We're through to the final four in Tier 2 of the Boys HS Rugby National Championships.

Day One saw the heat and humidity rise early and all of the players we affected. Early in the day at the Coaches Meeting, after a bit of a discussion, it was agreed to relax the substitution rules. Each team was still to use a bench of eight players, but now a player who had been subbed off could be subbed back on.

This was installed to protect players from the heat. A player could be subbed off in the first half because he was getting overheated, but could cool down and come back on in the second half. It was sort of a blood sub for heatstroke.

The rule allowed teams to handle the heat without being penalized because they used up their subs early. 

SFGG 39 Phoenix Alpharetta 5

The top seed in Tier 2 played like it. SFGG spun the ball wide early and scored in the corner in the opening minutes. They then added insult to injury with a touchline conversion. Slowly SFGG was able to build on that lead, led 17-0 at halftime. Flyhalf Kealan O'Connell was very effective running the attack and was excellent kicking the ball. He was able to get territory on kicks to touch even when he was kicking from the middle of the field, and his goalkicking was on points. His younger brother Roan O'Connell scored the opening try and added another which, with Kealan's two conversions and a penalty made it O'Connells 17 Phoenix Alpharetta 0.

In the second half, SFGG continued to pressure, looking to go wide early and then, when they were knocking on the door, they were quick to exploit the perimeter as well. Roan raced in for his third early in the second half, and Kealan once again converted from the touchline. SFGG built on that, and while Phoenix did score one late, SFGG rolled 39-5.

Phoenix had their moments but some massive SFGG hits kept jarring the ball loose.

Tempe 28 KC Jr. Blues 12

This was a back-and-forth game in which Kansas City tried to get into Tempe territory, consolidate, and punch it in, and Tempe tried to attack from within their 22. It made for an entertaining game, and with center Tua Pauga cutting through the KC defense, Tempe took a 14-0 lead.

KC answered to make it 14-7, Tempe scored again and it was 21-7, only for KC to once again score and get it to 21-12.

Tempe's long-range running, with fullback Ashton Liddell sparking several of them, allowed them to get one more in. Osi Nauer was once again a monster for KC, but they couldn't quite contain Tempe's high-octane attack.

San Diego Mustangs 24 Vienna 10

Vienna started very well and had San Diego under all sorts of pressure. But San Diego showed some tremendous poise to absorb that and fix their issues—penalties were a big part of it—to come back and win the game.

Vienna's phase play was good, but the heat and humidity was rough and it didn't help teams that moved the ball down the field slowly. The Mustangs started to work on what they call their "clarity" which loosely translated means working their system, being clear in their calls, and executing.

Raleigh Redhawks 46 Eastside 6

Raleigh's size advantage was very evident from the beginning of the game, and while Eastside had the ability to get into Raleigh territory, they couldn't punch it in, and had to content themselves with two well-taken penalty goals. Meanwhile, Raleigh was getting tries.

They contested at the breakdown, hit hard, and forced Eastside to commit more players to the tackle.

So Friday sees Raleigh play San Diego in one semifinal and SFGG play Tempe in the other. All four top seeds won on Thursday.

In the 5th-place semis, Phoenix Alpharetta takes on KC Jr. Blues, and Vienna takes on Eastside.