Men’s Division 3 – September 2025 Recap

Welcome back to another season of USA Club Rugby and another round of monthly recaps hosted by yours truly. After a scintillating summer of sevens rugby, the teams have headed back to the pitch to play XVs. Some conferences have changed, some have remained the same, some new clubs have entered the picture, others have closed doors, we’ll cover it all right here.

At the start of the year most of the action takes place in the Midwest and Northeast, but we’ll keep you in the loop with what’s happening in the Spring leagues as well. 

Also, the disclaimer (in case you’re new here), all of this information is gathered from team-entered data on RugbyXplorer. If something is wrong, it might just be because the data is incorrect in RugbyXplorer, otherwise it could be because I’m a human and sometimes make mistakes (yes, even me). I’m always open to correcting those mistakes if you reach out nicely! Outside of that, all of the commentary is added purely for fun from someone who has no stake in the outcomes of these matches. So sit down and enjoy as we cover what happened this past month in the Men’s D3 competition.

We’re going to start off with one of our busiest divisions this time of year, the Midwest Men’s D3. There’s eight (EIGHT!) subdivisions to cover here, so buckle in, because we’re getting deep into it.

First up, the CARFU league. The Rockford Ravens (4-0) are running the show after finishing sixth on the table last year; talk about improvement. Their two opening wins over the Peoria Pigs (1-2) and the Northwest Indiana Reapers (0-1) were good, yet expected based on standings from last year. It was this past weekend when they toppled the Chicago Silverbacks (2-2) that really made everyone take a second look. They also secured a strong win over the Northwest Woodsmen (0-4) who have fallen quite a bit from their 5-2 finish in first place last year. The Chicago Blaze (3-0) are also still undefeated. They hit triple digits in their win over the Silverbacks and the Pigs, so they are looking a bit better than the Ravens, but only time will tell. Peoria got their own moment in the spotlight when they defeated the Northwest Woodsmen 66-61 on September 6th; I do not envy the referee that had to chase all of those tries in. The Northwest Indiana Reapers also beat the Woodsmen by a similar amount, recording their own win 41-35 last weekend.

Heading to the Eastern league, let’s check in on a few Ohio and western Pennsylvania teams. The Cleveland Rovers (4-0) have yet to find anyone who can stand up to them. Their closest match to date was last weekend’s 40-7 defeat of second-place Canton-Akron (2-1), so I think it’s safe to say they will be topping the division this year. The Cleveland Crusaders (1-2) started off with a 39-12 defeat of Erie (1-2) but then forfeited their next two matches; not sure what the rest of the season holds for the Crusaders, but we do know they have other teams in other divisions, so this could just be a numbers problem. Erie were impressive when they played Canton-Akron, losing by just eight points, and they slammed the Greensburg Maulers (1-3) when they hosted them last weekend. They seem to be getting better as the season moves along, which is good news for playoffs. Pittsburgh Forge (1-1) is another unknown. They’ve only played one match, their other being a forfeit win against the Crusaders, so maybe they’ll come in and spoil the show for some of the other teams.

In the Indiana league it is all about the Michiana Moose (5-0). The Moose have been perfect on the season, five for five with maximum bonus points. Last year they only suffered one loss, a heartbreaking three-point drop to the Detroit Tradesmen. But, good news, no Tradesmen in the Indiana league! Michiana only has one game left to play, against Ypsilanti (0-5), and my gut tells me that the Moose have got this in hand. The Toledo Celtics (4-1) are currently in second place, but somehow they get to avoid playing the Indianapolis Impalas (3-1) who are close behind in third. Both teams lost to the Moose by 12 points, so it would have been epic to see them go head to head. White River (2-2) also has a lot to be proud of this season, they came within six points of Toledo in their opening match and put 13 points on the Moose. One of their wins comes from a forfeit from Ypsilanti, who looks to not have formally played since week 1. Their other was a strong 54-17 win over Fort Wayne (1-4). The Kalamazoo Dogs (1-4) also had their lone win come from the defeat of Ypsilanti; they do have a big opportunity this weekend when they travel to Fort Wayne, both teams fighting for a win. 

