Gulf Coast Super Regional 2025 Preview

The Super Regionals are finally here and teams are competing outside of their Geographic Unions for the first time this season, all in a bid to make it to the USA Rugby Club Championships in Indianapolis. 

We’re going to switch things up and preview each Super Regional before it happens, just to build the excitement and set the stage for what will be four fantastic tournaments. As always – the disclaimer – the statistics and records are pulled from team-entered data on RugbyXplorer. Any other commentary added is just for fun from someone who has no stake in the final outcomes.

Now that we’ve covered that – it’s time to dive into the Gulf Coast Super Regional being held this weekend in New Orleans, Louisiana!

The Women’s D1 Champions from this region goes directly to the Final Four, determined from the TRU playoffs held back on April 12th. Congratulations to the Houston sHARCs for advancing after defeating the Dallas Harlequins at the conference championship. The Men’s D1 will close out the day with their regional final, pitting the Texas Premiership Champion against the Florida D1 Champion. 

The Men’s D2, Men’s D3, and Women’s D2 will play semi-finals on Saturday with the champions being decided Sunday. Men’s D2 and Women’s D2 welcome the champions from Florida, Texas, the True South, and the Carolinas, while the Men’s D3 welcomes the champions from Florida, Texas, Georgia, and the Carolinas.

First up we have the Texas Champion and reigning National Champion, the Austin Blacks (9-0), taking on the winner of the play-in and Carolinas Champion, the Columbia Rhinos (4-2). Austin are the team to beat after winning the National Championship title first in 2018, and four times since. They’re not untouchable though, Palm Beach Panthers defeated them back in 2022 in the final, and the Grizzlies came within four the next year. Even just last year Brevard were leading until a try at the death. It’s been a good year for the Blacks however, as all three of their sides made it to this Super Regional. In the final, Austin swept the Houston Arrows 86-0 after their defeat of Tulsa in the semi. They’re big, they’re fast, and they’re back for more.

Taking on these formidable foes are a bit of a Cinderella story from the Carolinas, the Columbia Rhinos. Columbia defended their title in the Carolinas with two massive wins in the playoffs; 82-3 over Tobacco Road and 82-28 over Cape Fear in the final. Then as an additional hurdle, the Rhinos hosted True South’s Knoxville Possums in the D3 play-in. Due to five competitive regions in the Men’s D3 in the Gulf Coast Super Region, two must play to determine eligibility for the Gulf Coast Super Regional. The Rhinos took the challenge in hand and delivered, putting up an impressive 73 points to Knoxville’s 17 to take the win at full time. They have a mountain to climb come Saturday, but if they should succeed, there is certainly nothing that stands in their way of a National Title.

In the other semi-final we see the Florida and Georgia Champions going head to head. Coming out of Florida are the men from Brevard, Old Red Eye Rugby (6-1). Old Red Eye finished top of the table in Florida, bypassing the quarterfinal weekend at the end of March. They faced off against fourth place Gainesville, who had defeated Orlando in the quarters. Meanwhile the Pelicans defeated Sarasota in the other quarter. Sarasota dealt Brevard their only loss of the season, back in January, so Brevard had renewed confidence entering the final. Two tries by winger Edwin Escalera, both converted by Brock Roper helped drive Brevard to their eventual 33-15 final score and the ticket to NOLA. 

Facing off against Brevard are the Georgia Champions, the Savannah Shamrocks (4-1). Savannah finished second in the Georgia Eastern Division, behind the reigning champions, the Charleston Outlaws. The Shamrocks played their hearts out at every level of the postseason, edging High Country 24-22 in March, followed up by a 20-15 come from behind win over the Gainesville Spartans. They were the clear underdogs entering the final, they had already lost to Charleston once, and Charleston won the conference last year. Savannah kept their heads up and carried on, trusting their system to defeat the Outlaws and claim the title. In the end, the Shamrocks clenched it 35-25 and punched their ticket to NOLA. It’s been a while since a Gulf Coast team has topped the Blacks and made it to the D3 Nationals stage, but expect both Brevard and Savannah to give it their all to make history.

