College Men
Here's a quick look at where we are in the NCR D1AA playoff berths after this weekend.
MARCSt. Joseph's and Virginia Tech advance to Sunday's Mid-Atlantic Rugby Conference final after winning semifinals on Saturday.
It's an important weekend for D1AA, NCR D1, and D1A, but it's also a bit of the calm before the storm for some.
It's an all-Iowa final for the Heart of America after last weekend's semifinals, and we get a rematch of Week #1 in the the final day of competition.
The big question regarding our latest NCR D1 rankings is ... should Queens return to #1?
We dropped Queens because they lost to Penn State, but then the Royals beat Life. Should that result drop Life out of #1 in D1A? Or both? Or neither?
In the end, we have to recognize that Rugby East is superbly difficult to win and superbly difficult to run through undefeated.
Queens beating Life 29-26 over the weekend shook up the Rugby East and top-level collegiate rugby in general.
Was this a one-off? Not necessarily. Remember that Life had that close call with Mount St. Mary's in late September, and of course the close win over Navy. Queens has had two close wins, as well, and in fact about a quarter of the Rugby East games end up being within a try.