The second NSCRO National 7s Championship was held in conjunction with the USA Sevens CRC 7s event at PPL Park in Chester, Pa. this past weekend and was a great success, especially for winners New England College. 

 

Led by the combination of NSCRO's 2013 Player of the Year, Jay Muniz, and the multi-talented Anthony MacQueston, New England College (NEC) found out that the ol' New Hampshire saying of "4th time is the charm" is really true. NEC downed New Mexico Highlands University (NMHU) in the final 22-14.

 

Of the overall 215 NSCRO Men’s teams in the USA, 55 competed in eight regional qualifiers in order to play in the NSCRO 7s Championship. The eight qualifiers represented their schools and small college rugby well both on and off the field.

 

Pool A:

University of Richmond (UR), Richmond, Va.

Sonoma State University (SSU), Rohnert Park, Calif.

Susquehanna University (SU), Selinsgrove, Pa.

Valdosta State University (VSU), Valdosta, Ga.

 

Pool B:

Lafayette College (LC), Easton, Pa.

New England College (NEC), Henniker, NH

New Mexico Highlands University (NMHU), Las Vegas, NM

University of North Florida (UNF), Jacksonville, Fla.

  

The first semifinal saw Pool B winner New Mexico Highlands handle Pool A runner-up Richmond 31-0. In the 2nd semifinal Pool B runner-up New England College defeated Pool A winner Valdosta State 36-7. Valdosta State's rugby team is only three years old. In their first year in NSCRO league play, they qualified for both the 15s and 7s national playoffs.

 

In 2013, NEC finished 3rd in NSCRO 15s and was a semifinalist in NSCRO 7s. This year, they lost a close match to St. John's University in the NSCRO 15s final. So this was their 4th time in an NSCRO top four in the space of two years. 

 

NEC Lions Rugby was defunct for a long time until Jeremy Treece convinced the school to re-start the program in 2011. In their initial year they played non-league games as they organized. In their first season of league play in the New England RFU they went undefeated and then won the NSCRO Northeast Region Championship. 

 

NMHU was founded in 1992 by Dick Greene but just admitted to the Eastern Rockies Union Frontier NSCRO league last Fall, giving them their first real opportunity to compete as a collegiate club against similar small colleges. NMHU has less than 500 male undergraduates enrolled. They finished 2nd in the Frontier league and then 3rd in the NSCRO Cowboy Cup in March and wound up ranked #13 in NSCRO 15s.

 

All 4 teams that played on Sunday were provided with NSCRO team trophies and gift certificates courtesy of World Rugby Shop. In addition, gold player medals were provided to NEC and silver medals to NMHU, along with the MVP trophy to NEC's Anthony MacQueston.