College Men
For the second week in a row we will recognize a center playing for a college in Arizona; this time our college player of the week is Lucas Bartzis, who scored three tries as UofA beat Utah State, then three tries as the Wildcats beat Grand Canyon 34-14, and two tries in the rivalry win over Arizona State.
The Gold Coast Conference usually gets decided by the same top teams playing off, and this year is no different.
Claremont Colleges, which plays in the Gold Coast D1 and goes on to the National Small College Rugby Organization (NSCRO) playoffs, is one of those teams, as is Cal State Long Beach, and University of San Diego. Last week, Claremont and CSULB battled to a 26-26 tie.
D1AA action has been slowed somewhat by a snowstorm in the Pacific Northwest that has basically halted all play.
The location for USA Rugby's 2019 Collegiate 7s National Championships have been finalized, with Tucson's Kino Sports complex playing host on Memorial Day Weekend, May 24-26.
Arizona State pulled off a huge victory over Utah to signal, perhaps, the beginning of its comeback to prominence in D1A.
At the center of that effort was Kyson Jester. The outside center scored three tries to lead the Sun Devils.
Arizona State is back. The college program opened up its PAC Rugby Conference season with a 32-27 defeat of Utah Saturday, signalling perhaps a return to the level the Sun Devils enjoyed before a program suspension suffered a couple of years ago.
(Photos by J Dalton Photography, used with permission. Click on photos to enlarge)
Loudonville, NY – Siena College has hired Greg Matthew of Loudonville, NY as rugby coordinator, a new position specifically created to recruit students to Siena.
The Western Washington Vikings won two games of the weekend, beating the University of Victoria U21s 39-14 while also taking care of the University of Washington 53-31 in the B-side game.
This was the first outing for WWU since the victory over Oregon State on November 17 and the rust was evident.
The Central Washington University men's rugby team scored 36 unanswered points twice en route to a 72-14 victory over UC Davis.
The Rudy Scholz Award is given annually by the Washington Athletic Club of Seattle to the best men's college rugby player in the country.
West Point, no surprise, led the way in the Rugby East All-Conference picks this year.
The MVP, however, was from St. Bonaventure - scrumhalf Eamonn Matthews taking those honors as SBU enjoyed a solid season.
Here are the historical men's college champions of major playoffs in the USA.
As of December 3, 2018