Men’s Division 3 – 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 D3 Competition in February? Read below to find out!

The South Pittsburgh Hooligans defeated the Red River Ruffians in the Midwest final 20-17 in November. Both teams will advance to the Northern Super Regional in Springfield, MO the first weekend of May.

This is the last month of inactivity for the Mid-America Men’s D3. Seven teams started their campaign in September and played through the end of October. They resume March 15th rolling straight into spring playoffs. Currently the Royal Ramblers (4-0) are the only undefeated team left, and they’ve already taken down the second and third place teams. They open the spring season by traveling to the Mercenaries (0-4) and that’ll be a great time to check in on how the reigning MARFU D3 Champs survived the winter. Springfield (3-1) and Sunday Morning RFC (3-1) are neck and neck for second place; unfortunately we have to wait until April to see these two sides go head to head, but each has one more game in March that could shift the implications of that clash. As the top four teams head to the Mid-America playoffs, it’s also important to note that while the Rowdies (2-2) are sitting in fourth, both the Outlaws (1-3) and the Hornets (1-3) have a chance of moving up, should the Rowdies drop their March 22nd game to Springfield. 

The spring half of this season kicks off at the end of March with six out of seven teams in action. Currently the Denver Highlanders (6-0) are well on their way to securing the top seed in the Rocky Mountain playoffs. The Queen City Rams (5-1) are close on their heels though, they only lost by a try in that October 12th head to head. Rocky Mountain forgoes semi-finals and heads straight into the money games so the fight for the top two is brutal. Both the Littleton Scots (3-3) and the Colorado Springs Grizzlies (3-3) would need to win both games and have the Rams lose in the spring to give themselves a chance. It could happen and we would have three teams at 5-3 come crunch time. The Denver Barbarians are also 3-3, but don’t have enough bonus points to ever get past Queen City. It’s too late for postseason hopes for the Northern Colorado Flamingos (0-6) and the Denver Harlequins (1-5) as well, but both teams hope to close out their season with a win or two and disrupt the table while they’re at it. 

New England finished up in November with the Boston Irish Wolfhounds defeating the Albany Knickerbockers. The Wolfhounds make it a double by also qualifying their D2 team for the Super Regional, hosted just down the road in Newport, RI.

Syracuse made a massive second half comeback to defeat Long Island 41-19 in the Empire Conference Championship in November. They will play against the Boston Irish Wolfhounds as well as the TBD champions from the Capital and EPRU regions.

This competition returns next month with games aplenty from the first weekend in March. 

In the Central division, Severn River (5-1) and the Washington Renegades (5-1) are tied both on table points and record. Severn River holds the top spot thanks to their win in the head to head back in September, but that was like ages ago. Both teams have two left to play in March before playoffs. Loudoun (3-3) could also sneak into the top two if either of the top teams drops both their games and Loudoun wins both. 

In the Challenger division, Rocky Gorge (5-0) hosts the Washington Irish (3-2) for the  Divisional Championship on March 29th. Whoever wins will advance to the Mid-Atlantic Finals to compete against D3 sides from the Central and South divisions.

Finally, checking in on the South. No lack of drama here as Virginia Beach (5-1-1) have locked up the top seed in the South final with one match left to play. But oh boy is it a big one. Their opponent, James River (4-2-1) are currently sitting in fourth. However, both Newport News (4-4) and Virginia RFC (4-4) (second and third respectively) have played all their games. James River is tied on table points with Virginia, and three behind Newport News. What does this mean? A James River win would leapfrog them into second, and secure a place in the South Final, where they would – again – play Virginia Beach. Last time the two teams went head to head, it was a 38-38 tie. So, like I said – drama. We’ll know by the end of the day on March 15th.

Eastern Pennsylvania Men’s D3 has one more regular season game in March before the playoffs start the weekend of March 29th. Wilkes-Barre (6-0), Northeast Philadelphia (4-1-1), Harrisburg (5-1), and Jersey Shore (4-2) wrapped up the top four spots in the fall and will host the quarter-finals. Still yet to be decided is who will claim fifth and sixth, as Lehigh Valley (2-2-1) hosts Wilmington (3-2) on March 15th. The winner will travel to Jersey Shore and the loser will head to Harrisburg. Rounding out the quarters are Brandywine (2-4) and the Montgomery Bucks (1-5) who go to Northeast Philadelphia and Wilkes-Barre. Our next recap will plunk us in the middle of all that playoff action.