Over to the Iowa league where the Bremer County Bucks (4-0) defeated the West Des Moines Wombats (3-1) in the first big 1v2 clash of the season. It was a resounding win for the Bucks, who started the action off with a penalty goal through Fine Vaea in the 7th minute, looking for any opportunity to get points on the board and hop out to an early lead. Their first try came about 15 minutes later thanks to Rashon Jennings, and the rest was in the bag. De’Andre Moore scored for the Wombats about 30 minutes into the first half but it was already three tries to one at that point, and a long road to climb back. The two will face off again on October 11th, and this time, the Wombats will be ready. Duking it out at the bottom of the table are Dubuque Riverboat Gamblers (1-3) (have I mentioned how much I love D3 club names?) and Iowa Falls (0-4). The Riverboat Gamblers bested Iowa Falls back in August 36-22, but the rematch is scheduled for October 11th, and you can bet Iowa Falls is going for that W.

In Michigan, it’s all tied up at the top of the table. The Detroit Tradesmen (4-0) have left the old Indiana league and taken their talent to Michigan, which makes sense geographically. What’s good news for the Michiana Moose, is not a ton of fun for teams like the Capital Area Crisis (4-1) who took home first in the league last year. The Crisis lost their match against the Tradesmen 48-26, and they won’t get another hit out on them in the regular season. Their best shot for someone to upset the Tradesmen are the Tri City Barbarians (3-1). The Barbarians lost by three to the Crisis when they played back in August, and they will travel to Detroit on October 11th to take on the top of the table. In the bottom half of the table we’ve got Michigan (1-4), Detroit (1-2), and the Flint Rogues (1-2). Michigan’s and Flint’s sole wins come from the Traverse Bay Blues, who forfeited their entire season. Flint is the only side who has actually played out a win in the bottom group, and that was September 6th over Michigan. 

Moving along over to the Minnesota league, it’s the Red River Ruffians (4-0) who are looking to defend their Midwest D3 title this year, and they’re off to a perfect start. It wasn’t easy, the St Paul Jazz Pigs (3-1) gave them more than a run for their money. It was back on the 13th that the Jazz Pigs made the hike up to Fargo to face their foes. The Ruffians were on the board first through Corey Schlack, only about 15 minutes in; but then, it went quiet. Neither team scored for another 50 minutes, locked in a defensive stalemate. The Jazz Pigs scored next, Christopher Buckel diving over, to tie the match. They let their guard down just briefly in the next minutes as Emmanuel Veresoni ran in and Neymar Mukori added the extras for the Ruffians. The Ruffians were able to hold the Jazz Pigs scoreless until the final whistle, but it was close. Fortunately Minnesota will hold a 1v2 match for the final seed entering Midwest playoffs and it looks likely that we’ll see these two compete again. Outside of those two, the Rochester Rogues (2-2) have had some good moments this season, they defeated the Wailers (1-3) by four points and Metropolis (0-4) 42-7. They still have to take on the Jazz Pigs in their final regular match of the season, but are definitely going to have a spot in the final consolation match. Their opponent will likely be the Wailers, who got their lone win of the season over Metropolis, 29-20. 

Two leagues left, I promise. Next we’re heading back to Ohio for a few more Ohio-based teams and some Kentucky teams. This league is the old D3 Southern division of the Midwest, renamed the Ohio league in the restructure. The new team on the block is also the one at the top of the table; the Columbus Castaways (4-0) are undefeated with two games left to play. Louisville (3-2) is the closest on table points, they only lost by 13 in their match against the Castaways; but they also lost 24-20 to the Cincinnati Kelts (3-1). The Kelts have yet to play the Castaways, their sole loss comes at the hands of Dayton (2-2), who just lost to Queen City (2-2). Now the Kelts haven’t played Queen City yet, but they did beat Louisville who beat Queen City; so there’s absolutely a chance they can take down Columbus on the 11th. That all made sense right? The Cincinnati Wolfhounds (1-3) and Lexington Blackstones (0-5) are definitely out for playoffs this year, but they can always turn out a win to end the season on a high.