Moving on to the Women’s D2 competition, we’ve got the 2024 National D2 Champions back and ready for more. That’s right, Tampa Krewe (5-1) may have traded blows with Fort Miami throughout the season, but in the end the Krewe were too much to handle and topped Florida with a score of 32-19 in the final. Last year the Krewe made headlines when they toppled 2023 Champions the Knoxville Minx to claim the Gulf Coast Crown. With the Minx out of the way, Krewe decided – why not? Might as well claim the National Title while we’re here. And that they did. They are certainly the team to beat in this Super Regional, but as home to some of the best Women’s D2 teams in the country, it’s a tall order.

Taking on the Tampa Krewe are the TRU Champions, the Little Rock Stormers (6-1). Little Rock played in Texas’ Women’s Premiership, a hybrid competition with three teams seeking D1 postseason action, and three in D2. However, with the season Little Rock put in, you wouldn’t expect them to be chasing D2 action. They won a cold, rainy game against the D1 Austin Valkyries back in January, and then followed it up with an impressive 17-15 victory over the D1 Houston sHARCs (who are heading to the Final Four this year). They cemented their place in the Super Regional on April 12th when they defeated the San Antonio Riveters 37-10. Be on the lookout for Adrienne Yoder, who scored 11 tries over the season, including six in their 96-0 rout of the sHARCs second side.

In our second Women’s D2 semi-final we have the True South Champions, the Knoxville Minx (4-0) taking on the Carolinas Champions, the Charleston Hurricanes (5-2). The Knoxville Minx are no strangers to the National Championship run, having won the title in 2023 after being runners-up in 2022. They missed out defending their title last year in the Gulf Coast Super Regional final, losing to the eventual National Champs the Tampa Krewe. Knoxville has a relatively quiet season compared to the Hurricanes, playing only four regular season matches before advancing to the conference finals. Due to storms in the Tennessee region, Knoxville qualified for the Super Regionals without playing their championship match, due to confidently securing the #1 seed in the regular season. They’ve stayed active in their prep for the playoffs though, playing a match against the Atlanta Harlequins just last weekend. 

Taking on these former National Champions are the Hurricanes out of Charleston, South Carolina. Charleston repeated as the Carolinas GU Champions for the fourth straight year after defeating Charlotte in the final 26-24. Charlotte actually scored first, finding the try zone after four short minutes. Leann Hudson evened the score 15 minutes later, converting her own try to make it 7-7. Charlotte and Charleston traded scores back and forth for the next thirty minutes, remaining neck and neck. Charlotte scored last, 52 minutes in, to come within two, and the rest of the match would be a stalemate. After an impressive defensive effort, the final whistle blew, and it was Charleston once again defending their title. Now is the time for them to achieve further. After continuously having Knoxville block their attempts to advance, Charleston are determined to knock the Minx off and gain the Gulf Coast bid for the first time in club history.

Moving into the Men’s D2 Competition, the first semi-final will put the Florida Champion against the Texas Champion. Representing Florida are the Fort Lauderdale Knights (5-2-1) who, after finishing second overall in the regular season, shocked the top of the table Pelicans to claim the state title. With last year’s National and State Champions, the Miami Tridents, out of the picture in D1, the gates were blown wide open with opportunity for other D2 teams to advance. After a forfeit by Jacksonville in the quarterfinals, the Knights took on the Hammerheads in the semis. The two last played in January, ending in a 26-26 draw. This time, the Knights were ready. They were relentless throughout the 80 minutes, scoring 73 points through 11 tries. Flyhalf Harry Sadoun kicked 9 from 11 on the day, racking up 18 points of his own. In the final, the Knights faced the Pelicans who won their semi against Boca Raton the week before. When the Pelicans and the Knights clashed in the regular season, it wasn’t even close, with the Pelicans sweeping Ft Lauderdale 55-19. Fueled by their epic win in the semi, and with sights set on the prize, the Knights pushed it to the final minutes, keeping with the Pelicans point for point. Then with one final try, the Knights pulled ahead, keeping the lead until the final whistle, and lifting the trophy. Now in unfamiliar territory, it’s on the Knights to bring the National D2 Title back to Florida, but first things first, they must face the Blacks.

