Who Is Making Moves in SCRC?
Who Is Making Moves in SCRC?
The SCRC D1AA season is fairly short, with teams only playing two pool games before the playoffs, but that doesn’t mean the teams’ schedule as whole is short.
The conference itself kicks off September 21 with Kentucky at Alabama, and really gets going with games on October 5, 12, and 19. The conference is split into three pools—East, West, and South.
Let’s take a look.
Kentucky
Probably favored to repeat as champions and challenge for a second-straight NCR title, the Wildcats return 11 of their 15 starters from last season, and 18 of their gameday 23. They do lose Will Meskauskas, who was a pillar of poise for them last year, as he graduates. But returning for another season is Jack Phillips, the flyhalf who secured a Scholz Award nomination last season, and USA U20 flanker Holden Hahn, who was brilliant in the NCR D1AA final last December.
Phillips tore his MCL in may, but is reportedly back and fit.
Hahn’s fellow loose forward Gage Curry, who was also excellent in the final against Louisville, is back, as are outside backs Luke and Joe Keough. Add to that some impressive recruits: Sam Chalboub and Charlie Sizemore from St. Ignatius Cleveland, Eli Arthur from Pendleton, and Aidan Dore on transfer from Hampden Sydney. Mike Punzalan returns from deployment.
“With a new conference setup we are only playing Tennessee and Alabama in our conference pool before a longer conference playoff series,” said Head Coach Sam Enari. “This has left room in the schedule to play strong competition. NCR D1 teams and a D1A team make up the rest of the schedule. We now have 63 players on roster up from 38 when I took over the club. This allows us to have competitive practices, robust mentorship within the team, and meaning connections off the the pitch.”
Kentucky plays Indiana this coming weekend followed by Illinois and Marian before the SCRC season kicks off and they also have Thomas More on the slate.
The Wildcats are in the SCRC D1AA West along with Alabama and Tennessee. All three are ranked by GRR and all three are very strong—a good team could well go 0-2 in this pool.
Men D1AA College Rankings Fall Week 1
Tennessee
Top scorer and captain Luke Mathis has graduated but with most of their front row and most of their back row returning, along with their entire interior backline, the Vols should feel comfortable. Six transfers and 14 freshmen join the program, led by Charlotte Cardinals No. 8 Nate Rawls, and transfers Hudson Schutte (Nazareth) and Garret Salas (Central Washington).
Tennessee, also, has found tough games out-of-conference.
“We have scheduled five D1 out-of-conference opponents—Queens, Thomas More, Rio Grande, Texas A&M, and Ohio State—as well as our highly respected rivals Kentucky and Alabama,” said Head Coach Scott Tungay. “Volunteer fans have some great home weekends to look forward to with both our match against Florida, and our match against Bama, taking place on the Friday nights before the respective football games in Knoxville.
The SCRC East includes Clemson, Georgia, and South Carolina. Georgia had a bit of a breakout season last year, but look for both Clemson and USC to be stronger this year.
Clemson
Clemson sees two players transfer in from Life University in Quinn Vorster and Peyton Hayes, who are both locals.
“It’s great to have two local South Carolina players making Clemson their new home for school and rugby,” said Head Coach Troy Hall. Campbell Van Rooyen transfers from Queens Charlottes. So with that Clemson has injected some experience. Recruit Alex Smith-Stephens matriculates from the UK and he will have an immediate impact.
“We are excited, refreshed, and ready to go,” said Hall. “There’s plenty of motivation amongst the group as well after falling short by just a few key few moments last season. There's definitely a new look to our team with plenty of exciting talent coming in wanting to make an immediate impact.”
Clemson has brought in some coaching talent, too, including kicking and attacking consultant Kurt Morath, who played for Tonga and professionally all over the world. Morath and Hall coached together for the Team squad in PR7s in 2023.
“With the new-look SCRC schedule format, come October it's basically going to be finals footy and must-win games from the get-go,” added Hall. “For now, we are focusing on developing as a unit, getting full clarity across the team about HOW we want to play, and staying connected on that.”
South Carolina
The Gamecocks enter 2024-25 without their captains from last year, Dan Golden (7s) and Grant Howard (15s) but they have a solid recruiting class Australia Charlie Dwyer, Englishman Charlie Feehan, and local product Bryson Mobley from the Greer 76ers.
“We finished behind Kentucky and Tennessee last year in-conference; we hope to take the next step,” said Head Coach John Roberts. “Traditionally, we have lacked the size to compete with those clubs, but we have a few bigger bodies this fall. And our backline should be talented.”
In the SCRC South things are in flux a little bit. Kennesaw State is looking to build, and LSU is working on making a comeback to prominence, and have some talent coming into their freshman class. Auburn, meanwhile, has enjoyed some success at D2 but now has to be in D1 and hopefully will have worked on their depth to compete. The Tigers have added Clemson, Georgia, and Alabama to their schedule to see how they measure up.
This is most definitely the question-mark division, but a dark horse could easily emerge
| SCRC D1AA Pool Play | ||||
| 9/21 | Kentucky | at | Alabama | SCRC D1AA |
| 10/5 | Georgia | at | Clemson | SCRC D1AA |
| 10/5 | Kennesaw State | at | LSU | SCRC D1AA |
| 10/5 | Tennessee | at | Kentucky | SCRC D1AA |
| 10/12 | Auburn | at | Kennesaw State | SCRC D1AA |
| 10/12 | Clemson | at | South Carolina | SCRC D1AA |
| 10/19 | LSU | at | Auburn | SCRC D1AA |
| 10/19 | South Carolina | at | Georgia | SCRC D1AA |
| 10/19 | Alabama | at | Tennessee | SCRC D1AA |