Last but certainly not least, let’s head over to the Wisconsin league to see what’s happening there. Last year the Fox City Gargoyles absolutely ripped through this league, with an average point differential of 52 points per match. And that’s not points scored, that’s DIFFERENCE. Well, this year is much the same. The Gargoyles (5-0) are still undefeated, but they have a more modest differential of 178. So only 36 points per match. They do have one match left, and that is against fellow undefeated side Green Bay (4-0), so they don’t have first place secured just yet. Green Bay have the two hardest teams left to play, but they’ve looked good all season, recording wins over the Oshkosh Mighty Pigs (1-4), the Milwaukee Black and Blue (1-3), and Oconomowoc (0-4). The other opponent they have left is the Wisconsin Sharks (3-1) who were formidable, outside of their match against the Gargoyles. The game of the season is likely going to be that Sharks vs Green Bay match on October 11th.

And that’s about it for all 48 D3 sides in the Midwest. Hope you have room left in your brain, because we’ve still got the rest of the country to cover.

We’ve got a few changes to the structure of the Men’s D3 competition in the Mid-America this year. First off, the league has split into two geographical subdivisions, each with five teams. This is a massive growth from the seven teams that made up the conference last year. 

First up, our East Conference. The only new face in this conference are the Springfield Celts (0-2) who dropped their opening two matches against the St. Louis Hornets (1-0) and Sunday Morning RFC (2-0). Both those sides were middle of the table last year, but stiff competition if you’re a newbie on the scene. Sunday Morning and the Rowdies (1-0) both notched big wins over the Mercenaries (0-2), who had a tough start. Still the lion’s share of the season left to cover, but everyone has hit the pitch at least once in this conference.

Over to the West, where we’ve only seen four of five teams in action. This conference also holds many of our new competitors. Springfield (1-0) and the Outlaws are the only two returning from last year; they join the KC Blues (1-0) and Kansas City RFC (1-2), both long-standing clubs who entered D3 sides this year, and Northland (0-1) who are new on the scene. Kansas City put 91 points on Northland before falling to Springfield 41-24. The KC Blues also notched a win over Kansas City back on September 13th, 41-12. 

October will be a busy month for this competition with three games a weekend. Once everyone gets a chance to hit the pitch, we’ll have a better idea of league leaders.

Our final conference in the Northern region is the Rocky Mountain GU. The only big change this year is Boulder dropping down from D2 last year and the Denver Barbarians D3 side dropping out. Otherwise, all your big players are back for another season in the mountains.

Last year’s undefeated champions, the Denver Highlanders (0-1) opened their season with a gut wrenching 43-41 loss to Boulder (1-1). I can already hear it – oh this is what happens when a D2 team drops down, blah blah – but no! Boulder then hit the road and dropped a big one to the Colorado Springs Grizzlies (2-0). So maybe it was just a fluke on the Highlanders part, some early season jitters they had to get out.

The Littleton Scots (2-0) also look good this year, they defeated the Queen City Rams (1-1) and the Northern Colorado Flamingos (0-2) to kick off their season. The Scots and the Highlanders did play the last weekend of September but it looks like scores haven’t been finalized in RX, so I don’t want to make any assumptions yet.

There’s some big matches coming up in October, the Scots will host Boulder on October 4th and the Harlequins (0-1) will host the Flamingos on the 11th. One of those last two will get their first win for the season that weekend.

Moving over to the Atlantic Coast, we start up in New England with our mostly Boston-based sides. I can already hear the complaining, but let’s be real, if you’re within two hours of Boston I’m calling you Boston-based. This year there are nine teams instead of eight, with the Hartford Wanderers joining in on the action. 

So far, the top of the table is the same as last year, with the Albany Knickerbockers (3-1) on top. It seems a requirement for Knicks fans this year is something to control your blood pressure, because Albany has been pushing it to the wire in every match. Their opening game was 33-31 over the Hartford Wanderers (2-2); they followed that up with a 31-29 win over Providence (2-2). Fans got a bit of a reprieve as they took down the Boston Irish Wolfhounds (1-2) 24-12, but they were back on their meds for the last match where Burlington (3-0) topped the Knicks 29-28. Talk about a roller coaster of a season, and we’re just getting started.

Burlington was middle of the pack last year, but they’ve made a statement this season. They smashed South Shore (1-2) 59-10, but also defeated last year’s third place team Providence by two points in a low-scoring affair back at the start of September. They are also the only undefeated team left in the league, they just have one less match played than the Knicks, which keeps them in second for the time being. 

