The 2018 Collegiate Division 1-A rugby national championship game is scheduled to take place May 5 at Santa Clara University.
The title contest will be the culmination of the 2017-18 season in which more than 70 teams played in more than 250 games across the country to determine the final two teams left standing.
In this weekend’s nationally televised semifinals (live on the CBS Network), Cal Berkeley will meet Lindenwood University from Missouri while Georgia’s Life University will test Penn State.
Cal is the sport’s longtime powerhouse program with 69 national championships since 1980.
On the same weekend, CSU Fullerton will host four more national championship divisions — Men’s D1AA, Women’s D1 Elite, Women’s D1 and Women’s D2 — to close out the 2017-18 season.
Rugby is no longer the obscure sport it was once perceived to be while finding an initial base at the collegiate level; it is now fully basking in California sunshine.
Chula Vista is, in fact, home to the USA Rugby Sevens national team residency program at the Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center.
Red & Black
San Diego State University just fell short of qualifying for this year’s 16-team Division 1-A national championship tournament.
The Aztecs hosted California Conference rival Cal Poly San Luis Obispo April 7 at the University of San Diego’s Torero Stadium in the teams’ final regular season game. The winner would advance to the playoffs; the season would end for the loser.
Cal Poly held off a furious second-half comeback by SDSU to prevail, 29-22, in a physical affair that was held in suspense until the final seconds.
It was a smorgasbord of non-stop action and thrills for the hundreds of fans in the stands — organized mayhem.
Aztec coach Alex Lichtig called the match a “must-win” game.
“Every year we play Cal Poly it’s like that — it’s really physical and aggressive,” Lichtig explained. “All the little things that make up a game make a large difference (in the outcome). We look forward to playing them each year. It’s a game to remember, especially for the seniors.”
SDSU finished the season 3-2 in conference play, 3-6-1 overall, and was ranked 16th in the country.
Saint Mary’s College and Cal Poly advanced from the California Conference to the D1-A national championship tournament.
Saint Mary’s defeated Cal Poly, 58-22, in the opening round of the playoffs on April 14.
Rugby is a hybrid between American football and soccer. There are two 40-mintue halves, with continuous play like soccer, though the actual field formations and strategy are more akin to American football.While watching a rugby game, it’s easy to see how American football developed from both soccer and rugby (which had its origin in, of course, Rugby, England).
Homegrown
Rugby draws athletes from all disciplines but high school football and wrestling — full-blown contact sports — are two big contributors to creating a collegiate rugby player.
High school rugby is also growing within San Diego County, producing its own cadre of athletes. It’s no surprise then that SDSU embraces many local products in its program, which includes about 60 athletes on three teams.
Emmanuel Barajas, a former wrestler at Bonita Vista High School, is on SDSU’s second side.
Bobby Garvey, who played football at Eastlake High School, participated last year.
Contributors to the Aztecs’ first side this year included Torrey Pines High School alums Johnathan Raby and Chase Pickwell, along with freshman Nico Gilli from La Costa Canyon High School.
Center/wing Nick Lupian, who competed in wrestling and track and field (pole vault) at Helix High School, suffered an upper body injury early in the Cal Poly game. His loss was a blow to the team, Lichtig said.
“He’s been one of our best players over the past season,” the SDSU coach noted.
The Aztec club team has been in existence since 1956. SDSU won the national championship in 1987 and has produced its share of top-flight talent over the years.
The Aztecs gained national attention in recent years by reaching the semifinals in the 2010 USA Sevens Rugby Collegiate Championship Invitational, a tournament that was telecast live on NBC-TV.
SDSU won the 2012 California Sevens tournament, which qualified it for the 2012 USA Rugby Sevens Collegiate National Championships. The Aztecs reached the quarterfinals of the 2015 tournament.
College Sevens compete in the fall, usually late September through November.
Ex-SDSU player Stephen Tomasin made the roster of the Team USA Sevens, and has since earned 19 caps with the USA Eagles.
Former Aztec Duncan Kelm, named to the all-tournament team at the 2010 Collegiate Championship Invitational, played for the USA Sevens team from 2011-12.
A pair of players off last season’s SDSU team — Gil Covey (Cathedral Catholic High School) and Ryan Walls (San Marcos High School) — made the preseason roster of the San Diego Legion of Major League Rugby.
The SDSU-Cal Poly matchup served as the pregame for the Legion’s exhibition contest against the Houston SaberCats.
The Legion opened its inaugural season with a 39-23 loss on Sunday at the Seattle Seawolves.
The Legion will host the Utah Warriors in its regular season home opener on Sunday, April 29. Game time is 4 p.m. at Torero Stadium.
Teams play eight regular season games. The top four teams in the standings qualify for the national championship playoffs to be held in San Diego in July.
Rugby is starting to attract the interest of high profile high school athletes.
Olympian High School wrestler Luis Castro, among the Metro Conference’s four state meet qualifiers during the winter sports season, was among the spectators at the April 7 doubleheader.
He came out to watch partly because his cousin (Barajas) plays for SDSU; Castro also heard about the sport through one of his football coaches at Olympian, defensive coach Bing Dawson, a former president of the Old Mission Beach Athletic Club’s rugby team.
“I decided to check it out,” explained Castro, a junior, who played center/nose guard during the football season. “It’s really interesting. It was a different experience.”
Gunnar Waymire, who played high school rugby three years in East County, including for the Valhalla team (2015-17), has become a dedicated fan of the game. He also was in attendance at the Torero Stadium doubleheader.
“I love it more than hockey, which was originally my favorite sport,” he said. “Even if you don’t know anything about rugby, you should find it exciting to watch. It’s not every day you see somebody thrown into the air or a bunch of guys grinding in a big pile.”
