Men’s Division 1 – November 2025 Recap

With November coming to a close, we have a few different things happening across the USA Club Rugby landscape. Regions are either powering down for the winter, entering hibernation mode before reactivating when the snow goes away; starting their preseasons to celebrate the end of the 10-month summer (looking at you Texas); or most excitedly – crowning champions. The bulk of this recap will go to the latter, as playoff rugby is always page scrolling stuff. However, we will of course cover every region and division seeking USAR Club Nationals qualification in the spring.

All of the information and stats reported below are gathered from team-entered data on Rugby Xplorer. If something doesn’t seem right, please first check with Rugby Xplorer or your local GU before sounding the alarm and flooding my inbox. If it’s right in the system and wrong here, it could just be me. Unfortunately I too make mistakes. All other commentary is just for fun from someone who has no stake in the outcomes of these matches.

With that out of the way, let’s cover everything that happened in November in the Men’s Division 1 competition!

Last we left off, the Detroit Tradesmen (7-0-1) and the St. Louis Bombers (7-0) had secured home berths for two massive semifinals; both rematches of the 2024 playoffs.

The Tradesmen took on the Western Conference’s second seed, the Chicago Lions (5-2). The Lions’ two losses came back in August and September, and both were by less than a try. They dropped the home opener to the Chicago Blaze (5-3) 30-26, and then fell to the Bombers 12-6. They never actually played their second match against the Bombers after it was indefinitely postponed due to weather [it wouldn’t have affected the final standings in any way and there was little time to make it up], so who’s to say what would have happened had those two faced off for a second time. The Tradesmen on the other hand hadn’t recorded a loss the entire season. They did draw the Chicago Griffins (5-2-1) 36-36 back on October 11th, but got maximum bonus points out of it. Otherwise they’ve been clinical and ruthless, determined to make it back to the playoffs and punch their ticket to the Midwest Final. 

On November 8th the two sides met in Detroit. The Tradesmen opted for points early, determined to chip away little by little. Caleb Raubenheimer had the kicking duty for the Tradesmen, slotting three penalty goals and one conversion throughout the 80 minutes. The Lions opted for a different tactic; going big or going home. Lucas Milne scored early in the match for Chicago, Jac Tregoning converting, but that was the only thing Chicago took into the halftime break. It was the second half that the Lions pounced; three tries courtesy of Mathis Demandolyx and Peyton Wall. Tregoning converted all four tries and added two penalty goals of his own to the final tally. In a haunting replay of 2024, the Tradesmen watched their opportunity to play for the Championship slip away as the underdogs snatched the win; final score 34-16.

Their opponent would be the winner of the Bombers’ semifinal, decided the same day in St. Louis. St. Louis hosted the Chicago Griffins, second seed from the Eastern Conference. Last year the Griffins edged the Bombers by a single conversion to upset the hosts and make it to the Midwest Championship, where they ended up taking the title and advancing to the Final Four. The Bombers were not only the reigning Midwest Champions heading into playoffs last year, but also the National Champions, having won the title 26-25 over Belmont Shore at the 2024 XV National Championship. With both teams so experienced in what it took to be a national caliber team, and the result from last year, we expected this match to be a spicy one. The Bombers definitely planned for it to be close, appointing Reece Botha to kick for points at minute seven; but as the minutes ticked by and more tries were scored, the Bombers decided to go for glory and open things up a bit. What ended up happening was a masterclass from the Bombers; scoring no less than nine tries in the 56-19 romp of the Griffins. Preston Hammerschmidt scored three, and Botha added another two in addition to his kicking. Andy Naringo took the Man of the Match honors for his performance, and the Bombers advanced to the Midwest Championship. 

