With several Boys HS Rugby National Championship play-ins completed this weekend we know more about who will be at the tournament.
New Trier, Berks, Fort Hunt, St. Edward, Notre Dame de la Salette, and Greenwich have all played their way into the Big Dance, with more spots waiting.
The play-ins have been really interesting this year because teams that have attended previous events find themselves having to play in. The reason? More applications. More teams, and more very strong teams applied, making it tougher and tougher to get a berth. The selection process was intense, with the HS Nationals Committee going through five separate conference calls and hours of study to make the decisions.
In all, 46 teams applied for 24 competition positions. Thirteen teams received direct invitations, which is likely the lowest number since the current format of the tournament was adopted over 10 years ago. Then 18 teams were asked to play in head-to-head games to fill nine spots from various regions. Most of those games were, thankfully, scheduled in March although a couple. are slated for April, most of those spots will be filled by next weekend.
The last 2 places are being held for wildcard positions as the spring season plays out and a remaining group of teams are under close scrutiny.
The event has increased not only in popularity but in quality perhaps more so. A massive number of past national champions and runners-up applied. And while these teams have history, a healthy crop of very talented first time teams also applied to participate.
“The depth of this competition continues to grow and impress us. So much so that we will do all we can next year to increase the format to 32 teams offering more opportunities," said committee member Bart Bottorff.
That's right. Serious consideration is being given to expanding the tournament to 32 teams. This would mean a Tier II for HS Club and one for School teams.
La Salette Punches Ticket
With a Nationals bid on the line, the La Salette Lions hosted the Penn Kingsmen in Georgetown, Ill., Saturday. With a steady wind at their back, La Salette jumped out to a 19-0 lead on the strength of excellent ball movement which resulted in multiple tries out wide. Penn responded with a score of their own before halftime, a product of dynamic open field running from the fullback position.
In the second half, La Salette widened their lead steadily with backline breaks and strong line-outs. Some costly penalties in La Salette’s half gave Penn the opening to put over two more tries before an interception out wide by La Salette’s wing lead to one last try and a final score of 43-17.
Close One in Connecticut
Greenwich defeated Staples in a tight one 14-10 Sunday in Connecticut to book a spot at the Boys HS National Championships.
The result was unsurprising in the sense that it was close. These two teams have been dogging each other for a while.
"Good matchup with Greenwich," said Staples Head Coach Jack Corcoran. "Staples made too many mistakes in our own end and played the game too much in our own end. Greenwich did well stopping any big play potential Staples could muster up. They had a better defensive plan. They also showed they wanted it more."
Greenwich Head Coach Mike Laczkowski agreed when it came to the defense. It's still early days for Greenwich, especially, and perhaps the best way to start strong when you need to start strong is to make sure scoring on your is difficult—at least then you can keep the game close. This appeared to be Greenwich's MO. And really, when Greenwich is strong they control the field well.
"I’m most impressed by our defensive efforts today," said Laczkowski. "We knew going in that it was going to be a small pitch and their size would be a problem, so holding Staples to 3 points for 50 minutes was impressive. Our offense is still very new together and they will be able to play a better flowing game going forward."