National championships
The University of Mary Washington and Dartmouth College will face off in the Division I-AA men’s championship at Fullerton’s Titan Stadium.
The Women’s D1-Elite semifinalists include Penn State, Life University, BYU and Lindenwood University.
The Women’s D1 semifinalists include the University of Virginia, University of Central Florida, UC Davis and Chico State.
The Women’s D2 semifinalists include Tulane University, Claremont Colleges, Fresno State and Salisbury University.
According to Rich Cortez, USA Rugby’s Director of College Rugby, the National Championship series has long been a pathway for young college standouts to become noticed by the USA Eagles coaching staff.
Recent participants in the NCS who have gone on to earn caps with the national team include Dylan Audsley, Dino Waldren, Aladdin Schirmer and Angus MacLellan. NCS participants also were featured on the USA Eagles Women’s Rugby World Cup roster last August, including Tess Feury, Jordan Gray and Kayla Canett.
“There is an enormous talent pool within college rugby, a testament to the coaches and administrators,” Cortez said.
Nationwide: Division 1-A rugby is cream of the crop
Division 1-A rugby is the highest level of college rugby within the United States and is administered by USA Rugby.
SDSU competes alongside Cal Poly, St. Mary’s College, UC Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, UC Davis and Stanford in the California Conference — one of seven conferences across the country that feed teams into the national championship tournament.
The first round of the playoffs featured several blowouts but that changed in the quarterfinals.
Sixteenth-seeded Cal Poly bowed, 58-22, to top-seeded Saint Mary’s College in the first round on April 14 in Moraga. Saint Mary’s led 32-3 at halftime.
The Gaels hosted Lindenwood University in the second round of the playoffs on April 21. Surprisingly, Saint Mary’s season ended there following a 43-22 loss.
Cal has escaped unscathed in their two playoff games so far, defeating Grand Canyon University, 85-14, in the opening round and topping Navy, 33-27, in last weekend’s quarterfinals.
Other first-round winners included Army West Point (52-15 over Colorado State), Navy (47-0 over Indiana University), Penn State (51-34 over the University of Arizona), BYU (34-23 over Arkansas State), Lindenwood (81-12 over Texas A&M), and Life University (87-7 over Central Washington University).
Quarterfinal-round winners included Lindenwood (43-22 over St. Mary’s), Penn State (48-46 over BYU), Life University (44-10 over Army) and Cal (33-27 over Navy).
Prep parade: high school rugby gaining popularity in San Diego County
High school rugby is administered by the SoCal Youth Rugby organization. Club teams representing Helix and Valhalla high schools serve East County.
San Diego County membership also includes teams from Canyon Crest Academy, Carlsbad, Cathedral Catholic, Coronado, Del Norte, Fallbrook, High Tech High, Kearny, La Costa Canyon, La Jolla, Mira Mesa, Mission Vista, Patrick Henry, Point Loma, Poway, Rancho Bernardo, San Diego, San Dieguito Academy, San Marcos, San Pasqual, Santa Fe Christian, St. Augustine, Serra, Torrey Pines, University City, Valley Center and Westview high schools.
The season runs from November (preseason) through February (playoffs).
Games are 70 minutes in length (two 35-minute halves) for high school varsity and 60 minutes for junior varsity (two 30-minute halves).
The SoCal Youth Rugby high school circuit includes teams in San Diego and Orange counties.
In boys playoff finals, La Jolla defeated Los Alamitos to win this season’s White Division championship while St. John Bosco defeated St. Augustine to capture the Red Division title. San Dieguito Academy defeated Temecula Valley to win the Green Division championship.
In girls playoff finals, Rancho Bernardo defeated Torrey Pines to win this season’s Red Division championship while Carson defeated View Park to win the Green Division title.
Torrey Pines (2016-17), La Costa Canyon (2015-16), Fallbrook (2014-15) and Cathedral Catholic (2013-14) have each won boys Red Division championships.
There are no current high school rugby teams located south of Highway 94.
For more information on high school rugby, visit the website at www.socalyouthrugby.org.
Olympian coach Dawson to be inducted into U.S. Rugby Hall of Fame
Longtime Castle Park/Olympian High School assistant football coach Reldon “Bing” Dawson has been hailed as a mastermind of defense wherever he has coached.
But American high school football is not his only love.
Dawson, who is among the longest tenured employees in the Sweetwater Union High School District, is among seven members of the class of 2018 who will be inducted into the U.S. Rugby Hall of Fame in June in Houston prior to the USA Eagles international match against Scotland.
The seven newest inductees join the 56 individuals who have already been inducted into the U.S. Rugby Hall of Fame.
The class of 2018 is comprised of individuals who have made a lasting mark on rugby in the United States.
Dawson’s football background was the catalyst to an iconic rugby coaching career that would impact the lives of hundreds of rugby players across the nation and world.
During his coaching tenure at the Old Mission Beach Athletic Club, he created an elite rugby powerhouse and set the template for modern rugby clubs in America to follow.
OMBAC won the inaugural United States Sevens Club Championships in 1985 and became the first team to win the National Club Championships in Sevens and Fifteens, winning Fifteens titles in 1988, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1994 and 1996, and the Rugby Super League Championship in 2006.
Sevens national titles also came in 1995, 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2006 to make OMBAC the only U.S. club to win both Sevens and Fifteens in the same year.
Under Dawson’s tutelage, OMBAC provided the core of U.S. national team players for much of the late 1980s, the 1990s and into the early 2000s as more than 70 players went on to represent the United States in Sevens or Fifteens.
The OMBAC rugby club has approximately 450 active members.
