One of the stranger developments in the past weekend in college 7s was the fact that Colgate did not appear for the Empire Conference’s final tournament - now don’t be thinking Colgate bailed late or simply didn’t feel like showing up, this was planned.

Colgate notified the conference some time ago that the team would not be able to make the last of the three-tournament series. So, even though Colgate led the series, they were overtaken by Fordham.

It could all work out very nicely, though. Colgate did indeed do well in the Empire series, and competed at the LVI, as well. So Colgate could well get an at-large bid to the USA Rugby 

Fordham, for their part, should be in Cary, too, and Coach Andrew Gheraldi is confident they can compete.

“We have been working on our system and getting it better and better,” Gheraldi told Goff Rugby Report. “We needed to trust each other more and we did that. We play good team rugby and we’ve been playing with more confidence, and I think it showed.”

Even thought Fordham lost the full tournament final to Kutztown 46-14 (Empire has an all-Empire side of the tournament, and then the winner plays the non-Empire side’s winner), Gheraldi said there are things to feel good about. 

“It was close at halftime, but it had been a long tournament and we ran out of gas. But it’s been a really competitive Empire season and I think that’s good for our guys.”

Perhaps the start of the show for Fordham has been flyhalf Nate Fisher, who is a smart player and directs the attack, and is also a reliable goalkicker. Not every college team has a dependable drop-kicker, but Fisher has been good on about 70% of his conversion attempts, and more than once his kicks have been the difference in a tournament game.