Men’s Division 2 – February 2025 Recap

Welcome back to another USA Club Rugby Monthly Recap! This month we are excited to dive a bit deeper into the details, as we don’t have anything to catch up on from the fall. In case you’re new here – welcome! This is your one stop shop (organized by division) to find out what’s happening in club rugby in the USA.

A few notes – this information is all gathered from team-entered data on RugbyXplorer. So if there’s an error or an incorrect score, please first check RugbyXplorer and then with your local Geographical Union to ensure all matches are finalized in the system. Like any human, I also make mistakes; so if it’s all right online and wrong here, please let me know! Any other commentary added is for entertainment value from someone who has zero stake in the outcomes of these matches.

Now with that out of the way, we can get into the good stuff. What happened in the Men’s D2 Competition in February? Read below to find out!

The Chicago Blaze defeated the Indianapolis Impalas 34-30 to take home the Midwest title in November. Both teams will advance to the Northern Super Regional in Springfield, MO the first weekend of May to compete against the Gentlemen of Aspen (RMRR Champions) and the Mid-America Champions. 

Last month of winter vacation for these teams, as they are scheduled to start back up March 1st. Currently Kansas City RFC (4-1) are on top with two games left to play. The Omaha Goats (3-1) are a close second, with one less match played. They also recorded a forfeit win over the St. Louis Bombers D2 (1-4) back in September so they’ve actually had much less game time than Kansas City. Whether that will hurt them or help them, only time will tell. The Arkansas Gryphons (2-1) host the Wichita Barbarians (3-1) on March 1st, a key game for two teams that both have a realistic chance at a top two spot. 

All in all, there’s still a lot to play for in Mid-America and the action starts back up in March.

The Gentlemen of Aspen defeated the Park City Haggis 26-22 in November to book their ticket to Springfield. They will compete against the Indianapolis Impalas and the Chicago Blaze as well as the undecided Mid-America D2 Champion.

The Boston Irish Wolfhounds made it a three-peat up at Union Point Sports Complex in November with their win over Portland. They will compete just down the road as their union hosts the Atlantic Super Regional in May. 

Empire crowned New York Rugby Club champions of the Men’s D2 after a stunning season going 8-0. It was a tight division with bonus points galore, so New York are well prepared for high intensity when they hit the road to Rhode Island to compete against the Boston Irish Wolfhounds from New England as well as the champions out of Eastern Penn and Capital.

Games resume on March 15th with the Raleigh Vipers (2-1) hosting James River (2-2). With one less game played, Raleigh are currently behind James River on the table, but that could change on opening weekend. The top team, the Riverlands (3-1) travel to Raleigh on the 22nd. Depending on how the match on the 15th goes, this could be a direct head to head for the top seed. All four teams in the competition qualify for the semifinals on April 5th with the championship on April 12th. The winner of that heads to the Atlantic Super Regional in Newport, RI in May.

The EPRU Men’s D2 also kicks back off on March 15th. An action-packed fall left us breathless when the final game was played in November. Old Gaelic (7-0) are the only undefeated team left after defeating North Bay (6-1) in October. Philadelphia Whitemarsh (5-2) just edge Media (5-1-1) for third place, but they host second place North Bay on opening weekend. However, Media hosts Old Gaelic a week later, so it could stay close until the end of the season. Monmouth (4-2-1) are still within reach of the top four, but they need a few things to go really well for them, and really poorly for others in order to make the cut. We’ll find out in a few weeks.

Come with us over to the West Coast as we check in on some of the more active spring competitions. First up is Northern California where February had three full weekends of matches to catch up on. 

Silicon Valley (5-0) came out on top in all three of their fixtures, leaving them the only undefeated team left in the competition. Keep an eye out for number 8 Nolan Verga who has scored 10 tries in 4 matches for Silicon Valley, he’s probably not going to stop anytime soon. 

San Jose (4-1) are in second place; they were having a phenomenal season until last weekend’s match against Silicon Valley. Still, they are slicing and dicing through the rest of the competition and should feel good about that playoff spot. 

Rounding out third and fourth are Santa Rosa (3-1) and Sacramento (3-1). Santa Rosa has one more bonus point than Sacramento which pushes them up the table; yet both teams have one less game played than San Jose. Sacramento and San Jose have only lost to Silicon Valley, whereas Santa Rosa lost to San Jose. But that was back in January! Opening weekend! Practically a millenia ago. Sacramento hosts Santa Rosa on March 1st, winner jumps to second as San Jose is inactive that week. Then San Jose hosts Sacramento on March 8th. The short of it is – expect some shifts in the table over the next few weeks.

Looking further down the table, we have three teams with a 2-3 record. San Francisco Golden Gate, Old Gaels, and Fresno are all within two table points of each other. In the middle of that is Berkeley, who is 2-2 with one less game played. Now Fresno beat Old Gaels, but Old Gaels beat Berkeley, and Berkeley beat San Francisco Golden Gate. It’s all quite simple. It’s anyone’s game.

Rounding out the bottom of the table, both East Palo Alto (0-4) and Colusa (0-5) are still grinding for their first win of the season. Fortunately they will go head to head on March 8th, and barring a tie, one of them will get that win.

