CRAA Adding 7s Tournaments to Spring Finals Weekend in May
CRAA Adding 7s Tournaments to Spring Finals Weekend in May
The College Rugby Association of America (CRAA) will host its Spring 2023 Championship Weekend on May 5-7 at Aveva Stadium in Houston, Texas.
This year’s event will for the first time combine the 15s finals and a Rugby 7s Championship for both men and women. All of the games will be shown live on The Rugby Network.
Headlined by the Men’s D1A National Championship, the weekend will also feature the D1 and D2 Women’s Spring Championship, D1AA Bowl Championships between the California Conference and the Florida Collegiate Conference, and an additional D1A Bowl Game.
This will also be the inaugural year for the CRAA Sevens National Championship in tandem with the 15s finals, adding a rugby festival feel for the weekend. After evaluation and discussion with CRAA conference commissioners and stakeholders, inviting the top 16 Men’s and Women’s 7s programs to face off over two days on the 15s finals weekend was determined to be the best option for 2023.
CRAA has partnered with the Houston Sabercats and Major League Rugby to create a championship experience for all of the student-athletes in attendance.
“Championship weekend this spring is set to be a landmark event as we bring the best in college rugby together in one weekend,” said Paul Keeler, President of CRAA, “We are fortunate to have great partners in the Houston Sabercats, Major League Rugby and The Rugby Network who have come together to make this elevated event possible.”
Aveva Stadium will be the backdrop for all four championship matches on May 6, 2023; the stadium hosted CRAA's Spring Championships in 2022 as well.
CRAA has partnered with The Rugby Network (TRN) to provide free online streaming of all XVs and Sevens matches with professional broadcast production. TRN provides full 1080p HD streams with replays and highlights of every single MLR match. They also produce weekly rugby shows, documentaries, and latest news from the MLR.
The College Rugby Association of America (CRAA) is a USA Rugby-sanctioned competition that includes premier divisions within Men’s and Women’s Collegiate rugby. The competition includes Men’s D1A, Women’s D1 Elite, Women’s D1 and Women’s D2. CRAA is committed to creating the best possible experience for student athletes, keeping commercial resources in the collegiate game, and creating experiences for our members to engage their academic institutions and alumni.
So what might we expect from this weekend? First off, it seems clear that we will see the liked of Navy and Army in the D1A 15s playoffs, along with many of the other likely suspects, but by April 23 two teams will remain (the semifinals are slated for April 22). So six of the eight quarterfinalists will be available to play. Add in teams that just missed out on the playoffs (and there are some very good ones) teams that played mostly in the fall, and top DIAA teams, and you can easily fill out a very strong men's 7s competition.
On the women's side, this is logically going to be what the 7s tournament in Atlanta last year (which is not being repeated) turned out to be—D1 Elite teams and NIRA teams in their lone championship crossover. Imagine Lindenwood, Dartmouth, Life, Harvard, Central Washington, Harvard, Penn State, Brown, Army, D1 winners Navy, and NIRA D2 finalists Queens and Davenport in a competition—it's a compelling group. We're not-so-secretly hoping to see Utah State there, too, as their game seems a nice fit for 7s.
What it will provide as a spectacle is a tight event that isn't trying to be all things to all people, but a high-level 7s event plus serious bowl games and three championship finals—five 15s games over two days plus, as we understand it, 52 7s games. On (probably) three fields, that's doable, as the 7s and the 15s combined will be about 28-29 hours of action over two days.