There’s a fair amount of teams with a 2-2 record right now; Providence, the Hartford Wanderers, Amoskeag, and the Boston Maccabi have all won some/lost some. The Wanderers defeated last year’s champions, the Boston Irish Wolfhounds 51-35, but they also lost 22-12 against Providence. The Boston Maccabi defeated South Shore (1-2) 18-15, and South Shore took down Amoskeag 48-14. Amoskeag of course, defeated the Boston Maccabi 59-0, so make sense of that in your free time.

The only team that has yet to find a win is North Shore (0-3), they play the Wolfhounds on the 4th and the Wanderers on the 18th. Perhaps they’ll jump into the mix of defeating teams you didn’t expect them to – much like the rest of this division.

Tons more action to be had in October, the season will come to a close in November before the snows start. 

Moving down the coast a bit, we’ve got the Empire GU. There are four subdivisions in this conference, separated into Connecticut, Upstate, Metro, and New Jersey.

Starting first in Connecticut, there are the same five teams as last year, Greenwich being our returning champ from this subdivision. Things look about the same as last season, Greenwich (3-0) have started off perfect, though it hasn’t been easy. In their 36-34 defeat of Danbury (0-3), Anthony Barallon dotted down in the 79th minute to pull ahead for the win. Then, in their 13-11 defeat of the Fairfield Yankees (2-2), Liam Doran slotted the penalty goal for the win at minute 79. Talk about leaving things to the last minute. The rest of the division is a bit all over the place. New Haven (2-1) defeated Danbury by four and Saratoga (1-2) by 15, but lost by 10 to the Yankees. The Yankees also defeated Danbury but lost to Saratoga by two tries. It seems Danbury has been unlucky, two losses by under five points is tough, especially when one of those is to the conference leader. 

In the Upstate division, it was all about the Syracuse Chargers last year. Syracuse stormed through Empire playoffs to make it to the Atlantic Super Regional where they finished third, defeating the Wilkes-Barre Breakers in the consolation match. The Chargers (3-0) are still very much the talk of the town after going 3-0 in the opening three matches. Their last match was a bit of an eyebrow raise however, South Buffalo (0-3) held them to 16 points in their narrow win, gaining a valuable bonus point in the loss. The Rochester Aardvarks (3-1) are closing in on the Chargers as well. They may have lost 40-19 when they went head to head, but wins over Buffalo (2-1), South Buffalo, and KenTon (0-3) have kept them within range of that top spot. Buffalo have done well, but they have yet to face the Chargers; that’ll happen this weekend. KenTon and South Buffalo also face off this weekend, one will get their first win of the season, so it’s going to be a feisty match.

Moving into the city, we have the Metro subdivision. Things already look eerily similar to last year. There are a few changes; Gotham have dropped and been replaced by Queens (1-3) who have slotted in at fourth in the standings, disrupting Rockaway (2-1) who held that position at the end of last year. Outside of that, everything looks the same. Long Island (3-0) are top of the table, their 38-12 defeat of second place Suffolk (2-1) cementing them as the top contenders from this region. Suffolk have done well, they defeated Queens 49-42 just last weekend, and Brooklyn (2-1) 28-7 the weekend before. Rockaway (2-1) looked like strong contenders until they forfeited against Long Island last weekend. Not sure what happened there, but it seemed like a great opportunity to jump to the top of the table for Rockaway. Lansdowne (0-4) have been down in the dumps, not a great start for them, forfeiting last weekend’s match against NYRC (1-1). The New York Rugby Club are near the bottom of the table, but they’ve also played the least amount of matches. With more games played, we can get a more accurate picture of where they sit. 

Our final subdivision covers New Jersey. Last year Montclair ruled this division, going 5-1 before advancing to the playoffs. Since they have been promoted to D2, there’s room for a new sheriff in town. Both Union (2-0) and Central Jersey (2-0) have put their hands up for that spot, starting off their season undefeated. They’ve both notched wins over Hudson Valley (0-4), who is having a rough start to their debut D3 season. Also looking good are the Morris Lions (2-1), they beat Bayonne (1-2) 44-17 and got a forfeit win from Hudson Valley back on September 13th. They aren’t scheduled to play Central Jersey until the end of October, giving them plenty of time to put together a game plan to get back into the top two. Meanwhile, Union and Central Jersey square off against each other in a massive top of the table clash this weekend, it’s gonna be good.

