Cal Rugby to Bid for Two Championships This Year
by Rugby Vet on Mar 7, 2010 2:13 PM PST
15 comments
The University of California has been invited to field a team for the first collegiate sevens rugby championship in Columbus Ohio. In another first, the 16-side round robin tournament will be nationally televised over four weekend hours by the National Broadcasting Company (Bay Area affiliate KNTV, Channel 11).
Sevens rugby, to be introduced as an Olympic sport in the 2016 games, is a short-form version of the collegiate game that Cal has played for 128 years. Seven-a-side play and seven-minute halves make for a faster-paced game more appealing to an American television audience than the traditional 80-minute rugby union match.
Other teams invited to the sevens tournament include Arizona State, Army, Dartmouth, Florida, Harvard, Michigan, Navy, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Penn State, Stanford, Tennessee, San Diego State, Utah and Yale.
The sevens championship will follow a month after the collegiate 15s finals are settled at Stanford's Steuber Stadium May 1. Cal's 15-a-side squad is nationally ranked #1 ahead of Brigham Young University, St. Mary's, Utah and Louisiana State University by American Rugby News and #1 in the Rugby Magazine standings atop BYU, San Diego State, Central Washington and Utah.
NBC will broadcast the sevens tournament in the 11:00 am-1:30 pm (Pacific) time slot on Saturday, June 5 and from 1:30 pm to 3:00 pm (Pacific) on Sunday, June 6.
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Does the change in format from 15 to 7, help or hurt Cal’s chances at capturing the second rugby tournament?
I would imagine it would hurt, since one of the biggest problems is depth and endurance (if not full out ownage). 7 man rugby allows for more variance and more chance for upsets than a full rugby game.
Still, I’d imagine Cal would be the heavy favorite in such a tournament.
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Cal's athleticism is a plus ...
Seven-a-side involves a lot more loose play. On the one hand, that favours Cal as the Bears are notoriously fit and there’s a lot of depth in the backs.
Still, the point’s well-taken about the prospects for upset. Cal usually comes out fast to put on the points and then wears down its opposition. There’s not a whole lot of time to play an attrition game in sevens.
7s is AWESOME
to watch in person – especially for a non-rugby fan. It’s a fast game with a lot of scoring.
I do disagree about upsets though – favored teams tend to CREAM the opposition – scores like Cal scores tend to be through the first few rounds of the tournament.
The Hong Kong rugby 7s is the best 7s tourney in the world, and is also a 3 day city wide party.
Yes, only 14 minutes of play ...
… which means you get through round robin play quickly and move on to the hardware matches (for the “cup,” “bowl”, “plate” and now, “shield.”)
It’s not unusual for a side to play three matches in a day at a sevens tournament.
This is great. Rugby is exciting, fun and easy to understand. I could really see 7s becoming pretty popular if marketed correctly. The big downside of course is that if we make the Olympics, we will get destroyed. But I think at the college level, it has potential to provide a more level playing field than the current Cal domination.
Also, how sweet would it be to have Jack Clark take some mid-level NFL players are shape them into a dominant 7s team for the Olympics. This should be a reality show.
Not mid-level NFL players
My vision is always NCAA players whose game didn’t fit the NFL.
Tommy Frazier, Major Harris, Pat White (after he doesn’t make the NFL), option QBs or speedy wideouts who can’t catch the ball, and offensive linemen who can run block, but can’t pass block. and some samoans.
What US rugby needs is a wealthy benefactor willing to pay salaries for these guys to train together
Rugby's strictly an amateur game in the US
Not to make any excuses for past bottom-scraping in international competitions, keep in mind that we really have no professional rugby tradition in the ’States. American ruggers are thrown together only for a couple of weeks before tournament play, while players in other countries are often full-timers and teammate.
Let’s also keep in mind that the U.S. is, for now at least, the reigning Olympic rugby champion, having won gold medals in the 1920 and 1924 Games, when rugby - 15-a-side rugby — was last contested.
Thanks for the hot news, Rugby Vet!
Great post, thanks for keeping us in the loop!!
rec’d!
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Cal Takes A "Bye," Competition Shapes Up
Cal’s rugby Bears were forced to take a “bye” this weekend as a consequence of a rain-drenched spring schedule. Next Saturday, the Berkeley ruggers will travel to CSU-Chico for a weather-postponed league contest against the Wildcats before meeting their final NorCal opponent, St. Mary’s College, at Witter Rugby Field on March 20.
While the Bears were idled, Cal’s potential competitiors in the upcoming national 15s championships were busy.
In a 15-10 Saturday victory over the University of Utah, Brigham Young University earned a “bye” in the Pacific Coast Rugby Football Union play-offs and took the #1 seeding in the competition for the national collegiate crown.
BYU was Cal’s nemesis in last year’s USA Rugby championship match.
The top Northern California side—to be determined when the regular season ends this month—will also bypass the PCRFU play-offs to claim the second seeding in the nationals. Presently, Cal is atop the local league with a 3-0 record against Stanford, UC-Davis and Sacramento State, trailed by St. Mary’s.
BYU’s play on Saturday offered some valuable clues about the Cougars’ likely performance in the upcoming nationals. BYU won five of 12 lineouts, nine of ten scrums and earned 20 of 35 penalties. Most telling, though, was the fact that the Cougars were held to scoring only penalty kicks against the Utes while allowing two tries.
More national berths were earned from weekend play in Southern California as San Diego State University and the University of Arizona won the #3 and #8 seedings.
Rounds of 16 and eight will be contested April 16-18 at UC-Santa Barbara and at Life University in Marietta, Ga., followed by semifinal and final rounds at Stanford University’s Steuber Stadium on April 30 and May 1.
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