in November."

Here's how the ECRC ended up:

Here's how the Empire ended up:

(Binghmaton beat Syracuse 21-20 in the championship game. There was no playoff in the ECRC.)

Here are the matchups: