Champions in the high school, college and senior club rugby spaces were named last weekend, and the following tucks those triumphs into a neat little recap here. Expect, however, more developed features in the near future, as coaches and captains sit down for interviews and talk about their successful falls and next steps. Also included are some other highlights from last weekend, even though they don’t necessarily fit into the championship category. [lead photo: NorCal rugby champ St. Francis HS / @therugbybreakdown]
RELATED: Nov. 8-10 Rugby Scores
SENIOR CLUB
The Metropolis Valkyries won the Midwest DI 15s championship 79-12 against the Columbus Squirrels and will represent the region at the national championship semifinals in May 2025. Stay tuned for an interview with co-captain Whitney Swenson. In DII, Grand Rapids held off Rochester in a 24-17 title battle. The Growlers are guaranteed a spot in the May 2025 Northern Super Regional Championships in Springfield, Mo., and if the seeding remains the same as the previous few years’ brackets, then the Renegades will also be heading west. Incoming interviews: Grand Rapids’ Emma Shimek and Rochester’s Kelley Bridenbaugh.
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New England named its finalists for its DII and DIII women’s clubs, and titles will be awarded this Saturday. In DII, it came down to conversions for Worcester and Albany, and Shamrocks center Laura Hetherman knocked an extra kick over for the 45-43 win. Worcester will now face Providence, which beat Hartford 36-17 in Saturday’s semis, for the DII trophy. In DIII, Amoskeag knocked off reigning champ South Shore 31-26, and Portland bested North Shore 46-20.
Not a playoff game, but Portland (Ore.) beat Seattle’s DI team 26-21 on Saturday and ends the fall half of the Pacific Northwest Premiership undefeated. The Pigs also beat ORSU 62-5 the weekend prior.
COLLEGE
The National Collegiate Rugby (NCR) regional championship brackets (links below) are now finalized after a handful of important games last weekend. Regional occur this weekend — Friday & Sunday for DI, and Saturday-Sunday for DII and DIII:
• DI bracket: link
• DII bracket: link
• DIII bracket: link
In DI, Wheeling University sealed an undefeated regular season after a 55-1o win against St. Bonaventure. Alexis Dallas led all point scorers with 17 on three tries and a conversion. The Cardinals head to regionals at Obetz Stadium in Columbus, Ohio.
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DII was waiting on two conference championship matches. In the North Atlantic, Coast Guard put some space between itself and New Hampshire in a 43-15 win and will travel to Canton, Mass., to face at-large Delaware in the Round of 16 Saturday. The Wildcats are also advancing and head south to Culpeper, Va. There, New Hampshire will take on Tri-State champion Vassar in the opening round. The Brewers beat Fairfield 37-7 in Sunday’s title match, but the Connecticut team is not done yet. Fairfield travels to Canton to face Roger Williams in the first round of regionals.
In addition to Mid-Atlantic runner-up Delaware, reigning DII national champion UW Eau Claire, which finished third in Great Waters, and Great Lakes runner-up Grand Valley State enter the postseason with at-large seeds.
Endicott is the North Atlantic’s first DIII champion (because the conference is new), and the Gulls return to a familiar place that is regionals. Endicott sees at-large Bentley in Canton on Saturday. The other at-large berth went to Loyola of Maryland, and the Mid-Atlantic team heads to Columbus, Ohio.
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In the Collegiate Rugby Association of America (CRAA), the Pacific Mountain conference held a national 7s qualifier that saw Stanford and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo finish with DI and DII titles, respectively. Last year, the women’s 7s and 15s championships occurred on the same weekend at the same location (and the Mustangs remarkably fielded sides in both DII competitions), but spring 2025 information has been released yet.
HIGH SCHOOL
Rugby NorCal’s single-school 7s season ended on Saturday, and St. Francis High School out of Mountain View, Calif., took top honors in the Cup bracket. Read more. In the Plate competition, San Jose’s Overfelt High School went undefeated. An MVP wasn’t named, but The Rugby Breakdown’s vote goes to Lancers senior Kina Latu. RELATED: More photos
Michigan named its 15s state champion on Sunday, and Rockford High School — formerly Sparta-Rock, when it was a high school club — beat Grand Haven 51-12. Stay tuned for interview with coach Andy Dauser. Recent HS championship features: Downingtown wins PA • Summit wins CIRA (CO) • DSHA wins Wisconsin
INTERNATIONAL
In international news, the USA Women’s Rugby League National Team went 1-1 at the Americas North World Cup qualifier in Jacksonville, Fla. The Hawks beat Jamaica 42-0 on Friday and then fell 40-8 to Canada in Sunday’s championship. • Also, HSBC SVNS just announced that Los Angeles will host the 2025 series World Championship on May 3-4 at Dignity Health Sports Complex, site of the 2028 Olympics.