Plenty to cover here in Northern California, and plenty more still to come. We currently have three teams tied on 20 table points, and two of those are still undefeated. B.A. Baracus and the Marin Highlanders are both 4-0, while the San Francisco Fog are 4-1. Baracus logged a comfortable 38-10 win over Berkeley (0-3-1) while Marin kept the scoreline close with their 32-28 win over Silicon Valley (2-2). Baracus and the Highlanders will settle the score for first place this upcoming weekend when they clash in San Francisco.

The Fog had smooth sailing in their win over the Fresno Golden Dogs (2-2), but are still haunted from the blanking that Marin held them to at the start of the month. They will travel to Mendocino this weekend and then host Silicon Valley.

Reno (3-0) are also still undefeated, and climbing steadily. They stormed by Mendocino (1-3), throwing triple digits on the board, and took it to Chico (1-2-1) in a much tastier affair. They will get their first bite at another undefeated team when they travel to Baracus on the 15th of March. 

Silicon Valley (2-2) and the Fresno Golden Dogs have identical records. Silicon Valley did get eerily close to Marin on the 8th; flyhalf Kotaro Uno scoring at the death to secure two losing bonus points for his side. Fresno didn’t get to play their third league match as San Joaquin forfeited, and perhaps they were a bit slow in their start when they lost to the Fog on the 22nd. 

Berkeley and Chico of course tied this past weekend, adding some confusion into the mix. Chico still sits at seventh overall on the table, while Berkeley is hiding down at tenth. San Joaquin (0-5) looks like they are forfeiting the remainder of the season, so Mendocino is still hunting for their first real win.

A ton of critical matches scheduled for March. It’s safe to say that the standings will have shaken up a bit by our next recap.

Heading south to SoCal, we check in on the nine teams holding in down in the Men’s D3. Beach Cities (5-0) and the WC Marines (5-1) both have 20 table points, but of course the Marines have one more game played. As far as head to head, Beach Cities beat the Marines back in January, so once they get their sixth match played they will jump up to first.

South Los Angeles Soul (4-0) are still riding out a perfect season, they blanked the LA Rebellion (0-5) on February 8th and beat Riverside (0-4) 32-17 on the first of the month. The most challenging part of their season lies ahead as the Soul hosts Beach Cities this upcoming weekend. Though the LA Soul might not immediately leap into first, a win over Beach Cities would be a massive threat to the rest of the conference.

The Fullerton Dead Elephants (3-2) and Beaumont (3-2) are fourth and fifth, one bonus point apart. Beaumont put up a hard fight against Beach Cities this past weekend, fullback Josiah Atkins responsible for 13 points from the boot. The Dead Elephants beat Beaumont in their head to head on February 1st, their losses from the table leaders Beach Cities and the Marines. Both the Dead Elephants and Beaumont must still face South LA Soul before March is out, and that could shake a few things up.

Temecula (1-4) and the San Diego Armada (1-4) are next in the rankings, both claiming victory over the LA Rebellion (0-5). They face off on March 15th when Temecula hosts. 

Riverside and the LA Rebellion get their best chance for their first win on March 8th when they clash at Reid Park.

Big spring season on the horizon for the six clubs in the Men’s D3 Championship in the Pacific Northwest. Currently the Budd Bay Buffaloes (5-1) lead the way, however it hasn’t been easy. Three of their wins are by seven points or less, and they lost back in October to the Spokane Razorbacks (3-2) who are currently fourth in the standings. The Portland Pigs (4-2) are a close second place, with one more bonus point than the Buffaloes. The Pigs were victorious against the Razorbacks when they played, but lost a close one to the Sno Co. Rhinos (4-2). The Seattle Quake (1-5) closed their fall out with a bang, getting their first win over the Kitsap Renegades (0-6).

However in March, everything could change. Budd Bay hosts the Rhinos and the Razorbacks on back to back weekends. Win those two and it will cement the Buffaloes place on top. The Pigs play Kitsap and the Quake, two games Portland will enter with confidence. But don’t call it all said and done yet! Kitsap brought it to Budd Bay when they played in October, only losing 38-32. And then remember that the Quake beat Kitsap just two weeks later. So like any good predictions – no idea here, you’ll have to wait and see.