In the Capital region we’ve got four subdivisions to cover. Two are designated “Challenger” subdivisions, which means they are part of a multi-sided club. So your Challenger Central is basically your Men’s D1 clubs and the Challenger South is your men’s D2 clubs, so don’t get confused when we talk about clubs that we’ve already covered in different divisions. The other two subdivisions, Central and South, are your D3 only clubs; the cool ones. The ones that typically have more entertaining names. The bread and butter of the USA Club Rugby system if you will. 

So let’s start with the Challenger Central, the clubs with D1 and D3 sides. Rocky Gorge (3-0) and Schuylkill River (2-0) are both undefeated with similar point differentials. This probably has to do with the fact that they both put 80-plus points on Washington (0-3). Outside of that, scores have been competitive. Rocky Gorge just barely beat the Potomac Exiles (1-1) 24-21 and Schuylkill snuck by the Washington Irish (1-2) 26-21. NOVA (0-1) have only played one match, a 27-22 loss to Potomac, so that doesn’t really tell us much. They still could be contenders this season. Unfortunately, everyone seems to be heaping points on poor Washington; similar to their D1 season, they’ll likely be jonesing for that winter break to happen soon. NOVA will jump into action in October, they take on Rocky Gorge and Schuylkill in back to back weekends, which will give us more insight into how they stand in the wider group. 

Our second Challenger subdivision is the South; these are the teams paired up with D2 sides. We only have three teams: the Raleigh Vipers, James River, and the Riverlands. Excitingly enough, all three teams are currently 1-1. The Raleigh Vipers notched a 41-38 win over the Golden Boars despite a furious last minute onslaught by the Riverlands to pull within three points. Then, James River opened their season with a cushy 29-10 defeat of Raleigh at home. The Riverlands got a forfeit win over James River to shoot them up to the top of the table, not sure where we go from here, but all three teams will face each other one more time before the season’s close. 

Okay now for the D3-only divisions, we’re going to start with the larger division, the D3 South. Currently Virginia (3-0) and Virginia Beach (3-0) are both undefeated, with the head to head scheduled for October 11th. However, it’s interesting because it looks like Virginia Beach has only played one match, a 36-33 win over Newport News (1-1). The other two wins come from forfeits. Compare this to Virginia who have beaten Roanoke (1-1), New River Valley (0-3), and the Rocktown Roosters (0-3).  Newport News are also not to be counted out. They had a massive win over the Rocktown Roosters and only lost their opener by three points, so watch out for them to creep up the table as the season goes on. 

Our final subdivision has four teams, Severn River, the Washington Renegades, Loudoun, and Frederick. Both Severn River (2-1) and the Renegades (2-1) went 7-1 last year, duking it out until the final weekend of pool play. This year, Loudoun (2-1) have thrown their name into the hat as well, defeating Severn River 26-12. Severn River bested last year’s result over the Renegades 33-7, but the Renegades beat Loudoun 26-12 in the season opener. One thing is consistent amongst the teams, they’ve all beaten Frederick (0-3). It’s going to get spicy when the rematches come around next month, there’s still everything to play for. 

Our final region in the Atlantic is the Eastern Pennsylvania region. Last year’s champions, the Wilkes-Barre Breakers (2-0), are back and in the groove. They kicked off the season with a 75-26 win over Phoenixville White Horse (0-3) before smashing Harrisburg (0-3) by another 73 points. Yikes. If anyone was hoping they wouldn’t be as good this year, I think you might be disappointed. 

Joining the undefeated club and topping the table right now are Brandywine Rugby (3-0). Brandywine came within two points of toppling the Breakers last year, and are back for vengeance. They’ve taken out the Montgomory Bucks (2-1), Phoenixville, and Northeast Philadelphia (2-1) so far this season, and they’re just getting started. 

Our final undefeated club is Jersey Shore Sharks (3-0). The Sharks are truly swimming through the competition, defeating Harrisburg, Reading (0-2), and now Wilmington (0-2) this past weekend in their hunt of the EPRU title. Watch out for winger Quinn McLaughlin who has scored an astonishing 12 tries over three matches. That’s an average of 20 points a match.

Also worth mentioning are the Montgomery Bucks and Blackthorn (1-1) who are currently fifth and sixth in the table. They went head to head on September 20th in a barn burner of a game where over 100 points were scored. Final score 56-54 Bucks over Blackthorn. Defense optional, attack required. There’s so much more rugby to be had this month and we have some tasty games on the schedule. Brandywine and Wilkes-Barre will face each other on October 18th, then Jersey Shore will host Wilkes-Barre the next weekend. The Breakers better be ready, because they are about to be tested.

