Army again brings two sides to Sunday’s 7s tournament. / Photo courtesy Army West Point Athletics
At present, the National Intercollegiate Rugby Association (NIRA) is guaranteed a berth to the DI Elite College 7s National Championship, per USA Rugby’s qualifiers page. The Crimson 7s provided a nice preview of some teams that are seriously vying for that berth, with Army (read more) claiming the title, Harvard finishing second, and American International College (AIC) taking third.
This Sunday, an expanded field convenes in Providence, R.I., for the Brown 7s, and snow-burdened teams like Bowdoin, Dartmouth, Norwich and New England make their spring debuts.
RELATED: Army Wins Crimson 7s • Brown 7s Schedule • USA Rugby College 7s National Championship
There are 12 sides in the A-side bracket, four in the B-side bracket, and all participating teams are NIRA programs. This field could easily supply two quality teams to the DI Elite division as well as the Open division:
A1: Quinnipiac, Brown, MolloyA2: Army, Norwich, New EnglandA3: Harvard, American International College, Sacred HeartA4: Dartmouth, West Chester, Army 2B1: Bowdoin, Norwich B, Dartmouth B, New England B
The rest of the NIRA series includes:
April 14: AIC 7s
April 21: Bowdoin 7s
April 28: Army 7s
If the Ivy 7s Championship (Princeton, April 14) gains qualifier status (it’s not currently listed as one), then that would potentially serve as another avenue for one of three NIRA teams to advance to Glendale, Colo., for the May 18-20 championship.
NIRA #Brown