An always-great game between Life and Penn State awaits. / Photo: KJ Feury
There’s plenty of rugby happening this weekend but we picked a few matches at each level of the game that are particularly interesting. A full list of fixtures can be found on TRB’s scores page.
CLUB
The Gold Cup resumes, and all eight teams are in motion this weekend. The Midwest is playing its first games of the series and traveling to the Atlantic North, and Red River is on the road preparing to play the Mid-Atlantic members. The fall saw one round occur between the Mid-Atlantic and Atlantic North (Raleigh and NOVA are 2-0), and there are two more rounds to contest in April.
Saturday, March 24
Chicago @ Monmouth
Detroit @ Boston
Houston Athletic @ Raleigh
Austin @ NOVA
Sunday, March 25
Detroit @ Monmouth
Chicago @ Boston
Houston Athletic @ NOVA
Austin @ Raleigh
COLLEGE
The DII Carolinas will name its champion this weekend, as the College of Charleston and UNC Charlotte head to Charlotte, N.C., for the conference final. During last weekend’s semifinals, College of Charleston defeated Appalachian State 65-5, and UNC Charlotte bested Coastal Carolina 41-5. Saturday’s victor is guaranteed a berth to the USA Rugby DII College Spring Round of 16, and will travel to one of two eastern playoff sites: East Carolina or Life University.
In Division I, Grand Canyon is hosting the Gold Coast final four, which pits the #1 Lopes against #4 Arizona State, and #2 UC Santa Barbara against #3 CSU Northridge on day one. A champion will be named Sunday, and it’s likely that at least two teams will advance to the DI Spring Round of 16. The two western sites are Stanford and BYU.
In DI Elite, the highly anticipated Penn State vs. Life University game will occur at Blacksburg, Va., home to the Virginia Tech Hokies (which play UNC in an important DI Mason Dixon game Saturday). It’s the only DI Elite pre-playoffs game of the spring season, and is always a good game.
HIGH SCHOOL
Last weekend’s Fullerton International Invitational provided some insight into SoCal’s U18 leaders, and Saturday’s South Bay vs. Coastal Dragons full-length match this Saturday is a nice follow-up. SoCal runs U18 (15s), U16 (7s) and U14 (7s) competitions, and even has two U12 teams on the schedule.
INTERNATIONAL
Even though the Women’s Six Nations tournament concluded last weekend, the games are available on demand via FloRugby.com. Be sure to watch the England vs. France match – the highlight of the tournament – as well as the two other Round 4 games, which produced single-digit decisions.