The University of Virginia appears to be miles ahead of everyone else in the Cardinals Conference, but how will that translate on the national stage.

The Cavaliers may be a big fish in a small pond, but they have at least put the performances in. A large school that has struggled to find a DI conference to play in, Virginia has just done the only thing you can do, keep playing rugby.

Of course the COVID interruption was tough on the team. Club president Kevin Kelley said. Partly it's been tough on the Cardinals Conference, making games hard to come by.

"Multiple weekends we have accepted forfeits but provided our players to other teams in order to get games in," said Kelley. 

They did play Washington & Lee, and won 88-0 with wing Tyler Baroudi scoring five tries after he came off the bench in the second half. They played, and beat, the top-ranked small school in Christendom College 29-18. they were three tries down and came back thanks to an improved defense and the forwards taking control.

So now, what's left? They take on Virginia Commonwealth for the conference championship this coming Sunday. These two met before, but VCU had to forfeit. They played the game anyway with a bunch of UVA backs in VCU jerseys, and won 49-14.

UVA players scored the tries for VCU. 

Up front hooker Sawyer Brown and the second row pairing of Jack Pooley and Charlie Dean have been outstanding for Virginia, while flanker Dan Harley has also stood out. In the backs the halfback combination of Gunnay Desantis and Kelley have marshalled an effective attack, with players like Alejandro Waquin and impact subs Baroudi and Jacob Malcolm benefiting from their playmaking to ramp up the scoring.

Virginia, then, is a perhaps under-used great team in Men's DII College Rugby, but one worth watching.

"Our guys have done their job this entire season," said Kelly. "And by no means intend to stop winning."