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.

Only a handful of matches took place in February in the Deep South. Since every team has played at least one match, we can still get a bit of a bearing on what is going on.

New Orleans (3-1) had a very tight win over the Crescent City Blues (1-2) the first weekend of February. With a final score of 24-19, New Orleans prevented the Blues from getting one bonus point for over four tries, but did allow them to get within seven. However, they executed the main job of course, which was to win. 

Crescent City then turned around the next weekend and beat Okaloosa Rugby (0-3) at home by seven points. Again, allow a bonus point, win a game, seems like a necessary evil. 

The Pensacola Aviators (3-0) continued on their perfect streak as they beat New Orleans on the 8th. This is enough to push them into first place in the True South “South” standings.

In the True South “North”, the Knoxville Possums (2-0) are on top thanks to a strong win on the road at Atlanta Old White (1-1). This leaves Old White at 1-1 after their fall season win over Chattanooga. The Clarksville Headhunters (1-2) and Memphis Blues (1-1) are still yet to kick off their spring. Clarksville hosts the Possums on March 8th, and Memphis travels to Old White this weekend. The Montgomory Yellowhammers (0-1) forfeited their February 15th match against New Orleans but are still scheduled to play Okaloosa next weekend. 

We have four separate subdivisions to check in on here, but some of them play cross-conference, so it gets a bit confusing.

Let me tell you what doesn’t get confusing, the Austin Blacks (7-0). The Blacks extended their perfect record this past month over the Dallas RFC (1-5) and the Dallas Harlequins (3-3). If this trend continues, they could easily win another National Championship, but where would they get the trophy shelf space??

The Austin Huns (5-2) turned a corner and bagged a pair of wins over the Dallas RFC and a massive one at home against Alamo City (2-4). That boost pulled them from maybe second to definitely second in the D1-C subdivision. The Dallas Harlequins might be able to sneak by the Huns but they definitely need to win their March 1st match against them as well as have it go downhill for Austin.

Up in the North it’s a pretty tight affair. Tulsa (3-3) hold onto the lead, but for how long? They defeated Little Rock (2-3) and the OKC Legion (2-2) in February but also lost a close one to Alliance (2-1). Alliance is second with fewer matches played than the rest; they haven’t played since their win over Tulsa on the 1st. Little Rock and the OKC Legion are tied on table points with Alliance. There’s some key matches in March that are going to change those standings, the Legion hosting Alliance on the first and Tulsa hosting Alliance on the 8th.

In the South, the Houston Arrows (4-2) are juuuust above Houston United Rugby Team (3-2). But it was HURT back on February 8th who beat the Arrows at home 38-20. If their next match is a win, it would put them back on top. Galveston (3-3) are suffering from that lost table point and forfeit against the Austin Huns. They were back playing on the 15th when they hosted and defeated BARC (1-3). Shreveport (1-3) have fallen off since the epic season opener against HURT, logging a loss to the Arrows on February 1st. It sounds like it’s going to be a HURT vs Arrows arm-wrestle for that playoff hosting spot. Both teams still have to play Shreveport, along with a few other matches before we finalize who will host.

In the Central it’s all San Antonio (6-1). They had a strong fall and then lost hard to the Austin Blacks. When they came back this past weekend, they showed up against McAllen (0-7), securing a 56-0 road win. The Corpus Christi Crabs (5-2) are also grinding along, they beat Alamo City this past weekend and McAllen back on the 8th. Alamo City hasn’t had the best February, first it was the Huns, then the Crabs. They are looking forward to March 1st when they host San Antonio in a cross-town derby. Fort Hood Old Skool (1-5) are still looking for their first true win of the year, the only one recorded was a forfeit win back in November. Their next chance is this upcoming weekend when they host Corpus Christi. 

Big couple of weekends for all lucky thirteen teams in the Florida D3 Men’s Competition. 

Pelican Rugby (4-0) reigns supreme after four weeks of action. They trounced sixth place Tampa Krewe (2-3), yet struggled against eighth place Miami (2-2) just two weeks later. But they are undefeated, and as we’ve said before – a win is a win.

