It’s a weird situation for the select sides at the Northeast Regional Cup Tournament, as the favorite team is not really much of a select side as it is one school team with a few extra players.

That’s doesn’t mean the tournament isn’t useful or interesting … just different. Heading the list of  teams is Greenwich/Fairfield, a combination squad of players from the two Connecticut state champions - single-school and HS club.

“What we have as an advantage is that most of the players know each other really well,” said Greenwich Coach Joe Kelly. “We have good team cohesion, and that’s something that’s tough to get in an all-star team.”

Greenwich has added about six Fairfield players to the mix. It was this recipe that cooked up a championship last year.

“It’s been a long season for our Greenwich players - we played about 20 games,” said Kelly. “That’s good and bad. It’s a lot of rugby but it means they are really honed.”

Greenwich has several High School All American players or prospects, and one of those is perhaps set to break out, as 6-6 lock Parker Kelly might be poised to showcase his combination of size and mobility.

The rest of the Connecticut teams, drawing from over a dozen programs, also fields a team, and will face off against Massachusetts in the first game at 2pm. Then Greenwich/Fairfield will play the Capital District/Vermont team, which draws from players around Albany, NY and nearby Vermont. CD/VT played in a warmup tournament this past weekend, which was won by the Empire NY team.

This tournament is a straight semifinal-finals event. The games, held at the UMass Amherst fields next to McGuirk Alumni Stadium, will be full-length, with the semis on Saturday. The losers play for third on Sunday and the winners play for first.