Goff Rugby Report has had a look at the Men's DII college playoff bracket for USA Rugby's championship, and the playoff field includes 22 teams playing in four rounds.

Not all conferences will get an automatic place in the Round of 16. The conference are essentially seeded based past performance, and so five conference champions will need to play-in in the 1st round. No runners-up will get a spot in the Round of 16 - all have to play-in.

Five conference champions will have to play-in - Colonial Coast, New England Wide, Great Lakes, Rocky Mountain, and Gateway.

In addition, runners-up from six conferences will play-in - NECRC, MARC, Northern Lights, WIIL, Southern, and Capital. One more spot will be taken by the #3 team from the WIIL, a conference that has five teams in Goff Rugby Report's top 20 DII college teams. 

Here is the expected bracket:

Play-in #	Round 1	Round 2
		Rugby NE v MARC
1	NECRC 2 v MARC 2	Capital v Winner Play-in 1
		Upstate NY v NECRC
2	Colonial Coast v New England Wide	WIIL v Winner Play-in 2
3	Great Lakes v WIIL 3	Northern Lights v Winner Play-in 3
4	Rocky Mountain v Northern Lights 2	Winner Play-in 4 v Winner Play-in 5
5	WIIL 2 v Gateway
		Tri-State v Southern
6	Southern 2 v Capital 2	Cardinals v Winner Play-in 6

 

 

 

And here are the teams that look like they will fill those spots (bold means the team listed has clinched that conference)

NECRC - Rhode Island, Coast Guard, or Vermont

Rugby Northeast - Probably Roger Williams

MARC - Rowan, with IUP or York as runner-up

Colonial Coast - Probably Salve Regina

New England Wide - Springfield or Westfield

Tri-State - RPI, Sacred Heart, NJIT, or Molloy

Upstate NY - Probably SUNY Cortland

Capital - Salisbury and Towson

Cardinals - Probably VMI

Southern - East Carolina or UNCW

Deep South - Louisiana-Lafayette or Spring Hill (pending issues with the standings) - Moot as this conference has a one-year playoff ban because they forfeited their playoff game last year.

Greats Lakes - Probably Grand Valley State

Northern Lights - Minnesota-Duluth

Gateway - Probably UMS&T

WIIL - UW-Whitewater, Lindenwood-Belleville, Northern Michigan, Northern Iowa are all candidates for 3 spots

Rocky Mountain - Colorado School of Mines