The Carolinas Geographic Rugby Union (CGRU) has concluded regular-season play for its women’s Division II clubs, and now the Saturday, April 6 semifinals are set. The two victors then advance to the CGRU final on April 13 in Gastonia, N.C., and the champion will move onto the Gulf Coast Super Regional Championship in Austin, Texas, on May 4-5.
RELATED: DII Carolinas Standings
Atlanta 2.o Selects went 9-0 in its first season in the DII Carolinas. Read more about the No. 1 seed. But it’s been competitive. Of the six regulation games played (several teams have forfeited matches this season), three were single-digit decisions. Two of those tight games occurred against fellow semifinalists.
2023 CGRU champion Charleston went 8-1, with its lone loss coming to Atlanta 2.0 back in November. The Hurricanes only played five regulation matches, the last being on Feb. 17. Charlotte only took one forfeit win during the regular season, finishing 7-2 overall., and will travel to Charleston for its semifinal. When the teams last met, Charleston won 33-0, but that game occurred six months ago.
“Since we are working hard to build women’s rugby in our region and knowing that a majority of our teams have had to forfeit at times throughout the season, we do not plan to use this as a disqualifier,” explained CGRU Women’s DII Director Em Paul, who noted that forfeits result in lost standing points. “If by chance there is a tie for fourth place, then point differential and possibly number of forfeits may play a role in the tie breaker.”
And that’s precisely how the fourth-place team was decided. Savannah and Southern Pines were tied on record (5-4) and standings points (25), and so the third tiebreaker — head-to-head standings points — was employed. Southern Pines forfeited its league match to Savannah, and so the Shamrocks (+5) beat out SoPi (-1) for the final semifinal spot. Savannah will travel to Atlanta 2.0 next Saturday.
“Please join me in congratulating these four teams and wish them luck as they go on to some postseason competition,” Paul enthused. “We had some close scoring throughout the season so I am excited to see some close matches to end out the year!”
This is the pathway to the CGRU championship and beyond into regional and national play:
CGRU Semifinals
April 6 @ higher seed
#4 Savannah @ #1 Atlanta 2.0
5pm @ Atlanta Silverbacks Stadium
#3 Charlotte @ #2 Charleston
1pm @ Dolphin Cove
CGRU Championships
April 13 @ Gastonia, N.C.
130pm Women’s DII Final
Gulf Coast Super Regional Championship*
May 4-5 @ Austin, Texas
CGRU champ joins champs from True South, Red River and Florida
National Championships
May 17-19 @ Austin, Texas
DII semifinals & final
* On that same weekend, May 4-5, the Atlantic, Northern and Pacific will be naming their respective Super Regional champions