Welcome to the USA Club Rugby Monthly Recaps! Organized by division, this is your one stop shop to find out everything that’s been going on in club rugby around the country.
I want to set a few expectations before we kick off; all of this data is gathered from club-entered scores in RugbyXplorer. So if anything is missing or wrong or doesn’t make sense, you should first check RugbyXplorer and then check with your local Geographical Union to ensure that they have finalized all matches in the system. Any other commentary is added purely for entertainment value from someone who has zero stake in the outcomes of these matches. It’s just for fun!
These recaps are for competitions that lead directly into the Super Regional Qualifiers and then into the Club National Championships. Hopefully with time we will add additional regional divisions, but first things first.
This recap is intended to be for the month of January, but since many competitions started or even finished in the fall, I had to go back in time and sum up everything that happened then; so some of these are a bit detailed.
All of that said and done – let’s dive into what happened in January in the Men’s Division 1 competitions!
Northern California Men’s D1
Northern California kicks off their Men’s Division 1 season in February. Six teams will compete in the lead up to the Pacific Super Regional and beyond.
Pacific Northwest Premiership
The Pacific Northwest plays a D1/D2 hybrid, with Seattle being the lone D1 team. They play NCS qualifying matches against D2 teams across the region in preparation for the postseason run. So far, all is going as expected for Seattle, recording strong wins over Chuckanut Bay, the Bend Roughriders, and the Clark County Chiefs. Their first spring match is in March against the Tacoma Nomads, with a pre-season friendly at the Seattle Seawolves in February.
Southern California Men’s D1
January brought the start of the Men’s D1 competition in Southern California. SoCal is all about tries and sunshine and these teams are delivering. Belmont Shore (2-0) won both of their opening matches, as did OMBAC (2-0). Those two will go head to head in early February. Santa Monica (1-1) blanked Eagle Rock (0-2), but lost to Belmont. Old Aztecs (0-2) also lost their opening two matches, but get their best chance of getting in the W column when they play Eagle Rock the first weekend of February. The top two at the end of the regular season will advance to the Pacific Super Regional where they will take on Seattle out of the Pacific Northwest and the NorCal champion.
Midwest Men’s D1
The Midwest completed its season in the fall with the final being held in November in Chicago. It was a familiar all-Chicago affair in the final game with the Lions taking on the Griffins. A rather unexpected ride to the top for the Griffins, who finished 3-3 in the regular season, taking second in the Midwest D1 Eastern. They cruised past Metropolis (1-5) in the quarterfinals and thanked a clutch conversion kick to eke past St. Louis (5-0-1) in the semifinals.
The Lions (4-1-1) finished second in the standings in the Midwest D1 Western. After a strong win over Cincinnati (3-3) in the quarterfinals, the Lions blanked the Detroit Tradesmen (5-1) 18-0 in the semifinals.
Two second-chance teams met on November 10th, both with nothing to lose. After 80 minutes of thrilling back and forth play, it was the Griffins who had the final say and hoisted the trophy, final score 31-24. With Rocky Mountain opting to not participate in the Men’s Division 1 competition this year, the Griffins will have a free ride to the Final Four in the spring.
Red River Premiership
The Red River kicked off this month, pitting the four Dallas and Austin-based clubs against each other in a triple round robin where each plays the other thrice. Unsurprisingly, the 2023 National Champions, the Austin Blacks (2-0), started their season off with a bang, taking down the Austin Huns (0-3) and the Dallas Harlequins (1-2). The Dallas RFC (2-0) look in form as well as they comfortably breezed by the Huns and the Quins. Excitement builds for next month when we get to see the two powerhouses go head to head for the first time. The Dallas Harlequins eked out a five point win over the Austin Huns on opening weekend, leaving the Huns winless entering February.
Florida Men’s D1/D2
After last season’s D2 national championship win, the Miami Tridents have opted to play their regular season in D2 and take a D1 slot postseason at the Gulf Coast Super Regional. They are currently 2-0 in the Florida Men’s D2 competition, with a pair of wins over Boca Raton and Palm Beach. After a season honing their skills, Miami will head to the Gulf Coast Super Regional to take on the Texas champion, with the winner advancing to the National semifinals.
Mid-Atlantic Men’s D1
In the Mid-Atlantic region, the season is on a hiatus until the end of March, before the final round of regular season and the playoffs. Rocky Gorge (6-0) has one match left to play against Baltimore-Chesapeake (1-4). Even with a surprise loss, their table point spread is enough to secure first for playoffs. The Washington Irish (5-2) finished in the fall, and must sit and wait for Schuylkill River (5-1) to play Baltimore-Chesapeake in March. If Schuylkill wins, they will hop to second place, dropping the Washington Irish down to third. The Potomac Exiles (4-3) are the final team with their sights on the playoffs in April, and you can’t forget their narrow 19-14 loss to Rocky Gorge in the fall. That rematch in the semi-final is sure to be spicy.
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