May 4, 2016
USA Rugby Men’s Club DII Playoffs
Doug Coil
The National Division II Quarterfinals and Semi-finals are rapidly approaching. The Eastern Regional is being held at Founders Field in Pittsburgh, PA, May 21-22, 2016. The Western Regional is being held the same time at the Kino Sports Complex in Tucson, Arizona. The National Championship then will be held at Infinity Park, Glendale, Colorado on June 5th.
Western Region
In the Pacific Northwest Final the Portland Pigs beat the Bend Roughriders 20-19. They now meet the Sacramento Capitals this weekend to decide the Pacific North Champion.
In the Northern California Final, the Sacramento Capitals beat Vacaville Old Dogs 65-15. In the semi-finals, the Sacramento Capitals won 65-15 against BA Baracus and Vacaville won 41-15 against Life West D2.
In the Southern California Final, Huntington Beach Unicorns won 28-25 over Ventura County Outlaws. As the playoffs began, the top two seeds, Back Bay and Huntington Beach had byes. San Diego Old Aztecs D2 then beat Las Vegas Irish 41-15 and Ventura County Outlaws won 31-17 against San Luis Obispo. In the semi-finals Ventura County won against previously undefeated Back Bay 37-22. In the other semi-final, Huntington Beach won 42-0 against San Diego Old Aztecs D2.
The Arizona/Rio Grande Championship had Tempe Old Devils winning 31-13 over the Red Mountain Warthogs. The semi-finals match results were Red Mountain 55-24 Albuquerque Aardvarks and Tempe 153-0 El Paso Scorpions.
The Pacific South Champion will be decided this weekend when the Huntington Beach Unicorns face Tempe Old Devils. The Pacific North and South Champions will meet May 21st in the National Quarterfinals.
In the Frontier Championship this weekend, the Omaha Goats face the Provo Steelers, while Boulder Rugby plays the St. Louis Bombers. Boulder and Provo Steelers were the number 1 and 2 seeds, respectively in the Rocky Mountain Union, while Omaha and St Louis Bombers were 1 and 2 seeds in the Mid-America Union.
The Frontier winner will then play the Red River winner in the National Quarterfinals. Red River has its championship this weekend beginning with semi-finals Saturday with Houston United facing the Dallas Reds D2 and the Austin Blacks D2 playing the Little Rock Stormers. The winners then play Sunday in the Final.
Eastern Region
The Midwest West and East Finals were held last weekend as the Detroit Tradesmen won 57-0 over Eastside Banshees and South Side Irish won 16-14 against the Cleveland Crusaders.
This weekend the Midwest Championship will be decided as the Detroit Tradesmen face South Side Irish. The winner will play Charlotte, the South Champion in the National Quarterfinals.
Charlotte became the South Champion last weekend as they beat Nashville 30-11 in the semi-finals and then Miami Tridents 34-33 in the final. The Miami Tridents won 42-27 over Chattanooga to reach the final.
The New England Championship was held last weekend. In semi-final action Mystic River D2 won 53-24 against Portland and Newport won 50-18 against Amoskeag. Mystic River then won 20-17 over Newport in the final. Mystic River plays the Empire GU Champion, Village Lions this Saturday to determine the Atlanta North Champions.The Atlantic North Champion then will meet the Mid-Atlantic Champion in the remaining National Quarterfinals May 21.
To reach the Atlantic North Championship, the Village Lions won the Empire GU Championship 52-19 over New Haven. The Empire GU Playoffs began with quarterfinal matches April 16th with the following results: Buffalo 39-15 Syracuse, Village Lions 104-12 Rochester Aardvarks, New Haven 48-31 Princeton AC, and Union County 31-22 New York. In the April 23rd semi-finals, the Village Lions beat Buffalo 28- 12 and New Haven beat Union 45-12.
The Mid-Atlantic semi-finals are this Saturday with Richmond Lions against Old Gaelic and Wilmington playing Philadelphia-Whitemarsh. The winners then play May 14th in the Final.
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