As we head west, most of our California teams opt for a spring-only season. NorCal has nine Men’s D3 sides participating, down from 11 last year, but there are a whole lot of changes. Harlot Rugby has left, but as they forfeited their entire season, we kind of expected that. Chico have dropped to D4, kind of a surprise after going 6-3-1. However league changes often have to do with costs associated with travel instead of performance and competition-based. I’m just reporting the facts. The San Francisco Fog, Fresno Golden Dogs, and Mendocino have also dropped down to D4. San Jose D3 is gone, however they still have their D2 side participating. New to the competition are Life West, Olde Gaels, and San Francisco Golden Gate. With all these changes, we have no idea what’s going to unfold, but when it does, we’ll be there.

Southern California also doesn’t kick off until the new year. They have yet to release their teams for 2026, but we look forward to seeing clubs such as Beach Cities, the Fullerton Dead Elephants, the West Coast Marines, and many more back in action. Hopefully by October’s recap we will have some new updates for you.

Heading up the coast, we check in with the teams in the Pacific Northwest region. These games kicked off in the middle of September so we do have some action to cover. Last year’s champion the Portland Pigs (2-0) are back to a perfect start after a 39-12 defeat of the Snohomish Rhinos (0-2). They followed this up with a 50-17 demolition of newcomers, the Yakima Griffins (0-2).

The Budd Bay Buffaloes (2-0) are also off to a great start, but they’ve been keeping it close. They defeated the Clark County Chiefs (1-1) by four and the Rhinos by three. Both the Chiefs and Rhinos got bonus points in their losses, and by how the division is looking, those points are all going to count at the end of the season. 

The Seattle Quake (1-1) started strong after a bit of a disappointing season last year, taking down the Griffins 32-24 in their opening match. This denied the Griffins the losing bonus point for coming within seven points, crucial come the end of the season. 

So far, it’s been some really exciting scorelines. There’s clearly tries and bonus points aplenty up in Northwest, and while there are frontrunners, any day could be anyone’s game. Watch out for the Rhinos in October, they may be 0-2 but they’ve come deadly close twice and a win is waiting just around the corner.

The Southwest region played a D2/D3 hybrid last year, but it looks like they are splitting things up this year. Last year’s champions, the Scottsdale Blues, have been promoted to D2, but they’ve added a D3 program, so you’ll still see their name around. The Las Vegas Irish, last year’s D2 champs, have done the same thing. So the bracket looks pretty similar to last year, but don’t let scores surprise you when they start rolling in.

In our Gulf Coast region, we’re going to start off covering the True South. True South has indicated a lucky 13 teams participating, spread all the way from New Orleans to Atlanta. Headlined by last year’s champion the Knoxville Possums, this region has had their ups and downs when it comes to regional play. However in a new season, anything is possible. Changes from last year include Memphis Blues leaving to be replaced by the Crescent City Blues. There’s also the addition of Huntsville, the Panama City Hurricanes, and Wiregrass Rugby. We assume the teams will be split into two subdivisions as they were last year, but nothing official is posted yet. Games start at the beginning of next month, and there’s going to be a lot of them.

We’ll mosey on down to Texas to check in on how the schedule looks; games won’t kick off until October 3rd, so nothing to cover yet, but we can set the scene so you are ready for next month.

We’ve got four subdivisions in this region, three geographical and one with multi-sided clubs. The South subdivision welcomes Cy-Fair this year, while Houston United Rugby Team transfers to the D1c subdivision. The Houston Arrows are back, ready to defend their title as South leaders.

In the North, divisional champions Tulsa are joined by familiar foes Alliance, OKC Legion, and Little Rock. OKC Tribe has left the chat while DARC has come back down from their run in D2 last year to fill the gap.

The Central region is the smallest, just four teams, but they have to drive the furthest as the region stretches from Ft Hood Old Skool in Killeen, TX down to the Mexican border with McAllen. However you can stop at the San Antonio Riverwalk while you play Alamo City, or visit the beach when you boot up against the Corpus Christi Crabs. 

