As often happens in large tournaments, there are some changes in the lineup of some brackets at the Las Vegas Invitational - most notably in the CRC Qualifier.

The LVI ran into trouble with lack of clarity and last-minute changes in eligibility decisions last year with regard to one of Lindenwood's players, and there has been some last-minute wrangling this year, too.

At the center of the issue is Life West, a program that plays in men's club rugby most of the time. Life West enrolled in the CRC Qualifier, but there remained several questions as to whether the players on the squad were undergraduates, or even enrolled (Life West operates as a club in part because some non-students are given the opportunity to play through the rugby team, and in part because they field graduate students). This, apparently, didn't come up until one of Life West's potential opponents mentioned it. 

So then some new paperwork went out to teams, and Life West, formerly the #1 seed in Pool F, appears to be out. Caught, possibly, in the crossfire of this issue was New England College. NEC was working with its school on ensuring some players could make it, and when the updated forms came from the LVI, there was a massive bureaucratic problem with signing off, and that may have been the reason behind Head Coach Jeremy Treece leaving.

In the end, NEC coaches and supporters are working around the clock to make sure NEC gets on the field to face Dixie State at 10am Thursday morning. It's been a race to beat the deadlines, as usual.

So the pools in the CRC Qualifier remains unchanged, except for one ... for now.

Pool A: AIC, Miami, Ithaca 2, Colorado State

Pool B: Notre Dame College, JMU, Colorado, UNLV

Pool C: Air Force, Delaware, Colgate, Citadel

Pool D: Lindenwood-Belleville, Ithaca 1, Dixie State and ... we hope ... New England College

Pool E: Utah, Northeastern, Pittsburgh (only 3 teams in this pool)

Pool F: St. Joseph's, Harvard, Millersville