So the first day of the Boys HS Rugby Nationals is done and we've got a few observations:

Good Teams are Good

Well, duh. What we mean by that is, good teams are good at a lot of things, and if you take one thing away, they will find another way to beat you. In addition, good teams find something they're good at, and they do it again and again and again. 

 

There is a HS Club Gap

The four HS Club games had an average score of 44-11. The club teams that really are strong have depth, excellent players everywhere, and put games away. By contract, three of the single-school gams gave us an average score of 27-12. Only Jesuit skews that with their blowout of Fishers. The assertion holds, however. There's a bigger gap between the very best HS Clubs and the next level, than there is in Single-School.

 

How Did We Do on Predictions?

We were pretty much dead on with the single-schools. We picked Jesuit, Penn, and Gonzaga, and said we couldn't decide on Xavier v Herriman (it was 24-20 Herriman). In Tier II we got Brownsburg, Aquinas, and Jesuit II right, but were wrong about Blue Valley and Charlotte Catholic - Catholic won going away. Actually, we were almost wrong on Aquinas, who were pushed to the limit by a young South Bay team with nothing to lose 21-17.

And in the HS Club bracket, we were 100%, and that speaks to the point above. The top four are really much better than the rest. So we'll give ourselves a 10.5/12 or 87.5% which is pretty good, but not perfect.

 

Players Who Emerged From Relative Obscurity to Play Really Well and Impress us at Goff Rugby Report:

Josh Howden (United). Jack McCrossin (Fort Hunt), Brian Bauer (Jesuit II), Connor Bellinger (Jesuit), Lucas Robinson (Penn), Nick Frdrick (Royal Irish), David Hull (Granite Bay), Nick Valentino (Xavier), Kevin Reilly (Doylestown).

 

So What's on for Tomorrow?

12:30pm Field 1 South Bay v Winnetonka

12:30pm Field 3 Brownsburg v St. Thomas Aquinas

12:30pm Field 4 Jesuit II v Charlotte Catholic

2pm Field 3 Jesuit v Herriman

2pm Field 4 Xavier v Fishers

3:30pm Field 3 Penn v Gonzaga

3:30pm Field 4 St. Edward v Greenwich

5:00pm Field 3 Fort Hunt v Granite Bay

5:00pm Field 4 Elsie Allen v KC Jr. Blues

6:30pm Field 3 Doylstown v Royal Irish

6:30pm Field 4 United v West End 

 

Some more on Day One Action

Single-School Teams

HS Club Teams