Finally we have D1c, our largest subdivision. The D1c is made up of teams who have additional sides in different divisions (D1 or D2), so while the travel might be a bit more inconvenient, it allows for clubs to travel together and have multi-divisional games on the same day at the same venue. Here is where lives the formidable Austin Blacks, the Austin Huns, the Dallas RFC (all our triple-divisional clubs) along with the Dallas Quins, HURT, HARC, and San Antonio (our double-divisional clubs). D1c can get feisty, and with this many teams? It’s going to be an exciting season.

We’ve got an incredible 14 teams in the Men’s D3 competition in Florida this year, and it’s promising to be a spicy one. Former D2 sides Jacksonville, Palm Beach, and Hammerheads drop down and join last year’s top of the table Brevard Old Red Eye and the Pelicans. With 14 teams we would expect some regional splits into pools, but we still have no word on how that will shake out. Games are expected to start in January, so we’ll cover more then!

We’ve got a couple of matches that happened down in Georgia, as well as some ridiculously one-sided matches (like uncomfortably one-sided) and some forfeits.

First off, the Savannah Shamrocks (1-0) kicked off their campaign to return to the Gulf Coast Super Regional this year with a wet, gritty 28-24 win over the Augusta Maddogs (1-1). Augusta looked good coming off their season opener defeating the Alpharetta Exiles (0-2); and going toe to toe with the defending conference champion is no joke. 

High Country (2-0) look phenomenal on the scoresheet, however their two wins are a 172-0 romp of the Atlanta Bucks (0-2) and a 41-0 defeat of Gwinnett (0-1) who had to reschedule their first match against Gainesville (1-0). So we really can’t be sure how good they are until they face some stiffer competition. 

Hilton Head (1-0), Gainesville (1-0), the Atlanta Renegades (1-0), and Columbus (1-0) all also started their season off with wins. Hilton Head demolished Macon (0-1) 80-0 on the road, while the Renegades had a closer 24-10 battle against the Alpharetta Exiles on home turf. Gainesville played back in August against Athens (0-1), scoring 49 unanswered points while Columbus also racked up some big points over the Atlanta Bucks, who look like they are going to have a tough ride this season. 

In October we see Augusta face High Country, a good test of where High Country is sitting in the pecking order; Savannah will take on Hilton Head, and Gainesville will play Alpharetta.

We finish off with the Carolinas region. Home of the defending National Champions, the Columbia Rhinos, the Carolinas are not to be underestimated for the quality of rugby they provide. And that has nothing to do with me (the author) having played rugby in North Carolina. Totally unbiased opinion here. 

We’ll start in the East subdivision with Cape Fear (2-0), who are currently running the table. Fear took down Tobacco Road (1-1) in the season opener before notching a tight 40-33 win over the Fayetteville Dragons (1-1). Vice-captain Jacob Throneberry dotted down twice for Fear in the win, while flyhalf Chase Miller went five for six from the tee. Fayetteville is all about those close matches this year, as their opening win came from a 29-26 defeat of the Onslow Misfits (0-1) back on September 13th. Captain AJ Castle was crucial in the win, raking in 14 of their 29 points, including the nail in the coffin penalty goal. Southern Pines (1-0) are also undefeated in the East subdivision, thanks to their 57-0 road win over Raeford (0-2). 

Now we move over to the West subdivision, where things have already gotten spicy. Defending National Champions, the Columbia Rhinos (1-1), lost their season opener 32-5 against Charlotte (2-0); say whaaaat? Okay it’s actually not that big of a deal when you think back to last year and the Rhinos went 4-2 in regular season play. So take that with a grain of salt. However it’s a massive confidence boost for Charlotte, who were solidly middle of the table last year. Columbia did bounce back with a 91-12 rout of Myrtle Beach Man O’ War (0-1) the next weekend, so I don’t think they took the loss too hard. The Asheville Iguanas (1-1) and the Greenville Griffins (1-0) also started their season off on a high as they both notched wins over the Charlotte Barbarians (0-2). However, the Iguanas followed this win up with a forfeit to Charlotte Rugby Club, no news on whether the forfeit will stand or the match will be rescheduled, but once we know, you’ll know.

There’s plenty more action coming up in October for these clubs; the Griffins will host the Rhinos and Southern Pines will host the Dragons on October 4th, while the Charlotte Barbarians go for their first win of the season against Myrtle Beach.