This season looks all wrapped up based on the data. Tsunami (5-1) just edged out the Valley Kangaroos (5-1) with one extra bonus point. However, Bosie United (5-0) have one less match played but nothing coming up on the schedule. Boise did already beat Tsunami and the Kangaroos over the fall season, so their claim to the top is as good as any. 

ORSU (2-3) still needs to play one more against the Chuckanut Bay Geoducks (1-5). If they win that, they will hop over the Tacoma Nomads (2-4) into fourth place. It’s safe to say that postseason dreams are probably out of the question for the Clark County Chiefs (1-6), the  Bend Roughriders (1-6), and the Geoducks, unless of course PNW hosts some all-inclusive playoffs. Then game back on for everyone! We’ll keep digging and find some answers; PNW will send the D2 champion to the Pacific Super Regional being hosted in Henderson, Nevada at the end of April.

*Update March 3 – Boise United (6-0) played this past weekend against ORSU (2-4) in a match previously not uploaded in RugbyXplorer. In a 14-try showcase, Boise cements themselves at the top of this division, and are the top dogs entering crunch-time of the season.

Like an authentic street taco you could get in SoCal, this division is spicy! As usual, we’ll start at the top and work our way down.

First up is San Luis Obispo (5-1) with Ventura County (5-1) nipping at their heels. SLO has gotten maximum bonus points, plus the two from their loss which keeps them just a nose ahead of Ventura. SLO has a wild point differential of 319, which averages to just over 65 points per game. Their only loss was at the start of February to Belmont Shore and it was a penalty goal by Belmont’s Ryan Curtis at the death that sealed the deal. Ventura County on the other hand had their only loss at the hands of SLO, a solid 48-3 defeat back in the middle of the month. Ventura managed to beat Belmont by two points in January though; so goes the chain of winning and losing.

A three way table point tie for our teams in third, fourth, and fifth. Oceanside Chiefs (4-1) and Belmont Shore (4-1) have identical records and bonus points, the only difference between them the point differential. Oceanside almost doubles the PD by Belmont, ergo they are on top. In fifth, at 4-2, are Los Angeles Rugby Club. LARC lost a rare low-scoring match to Belmont on the 15th and another to Ventura a week earlier. Is it a rough patch for LARC, or a downturn at the wrong point in the season?

Moving along to sixth, Grunion County (3-3) is dead even on their record. A couple of wins, a couple of losses. It may just be the schedule here, as Grunion have only defeated teams with a majority losing record. It may not be though! Perhaps Grunion are biding their time and going to peak at the right moment. As long as they do enough to qualify for playoffs, anything is possible. 

Still unable to find a win are Kern County (0-5-1), San Fernando (0-4-1), and the Gurkhas (0-4). In fact, the worst happened at the start of February when Kern County hosted San Fernando. Commentators curse of “at least one of these teams will get a win”, and the final score was 39-39. Number 8 Alexander Adams did his best for Kern County, scoring thrice in the draw. 

Not to be left out, Pasadena are 1-4 thanks to that February 15th win over Kern County, center Kyle Eleveld kicking 18 points on the day. 

So what’s happening in March? Really any game is going to be a good game. SLO hosts LARC, Ventura County hosts Oceanside, and the Gurkhas play San Fernando. There’s no way to go wrong if you’re showing up to watch some rugby in Southern California in March.

Deep in the Southwest, the D2 and D3 Men’s competitions are combined. We’re not sure of the playoff structure and who’s D2, who’s D3, so we’ll cover all the teams. And since it was a busy February, there is a lot to cover!

The Las Vegas Irish (6-0) look confident at the top of the table, and that’s good because they just were awarded the Pacific Super Regional. All of their matches (except the forfeit from Phoenix on the 15th) have been won with a differential of 30 or more. Special shoutout to Niall Berry who is 87% accurate off the tee for an astounding 39 tries scored this season. That means he’s made 34 kicks, plus five penalty goals, and scored four tries. A bit of an overachiever if I’m being honest. 

The Tempe Old Devils (3-2) are currently second, they added two wins in February and a tough loss to Las Vegas. Their other loss comes back from January when they squared off against the Red Mountain Warthogs (2-1-1) who are in third. The Hogs do have one less match played than Tempe and two less than the Irish, so they’ve got plenty more left to win to put them higher on the standings. Red Mountain also lost to the Irish (there’s a theme here) but most recently tied Camelback (1-3-1) on the 15th, 43-43. 

Camelback has been on the up and up, they started the season with a big loss against Las Vegas, worked their way up to a tie against the third ranked team, and then won their last game of the month, a 52-40 barn burner against Landshark (1-3). It’s not too late for this squad to turn it around and make it into the top half of the rankings.

Scottsdale (1-2) are fourth, pending the finalized result of their match against Red Mountain. They’ve already played two of the top teams, so the supposed hardest is out of the way. 

Phoenix (1-3) and Tucson (0-4) are giving it all they’ve got. Tucson has improved since their 68-0 loss to the Warthogs at the start of the season, they held their own against Tempe, finding the try zone twice in that match.