Gainesville (3-1) and Brevard (3-1) are even across the board. Brevard does have double the PD of Gainesville, but are still behind after only getting one bonus point in their loss to Sarasota (2-0), not two. Gainesville lost an incredibly close match to Lakeland (1-1) even with the insane last minute effort and two tries from second rower Alban de Crecy. 

Orlando (2-2) and Daytona (2-2) are both coming off losses; Daytona losing 35-24 to Gainesville and Orlando dropping a big one to Tallahassee (1-3). Gainesville and Tampa Krewe both defeated Tallahassee this past month, so maybe that win over Orlando was a bit of a one-hit wonder. 

Sarasota is still undefeated, hiding out with only two matches played. We mentioned their win over third place Brevard, they also dispatched the Claymores (1-3) 35-17 in their opening match of the season. Treasure Coast Armada and Jacksonville look to be sitting this season out, both sitting on a few forfeits. 

Coming up in March, Gainesville hosts Pelican Rugby, Brevard hosts Lakeland, and Miami and Orlando square off. Catch that and so much more down in the sunshine state. 

Two regional subdivisions here, Eastern and Western. Let’s head East first. 

The Charleston Outlaws (4-0) look good, they smashed Hilton Head (2-2) for their first hit out and then held on until the final whistle in their 21-20 win over the Savannah Shamrocks (3-1). The Shamrocks still got a bonus point in that loss and so far it’s the only blemish on their entire season. Every other win has been convincing, especially the century they dropped on the Athens Eagles (1-2) on the 15th. Both the Augusta Maddogs and Hilton Head are 2-2. They did go head to head at the end of January and the Maddogs won that pretty confidently. The Eagles have been having a tough season but came very close when they hosted Hilton Head. Four tries and a loss within seven got them two losing bonus points on the board; next time they will shoot for four and make it in the win column. Macon Love have had to forfeit most of their matches, we hope they can regather and regroup and come back stronger next season. Only a few games left, Hilton Head has to host the Shamrocks, and the Eagles have to play both Augusta and Charleston before playoff seeding can be finalized.

Checking out the West, the Gainesville Spartans (5-0) capped off their perfect season with a 31-27 win over the Alpharetta Exiles (3-2). This ties them up with High Country (3-2) who defeated them narrowly in the head to head back at the end of January. Columbus (2-1) still have two left to play against Gwinnett (1-3) and the Atlanta Bucks (0-4). Should they win both, they will move up to second in the Western standings and head to the postseason. There’s unfortunately no chance for Gwinnett or the Bucks to make it unless Gwinnett wins by scoring more than four tries AND Columbus neglects to get any bonus points and loses both their last games. Not a likely outcome, but always possible.

March will see Georgia host regional playoffs before the qualifying play-in occurs on the way to the Gulf Coast Super Regionals in New Orleans, LA.

The Carolina Men’s D3 competition wrapped up this past month and we have playoffs to look forward to in March.

Cape Fear (6-1-1) won all three matches in February to cement their place at the top of the East table and earn hosting rights for the cross-conference semifinal on March 15th. They will play the Greenville Griffins (4-2) who finished second in the West. Greenville clinched a crucial win over Asheville last weekend to qualify for playoffs, but failed to get the four try bonus point that could have vaulted them into first. 

The Columbia Rhinos (4-2) finished back at the start of February and could only sit and wait to see how the rest of the season shook out and where that would leave them for the playoffs. Fortunately, it all went their way and the Rhinos finished at the top of the West table. Columbia will host Tobacco Road (4-3-1) who finished second in the East. Tobacco Road also just snuck in at the final minute. They have the same record as the Fayetteville Dragons (4-3-1) who finished third. Now it would be crazy if these two teams tied back in the regular season, but no. Fayetteville actually tied Cape Fear and Tobacco Road tied the Onslow Misfits this past month. Knowing their last match was against Cape Fear, Tobacco Road needed a tie or better to qualify. Somehow, they made it work, and notched the bonus point as well. They also got the needed bonus point in their end of season loss to Cape Fear, which pushed them up the table to second.

Now finals footy is a different kind of beast. You can look at the records and predict all you want, but these teams are in it to win it. Semifinals are March 15th, with the Carolinas D3 Championship being held on Saturday March 29th. The winner of that will then go into the play-in round for the Gulf Coast Super Regionals at the start of May.