Time now to grade the RCT series - and perhaps the teams, too.

First, the entire Regional Cup system. It’s a great thing, and to have all of the tournaments basically over two weekends works nicely, too. We here at Goff Rugby Report World Headquarters believe that we might see more teams show up at more than one event - right now only Nebraska is doing that. Perhaps there can be more.

We’re seeing a clear differentiation in popularity of some of the tournaments. The two oldest events, the Mid-Atlantic Challenge Cup in Pittsburgh, and the Rocky Mountain Challenge in Aurora, Colo., drew the biggest field of teams. Why? Partly it is because they are long-standing events. The organizers know what they are doing, and have been doing it for a while. Part of it is the central location. It’s not hard to find flights to Pittsburgh, and even easier to fly to Denver.

Part of it is the venues, which are both very good.

By contrast, the Northeast RCT drew only four varsity boys teams and three varsity girls teams. This is partly because the event is tucked into the corner of the country, and for the more remote teams, there’s no non-stop flight to that venue. So for some, if you’re going to the Northeast, why not just go to Pittsburgh, instead? The Northeast event, then, has become more of a Local Area Tournament.

The Southwest tournament in Southern California was a mistake to have at all. It’s not that it wasn’t well-run - it was. It’s not that the venue wasn’t nice - it was. But the weather was rough (very hot), and because there was a tournament in Denver that week and another in Oregon the week after, only three boys varsity teams and only two girls varsity teams showed up. That’s a lot of effort invested for such a small field of teams.

And then there’s the up-and-comer. The South RCT last year was small, and Life University flat-out said they couldn’t accommodate a bigger one. So in stepped the Rugby Athletic Center, a fantastic venue, well-organized, and as a result, all brackets - boys varsity, girls varsity, boys JV, and boys middle school, were pretty full. Again - a reachable location, a good venue, and promise of strong organization go a long way.

Looking ahead to this coming weekend, the Midwest Regional Cup has 19 teams in attendance, including girls JV (something not every tournament had). It’s an attractive tournament in part because of its location. Rockford, Ill. is only 90 minutes from Chicago O’Hare airport, the hubbiest of hub airports. 

The Great Northwest Challenge just outside of Portland, Ore. kind of got the shaft. By putting the Southwest tournament in California and the PNW tournament in Oregon, USA Rugby hurt both. The GNWC should be the go-to tournament on the West Coast. The weather is always amazing, the organization top-notch, and the venues good. The Southwest tournament should really be in Arizona (who didn’t even field a select side this year - sad), or Texas or Oklahoma. 

 

So for 2016 here’s what we at GRRWHQ would like to see:

Put the Northeast a week later, away from the NY State Regents Exams.

Leave the South RCT exactly where it is. Same goes for Mid-Atlantic and Rocky Mountain.

Either keep the Northwest event in the Portland area (our preference), or rotate between Puget Sound, Oregon, and California (what may well happen). We don’t like that plan because we’ve seen that cause political problems before. As the Rocky Mountain and Mid-Atlantic tournaments have shown, teams want stability in these tournaments.

Move the Southwest to the actual Southwest

And, finally, there’s the carrot at the end of the line, the Stars & Stripes Game. Change this format. We’ll go into it in more detail later, but this should be a four-team regional championship, with no open subs, and not stuffed somewhere remote (we could give you GRR Editor Alex Goff’s saga of getting to Greeley, Colo. last year, but it would make you very sad). 

OK, now to the payoff in this article. Here are our rankings for Boys Select Sides so far (not including teams that haven’t played):

 

Boys Varsity Select Side Rankings

1. Utah

2. Southern California

3. Northern California

4. Virginia

5. Texas

6. Florida

7. Indiana

8. Greenwich

9. Georgia

10. Colorado

11. North Carolina

12. Oklahoma

13. Heart of America

14. Massachusetts

15.  South Carolina/Tennessee

 

 

Boys JV Select Side Rankings

1. Utah

2. Indiana

3. North Carolina

4. Northern California

5. Greenwich

6. Virginia

7. Texas

8. Washington

9. Southern California

10. Georgia