Wet and Windy CRC's Have Four Men's Finals Set
Wet and Windy CRC's Have Four Men's Finals Set
Here's a look at the men's brackets at the CRC 7s.
Small College
Cardiac kids Springfield won three games by a single conversion each to get to the top four in the CRC Men's Small College division.
Springfield beat John Carroll, Susquehanna, and Cal Poly Humboldt all by the identical score of 14-12.
Those first two games were pool play and the last one in the quarterfinals.
That set up a semifinal with Wabash, which Springfield won 26-20—four victories by a total of 12 points—as they made the final.
There, Springfield will play Babson, which slammed Richmond 42-0 and got by Northwest champs Western Oregon 14-0. That was enough to get Babson one of the byes straight to the semifinal (2-0 with a +56 points difference). The other team to get one was Wabash (2-0,, +57).
In the semi Babson held off Coastal Carolina 21-5.
Play was suspended due to lightning so we will have to wait what promises to be a thrilling final.
DII
NC State, IUP, and Norwich all swept their pool games, which is not much of a surprise.
All looked in control, and all ran into trouble with one teams: NC State got by Memphis 12-5; IUP held off Georgetown 12-0; Norwich got by Northern Iowa 22-15.
NC State and Norwich got byes to the final, but once again that was a mixed blessing. NC State did beat Georgetown to make the final, but Norwich lost 15-14 to IUP, which had had to play an extra game.
So it's NC State vs Norwich in the final Sunday morning.
The Weather
The weather at the CRCs was pretty horrific with driving wind and heavy rain. The teams put themselves into it but evnetually the weather got so bad play had to be suspended. The Men's D1 Club competition was suspended at times.
D1 Club
Clemson and San Diego will face off in Sunday's final. Clemson went 3-0 in their bracket over UConn, Delaware, and South Florida and then defeated UConn in the semis. San Diego beat Missouri, Maryland, and Boston College before getting by Bowling Green and North Carolina in shutouts.
D1 Premier
Mount St. Mary's emerged as the surprise team of the tournament, parlaying a talented, young group into a powerhouse. MSM beat Michigan, Adrian, Wheeling, and Belmont Abbey, shutting out the Wolverines and holding the others to a lone try each. Their game with Wheeling was only 7-5, a testament in part to the effect of the weather.
Mount St. Mary's goes up just before half time in this Men's Premier semifinal game
— National Collegiate Rugby (@ncrrugby) April 29, 2023
Mount - 17
Belmont Abbey - 5#CRC7s #National7s pic.twitter.com/NoS4ridOGb
There they will play Indiana, a team that has been playing really strong 7s all spring and had two players capped at 7s in the fall.
Explosive and unified, Indiana beat Tennessee, Dartmouth, Queens, and defending CRC champs Kutztown, and their defensive record was the same as the Mount's—opening shutout and just a try given up to each of the remaining opponents.
No other team was even close to as that defensively sound.
