Photo courtesy Life University Athletics
Life University (Marietta, Ga.) is hosting a 12-team 7s tournament that will likely afford an automatic berth to the USA Rugby College 7s National Championship on May 19-21 in Glendale, Colo. USA Rugby will officially announce which tournaments serve as Automatic Qualifiers after the application deadline on April 7, but informally, events are being informed of their status.
RELATED: Potential 7s Qualifiers Continue • USA Rugby College 7s Championship Site • Vote: Canterbury College & HS Player of March
First15 Sport Performance is running the tournament, and it has drawn teams from nearly every level of collegiate rugby. DI Elite is represented by host Life and Lindenwood, and they represent five of the 12 squads in motion. Life and Lindenwood have a friendly rivalry, especially in 7s. Last year, the two sides met in the USA Rugby and CRC 7s finals, and the Running Eagles won both by a combined 29-10 margin.
Division I sees Virginia Women’s Rugby (UVA) and James Madison University from the Mason-Dixon conference head south, and both are veterans of the college 7s championship. The more local DII Southern Independent Rugby Conference (SIRC) has sent Clemson, Georgia Southern, Georgia Tech and Middle Tennessee. And Lee University, which is an affiliate member of SIRC, is an NSCRO power.
Pool play will begin at 8:00 a.m. Eastern Saturday on Lupo Family Field, site for several national and spring playoff matches in the upcoming months. Sunday will see the competition break into Cup quarterfinals and Trophy semifinals – identical to the format of the HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series. The tournament will peak at 1:40 p.m. with the championship match.
Considering that this tournament features four of the 2016 national quarterfinalists, the event is a good candidate for a second berth to the 7s championship. Remember that the 2017 women’s bracket is categorized as “Open,” and so teams regardless of division will funnel into the same competition.
POOL A
Life Yellow (1st side)
James Madison
Lee University
Georgia Tech
POOL B
Lindenwood Black (1st side)
Life Green
Clemson
Middle Tennessee
POOL C
UVA
Lindenwood Gold
Life White
Georgia Southern