Looking forward to March, the Old Devils host the Warthogs and Scottsdale hosts Phoenix. Las Vegas Irish will also take on Tempe, while Landshark hosts Tucson – and more! Don’t miss out.

Rumor has it that Atlanta Old White are the sole members of this conference, scouring qualifying matches around the region. Now personally I think if an Atlanta-based team is the only member of a Carolina based conference, we may need a name change. Either way, congratulations to Atlanta on advancing to the Gulf Coast Super Regional! They’ve played against New Orleans, Life U, Knoxville, and are slated to travel to Huntsville this weekend.

A reasonably small conference, we only had a handful of matches in February. New Orleans (2-0) had an excellent start to the spring season with two wins over Huntsville (0-3) and the Birmingham Vulcans (2-2). Nashville (2-0) on the other hand played their first half of the season in the fall and have yet to take the pitch. They had a good fall however, also defeating Birmingham and Huntsville in November. Nashville and New Orleans won’t face off until the end of March though, so plenty more to come before that.

Birmingham secured a win over Huntsville on the 15th, adding it to their win over Chattanooga in the fall to even them up at 2-2 with one left to play against Baton Rouge.

Chattanooga (1-1) opened their spring last week with a strong win over Huntsville. Adding this to their loss to the Vulcans in October, they are nice and even heading into the latter half of the season. Baton Rouge (0-1) look like they had to forfeit a match, not sure what’s happening there, but they are still scheduled for matches in the spring.

There’s still too many blanks to accurately predict what the end of the road will look like for these teams, but I’m sure it’ll come down to fireworks in the end.

Moving down into the Lone Star state, we’ve got two teams undefeated with max bonus points fighting it out for first place. This would be the Austin Blacks (5-0) and Houston United Rugby Team (5-0). HURT are the reigning TRU D2 champs from 2024, and the Blacks won it back in 2022. These two are as matched on the scoreboard as it gets. Austin has a slightly larger point differential but that’s really it, we won’t know who is bigger and badder until they clash this weekend. 

The secret silent assassins San Antonio (3-0) are also undefeated, and also with max bonus points; but with two less games played they are hiding in fourth overall. San Antonio of course were the TRU D2 Champs in 2023. With a bit of a later start, San Antonio are right on track to meeting the PD of the Blacks and HURT by the time they reach five matches. Their first big test will be this upcoming weekend when they take on third place Dallas RFC (4-1). Dallas managed to crawl their way back from a big loss against the Blacks and eke out a one-point win over The Woodlands (2-4) on the 22nd. 

HARC (3-3), The Woodlands, and Fort Worth (1-5) have all played six total games, and they are sitting at fifth, sixth, and seventh respectively. HARC is on a three game win streak this month after a slow start to the season, clinching two one-point victories over The Woodlands and Fort Worth before smashing DARC on the road. 

The Austin Huns (1-4) are low on the table but they’ve already knocked San Antonio, HURT, and Dallas RFC off the “to play” list. So hopefully they’ve got some more winnable matches on the horizon. They will travel to HARC this upcoming weekend and Fort Worth next weekend.

Texas Rugby Union doesn’t have quarterfinals in the D2 competition so only the top four advance. This means that come crunch time, teams are going to have to win by whatever means possible. We mentioned the table leaders going head to head, but keep a sharp eye on HARC and The Woodlands. While the big guys are beating each other up, they could just sneak right in and nab a playoff spot.

Down to Florida to see how our teams are doing in the sunshine state. The Miami Tridents are on top of the table, but since they are electing to pursue a D1 postseason pathway, we are going to leave them out of this.

With Miami out of the way, Pelican Rugby (5-0) is in a prime position. They’ve looked confident in all their matches with the exception of opening weekend when they went back and forth with the Tampa Krewe (1-5) before pulling out a 20-14 win. Swimming in second are the Naples Hammerheads (4-0-1). They were unlucky enough to draw with the Fort Lauderdale Knights (3-2-1) back in January. Otherwise they’ve looked excellent, scoring over 45 points in all four wins. 

The aforementioned Knights are right behind the Hammerheads at third. Their two losses come from Miami and Pelican, who Naples has yet to play. They did quite well in their wins over Orlando (1-3) and Boca Raton (2-4), as well as that nailbiter against Jacksonville (0-6) the first weekend of match play. 

Palm Beach (2-3) took down the Tampa Krewe 31-26 on the first of February and followed it up by a strong performance against the Pelicans. They bounced back with a win over Jacksonville last weekend.

Boca Raton and Tampa Krewe are tied on table points, though Boca has one more win than the Krewe. This is thanks to all the bonus points Krewe keeps collecting from scoring over four tries and losing within seven. And people say bonus points don’t matter…

Finally Orlando and Jacksonville are sitting at the bottom. Orlando are booked up the entirety of March as they have four more games to play. With only three losses, they could theoretically jump as high as fourth if they go on an absolute tear for this next month. 

Big games to look forward to are the Pelicans hosting Miami on March 22nd. Though irrelevant for D2 playoffs, it’s gonna be a good one. Palm Beach hosts Boca Raton on March 1st, which could have a big impact on standings.