Two teams left in the hunt, Bombers versus Lions. Remember as we mentioned before, these two only played once this year, their second match being postponed indefinitely. I guess indefinitely finally happened though, as they faced off in the Midwest Premiership Final on November 15th. Having defeated the Tradesmen the weekend before, the Lions were actually the top seed entering the match; though the Bombers were the Western Conference Champions. Either way, this was going to be a battle to the end. The Lions scored first, through Jax Hidalgo, with Jac Tregoning converting. Sam Evans got on the board for the Bombers a few minutes later, but failed to convert. Tregoning then added a flurry of penalty goals as the Bombers’ discipline let them down in the red zone. The Lions found the try zone once more before the halftime whistle thanks to Royaal Jones. Chicago entered the sheds with heads held high, halftime score 21-5. In the second half it was do or die for St. Louis. The Bombers chipped away at the deficit, first with a try from Wesley White, converted by Connor Burns. Then with just under ten minutes to go, Christopher Schoeman dove over for the Bombers, Burns again adding the extras. A minute later, Burns added a penalty goal to his count, pushing the Bombers into the lead for the first time all game, 22-21. What happened next was chaos. The clock far into the red, the Lions advanced, desperate to get over the line and take the win. With three minutes of extra time played, Ethan Howard dove over one final time, scoring the game winning try for the Lions. Jac Tregoning added that conversion to his count as well, but the celebrations were already in full swing. The Lions defeated the Bombers 28-22, claiming the title of Midwest Champions, and punching their ticket to the Final Four in May. It’s now a long wait for Chicago as they hunker down for the winter, but expect them to emerge lean and hungry, ready for the next challenge.

The Mid-Atlantic D1 finished back in October with a wild final standings. The top three teams all tied on table points with near identical records. Rocky Gorge (4-1-1) finished top of the table with 22 points and an overall differential of 96. Schuylkill River (4-2) made an epic comeback from their mid-season slump to take second with 22 points and a differential of 92. NOVA (4-2) finished third with 22 points and a differential of 27; losing both games to the top two teams. If the playoff pattern follows last years’, the Potomac Exiles (3-1-2) will be our fourth team in the ring, finishing on 19 total points. Now, in the regular season, Potomac tied Rocky Gorge 14-14, proving that it’s anyone’s game in the Mid-Atlantic. The teams are on a break until March, although we eagerly await seeing these teams in action once more. 

Life West and Olympic Club are our two returning men’s D1 sides from Northern California. They will play in a hybrid competition with five men’s D2 sides for the regular season before the top team progresses to the Pacific Super Regional to face the champions from the PNW and SoCal, along with the second place side from SoCal. There are some friendlies taking place across the region, with Life West playing East Palo Alto the other weekend; no scores in from that one, but it’s clear that the rugby season is almost upon us!

Our two men’s D1 teams in the Pacific Northwest already had their two head to heads for the year. Seattle Rugby Club (2-0) made it a clean sweep over Boise United (0-2) after Boise shocked them last year, while still playing in division 2. An apt promotion for the National runners-up sees them participating in D1 this season. While the first match was a bit of a runaway, the second definitely gave a bit of heart back to the boys in blue. Boise came within four points of Seattle on October 18th, falling 28-24. 

There’s also been a number of interdivisional matches this past season, though I don’t count them in the final records. The Eastside Tsunami defeated the Orcas 43-38 on October 4th, a pretty massive upset there. The Orcas also came close with the Tacoma Nomads, winning 29-21 at the end of October. On the flip side, Boise has confidently defeated all their former D2 foes; 71-30 over Bend and 64-7 over Eastside Tsunami. There will be more games to come in February before we start looking at the postseason qualification.

Still no updates to report out of Southern California, though their season typically kicks off in January so I’m not that surprised. Belmont Shore will be back to defend their National Title, along with OMBAC who actually beat Belmont in the SoCal Championship match. We expect Eagle Rock and Santa Monica to be in the fold as well, along with the Oceanside Chiefs who move up after winning the SoCal D2 title last year. 

We are getting closer and closer to the kickoff for the D1 competition in Texas, with a few teams getting out on the pitch for some early season run-arounds. HARC played HURT and the Dallas Harlequins played against the Grand Prairie Mavericks. Both HURT and the Mavericks are long-standing TRU powerhouses, despite being D2 this year, they are both solid competition. Both were decent games to shake off the rust before the D1 sides start going head to head next month. HARC and the Austin Huns will face off in December while the Dallas RFC hosts the Dallas Harlequins. The Dallas RFC will also host the Midwest Thunderbirds in the middle of December in a double-header weekend where the Midwest will also face the Texas All-Stars. The regular season will kick off in January, getting closer every day. 

The Miami Tridents are our sole Men’s D1 team in Florida this year, playing a hybrid regular season competition against five other D2 sides. They will kick off their season on the 17th when they host last year’s Florida D2 Champions, the Fort Lauderdale Knights. In the postseason they will advance directly to the Gulf Coast Super Regional to face the Texas Premiership Champions.