Middle Tennessee State University hosts the Moosemen 7s this weekend as the winter/spring college 7s competitions warm up.

Ten teams play in the tournament, with Mississippi State, a team that surprised some at last year’s USA Rugby 7s championships, fielding two teams. MTSU is the host and will join MSU’s White team, Georgia, Georgia Tech, and Vanderbilt in one pool; MSU Maroon is in the other pool with Nashville, Western Kentucky, Lindenwood-Belleville, and possibly the favorites, Alabama. 

Alabama has been playing some solid rugby for the past 18 months, and, along with Mississippi State, could be a contender in the SCRC 7s. Those two teams battled for the SCRC championship in 2015, with Alabama winning 24-14.  MSU's Maroon team is expected to be their first side, and so making that pool, with Alabama, Nashville, WKU, and L-B are scary one.

Lindenwood-Belleville, after a strong showing in the DII 15s competition in the fall is gearing up for a run at the CRC invitational by playing in the LVI in a couple of weeks. But they will have a tough time breaking through a competitive pool. Nashville is a combined team of college-age players from that city.