Representing the Texas Rugby Union are the men in black from Austin, TX, the Austin Blacks (8-0). Deja vu right? The Austin Blacks have sides in all three men’s divisions heading to the Gulf Coast Super Regional for the second time in club history. With a clean sweep of the Texas Championships back in mid-April, Austin wants to do the impossible and win National Titles in all three divisions. Their D2 side is the only side that hasn’t claimed a title, failing to get past the Super Regional stage. What’ll it take for this year to be their year? Well they are off to a good start. The Blacks went undefeated in Texas, taking down formidable foes like San Antonio and HARC in the regular season before defeating Houston United and the Dallas RFC in the Championships. With the added benefit of two additional sides there to cheer them on, expect Austin to bring their A-game against the Knights.

Wrapping up our semi-finals we see the True South Champions, Nashville (5-0), taking on the Carolinas Champion, Atlanta Old White. Nashville had a tough regular season, many teams had to forfeit, and when Nashville took the pitch, it was chaos. They put over 200 points combined against Huntsville and Chattanooga in the regular season, never taking off the gas. To supplement these schedule gaps, they traveled to compete outside their conference, as well as hosting their annual tournament Nash Bash, in order to gain game time. They also train intersquad as well, with enough players to fill out a D3 side. Nashville hasn’t been to a National Championship match since 2003 when they took on the Fairfield Yankees; but they’ve got all the parts that could make them a National Championship team – it’s just a matter of putting them together.

On the other side of the field will be Atlanta Old White, the lone D2 side representing the Carolinas GU. Atlanta is a bit of a wild card, they haven’t had a formal season so they’ve been playing qualifying matches across multiple regions which makes them hard to track. What do we know about Atlanta Old White? They’re good. The club has been around a long time and Old White has always been a feared opponent in Georgia. They were National runners-up in 2019, losing 12-10 to Olympic Club out of California. They played Nashville back in March and dominated, winning 57-7. Most recently they traveled down to Florida to take on the Miami Tridents in a warm-up for Super Regionals. They shocked the D1 Tridents, pulling out the win 40-26. When you look deeper in the roster, it kind of makes sense. They’ve got a fair amount of top talent who spent some time professionally, as well as players who have been around a long time and know the environment. I try to keep these previews unbiased, but I will say one thing – if Old White wins the National D2 Title this year, no part of me will be surprised. They’ve just got to stay consistent and cool-headed, it’s a long way to Indy.

Closing us out at the end of the day will be the Men’s D1 Final between TRU Champion, the Austin Blacks (8-0), taking on the Florida Men’s D1 Champion, the Miami Tridents (8-0). 

The Austin Blacks won the whole shebang back in 2023, defeating Old Blue 38-14. Now, before that, they reached the National Final a heartbreaking six times, and walked away with nothing. They missed the mark last year as Dallas RFC qualified out of Texas, the 2022 National Champs bowing out in the semis. After an undefeated season, including three wins over Dallas RFC, the Blacks are back and ready for another trophy. 

Taking on this Austin side are the reigning D2 National Champions, the Miami Tridents. Miami qualified for this match as the “Florida D1 Champion” though they are the only D1 team coming out of this region. They played in the D2 conference this year, as well as in the ARP in the fall, in order to gain eligibility for this match and the rest of the D1 postseason. Miami did well in Florida, their closest match saw Boca Raton coming within 23 points back in January. However recently they took on D2 Atlanta Old White, and dropped that 40-26. Perhaps they were trying new combinations, or just some shakeout action before their big game against Austin? Whatever the case, they will need to be primed and ready for Saturday’s game. It’s not gonna be easy.

The six winners of the semis on Saturday will advance to the Championships on Sunday. Those winners will join the winner of the D1 Final Saturday, plus the Houston sHARCs, in representing the Gulf Coast in Indianapolis on May 17th-19th.