USA Rugby has 24 slots to fill in their Men’s College 7s Championships, and deciding who gets to fill those slots will be a tough job.

Photos David Barpal.

University of Notre Dame

Dartmouth

Utah

Air Force

St. Joseph's

The USA tournament is a week before the older and somewhat more established CRC invitational, and it is reasonable to assume that some of the CRC teams will choose to play in just the one tournament.

We already know some of the teams that will be there, but there are still many more invitations to send out. USA Rugby has a panel deciding who gets the invitation. As far as I know, I’m not on the panel, so here’s my opinion at present:

 

Teams that have qualified who we expect to go to Denver:

San Diego State

Central Washington

Dartmouth

Nevada-Reno

Central Florida

West Virginia

 

Teams that have qualified who won’t go to Denver:

Cal

 

Teams that have qualified who we’re not sure will go to Denver

UCLA

 

Automatic qualification spots as yet unclaimed:

10-12 (we’re waiting on confirmation of two)

 

Runners-up in qualification tournaments who performed especially well:

Sacramento State

Arizona State

Western Washington

Kansas State

 

Teams that have performed well in tough tournaments who we think should get consideration:

AIC

Arkansas State

Utah

Lindenwood

St. Joseph’s

 

The 12 or so remaining tournaments will also have 12 or so runners-up. Seeing as there are 19 (or 21) qualifying tournaments, you can’t invite every 2nd place team. But you can make some judgment calls. Arizona State finished 2nd in two events. They deserve to be in Denver. Sacramento State also finished 2nd in two events. They should be there.

Whether Utah (3rd or 4th behind Cal, UCLA, and ASU in two tournaments, and a good showing at the LVI), Arkansas State (LVI winners), AIC (LVI runners up), or Lindenwood and St. Joe’s (decent showing at LVI) have done enough to warrant a look remains to be seen. I think they are all good enough to place well at nationals. But have they met the criteria? Notre Dame, won a tournament just the other week, but is that enough?

I haven’t listed St. Mary’s, and everyone knows St. Mary’s at their best are an excellent 7s team. But in the fall they rested many upperclassmen, and so didn’t place well. You can’t pick a team on potential alone. Same goes for Life University and even somewhat for Lindenwood. They need to play in a 7s tournament this spring, but who can find the time?

AIC will enter two separate qualifiers this April, and I think they’ll win at least one of those.

 

So, now, maybe we can predict who else will qualify:

NDC 7s - Notre Dame College or maybe Bowling Green

Rocky Mountain 7s - Air Force has a really good shot

Southeastern Conference 7s - Tennessee

Armory 7s - AIC

Big Ten 7s - Indiana

Empire Rugby 7s - AIC

Mid America 7s - Don’t know

ACRL 7s - Clemson

Little Rock 7s - Don’t know

Red River 7s - Texas A&M

 

(these tournaments are likely to be named qualifiers soon)

Heart of America - Arkansas 

Keystone - St. Joseph’s or West Virginia

 

 

That would give us a potential field of the following:

San Diego State

Central Washington

Dartmouth

Nevada-Reno

Central Florida

West Virginia

Air Force

Tennessee

Notre Dame College

AIC

Indiana

Clemson

Texas A&M

Arkansas

St. Joseph’s

and two more plus (maybe) UCLA

 

With 

Arizona State

Sacramento State

and the likes of Bowling Green, Kansas State, Western Washington, and perhaps Utah and Notre Dame

 

That would give us close to 24, and would be a very compelling 7s tournament. If Life or Arkansas State also finds a way to get in there, so much the better.