Just one change in the fourth edition of the National Intercollegiate Rugby Association (NIRA) rankings, and as per custom, more clarification on records.
RELATED: Sept. 28-29 Scores
As previously mentioned, the records reflected in the rankings mirror those in the NIRA CMS (here) because there is a lot of disparity between how athletic departments distinguish matches and thus teams’ records. The only differences are marked with an asterisk (*). All of Castleton’s and Molloy’s games are listed as friendlies in the CMS, but rather than report 0-0 records, we’ve simply shown all of their matches.
Army and Notre Dame College contested the only Tier 1 game, and the Black Knights won on the road, convincingly. Learn more. The Black Knights will face Dartmouth this weekend in Hanover.
AIC and Sacred Heart swapped positions. Yes, the Yellow Jackets beat the Pioneers 22-10 earlier in the season, but after a bruising loss to Brown, AIC forfeited its match to West Chester this weekend. Sacred Heart was coming off of a thumping loss, too – to West Chester – but was able to take on Brown this past weekend. The Bears won 29-17 but the Pioneers looks in better shape for the rest of the season.
Tier 2 leader Queens beat Coastal Carolinas in a non-league match. Mount St. Mary’s hosted both Long Island University and Molloy for exhibition matches. Per the NIRA standings, the games against LIU counted as a forfeit win, while those against Molloy were friendlies and thus not reflected in Mount St. Mary’s record.
In Tier 3, Colby-Sawyer and University of New England contested the only 15s league match, and it went 58-0 in the Chargers’ favor. Norwich beat Castleton in 10s, Bowdoin beat DII Colby College by 48 points, and New England College went 1-2 against DII St. Michael’s College in 10s.
WEEK 5 MATCHES
Tier 1
Army West Point @ Dartmouth
Quinnipiac @ Harvard
Tier 2
AIC v Queens (@ Emmitsburg, MD)
West Chester @ Mount St. Mary’s
Division III
Norwich @ Bowdoin
Castleton @ Colby-Sawyer