Men's D2 National Playoffs Bracket Update
Men's D2 National Playoffs Bracket Update
The Men's D2 college rugby bracket is filling out.
Here's what we know as of Saturday afternoon, November 6.
Illinois State beat Northern Iowa to win the Great Midwest—ISU Downs UNI in Teeth-Rattling GMW Final—and Marquette took third—Marquette Takes 3rd in GMW, Books Place in NCR Playoffs—and all three will go to the national playoffs.
Norwich beat UMass Lowell 29-14 to take the New England-Wide, while Vermont took third over Providence. All three of those teams will move on to the NCR D2 playoffs as well.
In a bit of a shocker, Thomas More hammered Marian 45-14 to win the MCRC. Marian got into major card trouble with two red cards and four yellows.
Thomas More lost high-scoring Alejandro Torres to an ankle injury early, but the More players kind of rallied after that.
Matias Caramuti played an outstanding game and was leader of the backs, scoring a try, and going perfect on the day with his kicks for goal, 5-for-5 on conversions and one penalty goal.
"Our open style of play worked today," said More Head Coach John Fox. "We watched Marian's game against Lindenwood and followed Lindenwood’s game plan with quick offloads and strong open play."
More said the final score was not indicative of the competitiveness of the two teams.
"John Harley runs a phenomenal program and they will bounce back from this," said More.
UNC-Wilmington continued their improved play and beat Furman 36-10 in the Southern semis. They will play UNC-Charlotte next week in the conference final, but both teams are in the playoffs now.
On Sunday we find out more. Georgetown beat Drexel 36-15 and Bucknell beat Villanova 25-17. Those two will play Sunday for the conference title, but both are now in the NCR playoffs. Tri-State (Marist vs RPI), Cardinals (Virginia vs VCU), and Allegheny (IUP against Kent State) all finalize tomorrow. All of those finals get the winner into the national bracket, and that's all.
See the bracket as it looks right now: