All photos David Barpal. Click on image to enlarge.

Arkansas State University have earned a place in the USA 7s Collegiate Rugby Championship invitational tournament in Chester, Pa. in June thanks to a 19-10 defeat of AIC in the qualifier final in Las Vegas.

AIC ran out to an early lead in an exciting and tense encounter, but ASU equalized with a try from Tom Hausrer to make it 5-5.

The teams battled back and forth. AIC scored to take a 10-5 lead, but a loose ball gave ASU the possession and a try under the posts for Ricardo Lategan to make it 12-10. The Red Wolves finished off the job later as AIC failed to get out of their end, and ASU punished them. Ruann Knuppel capped it off.

In the end, AIC was not able to use its speed and athleticism as much as the team wanted, bottled up by a tough ASU defense and a narrow field at Sam Boyd Stadium. The Yellowjackets also made key errors - a pass to no one off the back of a scrum in their own half, and a dropped ball in their own in-goal being two examples.

For Arkansas State scrumhalf Dylan Carrion, who has been the spark plug for a team that won two USA Rugby national 7s titles, this ASU team has a special profile.

“We are known for being big and physical, but all the big guys we had from last year are pretty much gone, and on these narrower fields it might help the other team,” he told Goff Rugby Report. “We’re a wide fast team and we want to show that.” 

ASU got to the final after beating Air Force 24-19 in a game where they had to come back from a deficit.

“It wasn’t really a strategy adjustment,” Carrion said of his team’s comeback against Air Force. “It was just playing the game plan we wanted to play at the outset.”

Carrion made some key plays in that game, including forcing a knock-on that led to an attacking scrum that set up the game-winning try.

For Ricardo Lategan, the Red Wolves’ victories came down to composure.

“We kept our cool,” he said. “This is a good team and we’ve got good players and ability, but we needed to keep our cool and we did.”

AIC did more than enough to justify their place in the CRC if they want it. The Yellowjackets have all the makings of a team that could challenge at that level. 

St. Joseph’s, already a CRC team, made the semis and were competitive until the end. Air Force almost made the final, and could argue they are the second-best team in Las Vegas. They likely will be in the CRC even though they didn’t win.

CRC teams Kutztown and Dartmouth did well but were a little unlucky.