An interesting phenomenon showed itself this week.
Usually, when we're asked the question as to whether the HS Clubs or Single-School teams are stronger, our answer is this: at the top, they are fairly close, but the club top list is probably a bit longer, the medium-ranked school list is a bit longer, but then there's a sharp drop.
This year, however, it looks like those school teams ranked 35-60 or so (and, yes, we keep a list of teams that aren't in the rankings yet), are stronger than they have been in recent years. This is because, in part, the COVID freshmen have now graduated, and what COVID did to sports participation, especially rugby, is starting to fade into history. Now the players were middle-schoolers when COVID hit and not being able to play sports stuck with them ... they resolved not to waste that chance in high school.
So what we are seeing is a growth in high school rugby and especially a growth in school rugby, whether official or unofficial. In addition, the school teams that have been around a while are getting better (same COVID issue).
So then we take a look at this week. Teams ranked in the 40s or even unranked won against teams that have already logged good results. Meanwhile, the teams we have ranked around the top 15 or so lost. It seems, at this week's glance, that the school competition is squished a little.
Massive moves for Rye, Christian Brothers (NJ), and Trumbull.
St. Edward. This was a tough one. A first look at their score vs. St. Ignatius was ... wow, they got blown out. But, it was 36-27 with less than 10 minutes to go. Yes, the game is 70 minutes, not 60, but we felt, after the result, that St. Ed's deserved to be a little higher. Now, the team they are set to play this coming weekend is not ranked—Moeller—but is in that 51-60 list, along with Withrow (who beat them March 1). So we could see whether we have that right this coming weekend. Note that St. Xavier beat Withrow so that's why we have them ranked and Withrow and Moeller not ... yet.
