The Southern Conference is all set for the conference final 7s tournament at Furman on the 22nd after last Saturday’s final leg. 

Eight of the conference’s top teams will be preparing until then in hopes of winning the conference and securing a spot at the USA Rugby Division II Nationals in Colorado on May 19. The conference is hoping to get at least one at-large bid in addition to the champion of the conference because of a recent history of good performance from Southern Conference teams in past national-level tournaments. 

The seeding for the conference final is as follows: 1.UNCC 2. Furman 3. Citadel 4. UNCW 5. App State 6. Coastal Carolina 7. UNC 8. ECU.

Last Saturday, Furman faced off against UNC Charlotte once again in the third leg’s cup final at Elon. Both teams were able to score tries by breaking through for long runs. But in the end, Furman emerged 26-12 victors. 

Furman forward Patrick Musau was an integral part of the team’s success, and he said, “the last two weeks we’ve been trying to improve our continuity. We’ve been doing a lot of passing and tackling drills, and I think that helped put us over the top today.” 

Musau added there is still room for improvement though going into the conference finals, saying his team could “up the aggression, and work on not getting caught shallow.”

-- Thomas LaMuraglia