Photo: Colleen McCloskey •
Refreshingly early, USA Rugby’s College Management Council (CMC) approved the 2016-17 playoff schedule and brackets for DI and DII women’s colleges (see below). The championship venues, however, are still pending. The Women’s Collegiate Competitions Committee (WCCC) did the heavy lifting and submitted the proposals to the CMC last week.
The brackets have also been drafted, but keep in mind that they are frameworks. Women’s college rugby as a whole is still fluid. New conferences are created, teams go independent, and the relative strength of leagues fluctuate. In other words, expect adjustments.
Click here for the DI fall playoff bracket and the DII fall bracket. These documents will be updated as need be. The spring brackets are being withheld, as recent developments (e.g., The South division of DI’s Pacific Mountain Rugby Conference just voted to leave and form a new DI league in the Gold Coast) mean the brackets will need to be reworked.
Division II is especially vulnerable, and while it has the numbers for a fall Round of 32, the battle is populating it with the right talent. That’s where Vassar coach Tony Brown comes in handy. He helped the WCCC last year with the playoff bracket and stayed on as an ACRA rep this year. ACRA focuses on teams that play their 15s in the fall, and Brown is in touch with the vicissitudes of this segment. The DII fall bracket includes at least one at-large bid per region, and so the WCCC and Brown will need to evaluate conferences for their relative strength this season.
Last year, Division I was slow to adjust to the now-named National Intercollegiate Rugby Association (NIRA), i.e., varsity league, as far as its impact on the DI fall post-season and DI Elite. UNC’s Johnathan Atkeison has been instrumental in forming this year’s DI playoff brackets, and there is some talk of adding a play-in round for the spring to mirror the fall.
There are two issues to settle: First, venues. ACRA, which Brown represents, wants a stand-alone event for the women’s fall colleges. Having a championship event that places women’s rugby as its centerpiece is important to the organization, and ACRA has demonstrated that it can put on a quality, thoughtful tournament for the women. ACRA already has a familiar venue locked up should USA Rugby acquiesce to joint hosting, and teams could start planning/fundraising now. Rich Cortez, USA Rugby’s Collegiate Director, lobbies for a single championship event where the men’s and women’s colleges are together. Aside from unity, it makes better sense financially and resource-wise for USA Rugby to host a single event.
The other issue is the national championship. After last year’s unraveling, Cortez indicated that he would recommend separate fall and spring championships for women’s colleges. That decision is forthcoming as James Wilber, USA Rugby’s National Championship Series & Competitions Manager, is still gathering data in advance of another conference call. Several fall coaches have expressed their contentment with split championships – well before the 2015-16 season.
So, to summarize: Women’s DI and DII colleges know their playoff and seasonal championship dates. Playoff seeds have also been allotted. Locations are still pending, as is the decision on national championships.
WOMEN’S COLLEGE PLAYOFF DATES
FALL 2016
Nov. 12-13: Quarterfinal play-in round
Nov 19-20: Quarterfinals
Dec. 3-4: Final Four
Nov. 12-13: Round of 32 @ higher seed
Nov. 19-20: Round of 16 & quarterfinals @ 4 locations
Dec. 3-4: Final Four
SPRING 2017
Division I
April 8: Quarterfinals
April 22-23: Final Four
Division II
April 8-9: Round of 16 & Quarterfinals
April 22-23: Final Four
