The first day of the Boys HS Rugby National Championships is in the books. Here’s the rundown.

 

Tier II

A relatively wet and chilly day, for North Carolina in May, opened up for the players at the Rugby Athletic Center in Charlotte, NC. And the first games were in Tier II.

Brownsburg and Union County (NC) clashed in a game that went very very tight in the early going. But slogging it out in the forwards, Brownsburg started to pull away and won it 34-19.

Pelham took on South Doyle in a meeting of teams with much to prove. Pelham started very well, ran out to a 14-0 halftime lead and a 19-0 lead early in the second half, but South Doyle made a game of it late as Pelham rang the changes. Pelham held on 24-14.

“We kept the ball and we did really well in the set piece,” said Pelham halfback Luke Persanis. “We just made some mistakes, some wet weather knock-ons, late in the game.”

West End, finally healthy after an up-and-down season, just stymied St. Thomas Aquinas 19-10.

And Charlotte Catholic defeated North Bay 20-12.

So the semis will be Charlotte Catholic v West End Friday at 11:30am, and Brownsburg v Pelham at 10am.

Club

Royal Irish had all sorts of trouble trying to shake Doylestown. While Doylestown couldn’t quite get rolling offensively - the first time in many weeks that they’d had any trouble scoring - they also made life difficult for the defending club champs. Royal Irish led 7-0, but couldn’t build on that lead. They won, but 14-7 was not hugely impressive.

United did just enough against a motivated Phoenix team, winning 26-15.

Granite Bay was in fine form against the Chapel Hill Highlanders and rolled. They rang the changes early and showed their depth and athleticism. The Grizzlies led 10-0 early, but the Highlanders inched their way back at 10-5 and had the ball and were attacking, when Granite Bay charged down a kick and took it all the way. The Grizzies scored right after and took control from that moment on.

KC Blues did what they had to do to be South Greenville 29-14. 

So it’s Royal Irish v United in one semifinal at 1pm ET, and Granite Bay v KC Blues at 2:30pm.

 

Single-School

Greenwich and Penn went back-and-forth in an exciting game that was tied 12-12 with only a few minutes left. Greenwich burned Penn with a champagne move out wide, but Penn replied with some speed work of their own. Penn then took the lead, and Greenwich equalized on an eightman pick.

But Penn had more size, more power, and a little more left in the tank, and trucked it down to the Greenwich line twice in the closing minutes to score and win 24-12.

Jesuit seemed to have their quarterfinal in hand, but La Salette kept up the pressure and didn’t go away. Jesuit Head Coach John Shorey said his team didn’t adjust well to playing in wet conditions, but at the same time, La Salette “stayed in front of us and just did not give up. At least we got the win under our belts and we’re healthy.” 

Jesuit held on 27-19.

In the final games of the day, Gonzaga defeated Mira Costa 37-10. For Mira Costa, it was a tough ask to play their first real game as a complete team since February. The Mustangs came close to scaring repeatedly, but Gonzaga held them off. Meanwhile, when Gonzaga get into the green zone, they were clinical and brutal, running at pace onto the balk and scoring.

The scary thing? Gonzaga rested nine starters, and showed their depth as they gave Head Coach Peter Baggetta his 150th win. Mira Costa had some special moments, but, said Coach Duke Dulgarian, they didn’t follow the game plan as much as he would have liked.

Well Xavier did follow their game plan. Against St. Edward Xavier resolved to send players into the rucks to negate St. Ed’s size advantage. That, of course, meant St. Edward had more played out in the backline, so Xavier also resolved to blitz on defense. It worked - the numbers to the breakdown helped Xavier’s continuity with the ball in hand, and the blitzing on defense forced some knock-ons and poor passes by St. Edward.

Xavier scored early, but then St. Edward scored on a try from a rescued dropped ball, and a penalty to lead 5-10. But Xavier scored on some nice team play after a penalty for not releasing the tackled player, and then from a fumbled restart Xavier center Zachery Cilmi toed the ball through, gathered, and scored. That was a huge turnaround, from 5-10 down to 19-10 up. St. Edward pressed after that, and the more they pressed, the tougher it got for them. Xavier won 27-10.

 

So the semis at Xavier v Gonzaga at 6:30pm, and Penn v Jesuit at 5pm.

 

Friday’s games:

Live stream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=em-eMQ5Ok9w

 

Time    Matchup    Field

10:00 AM    BROWNSBURG V PELHAN (SEMI)    1

10:00 AM    UNION CO. V S. DOYLE (CONS)    2

11:30 AM    CHAR. CATH. V WEST END (SEMI)    1

11:30 AM    STA V NORTH BAY (CONS0    2

1:00 PM    ROYAL IRISH V UNITED (SEMI)    1

1:00 PM    DOYLESTOWN V PHOENIX (CONS)    2

2:30 PM    GRANITE BAY V KC BLUES (SEMI)    1

2:30 PM    CHAPEL HILL V S. GREENVILLE (CONS)    2        

5:00 PM    Jesuit v Penn (Semi)    1

5:00 PM    La Salette v Greenwich (Cons)    2

6:30 PM    GONZAGA V XAVIER (SEMI)    1

6:30 PM    MIRA COSTA V ST EDWARD (CONS)    2