Men’s Division 3 – March 2026 Recap

This isn’t basketball, but it sure seems like March Madness out there. With the return of spring and the rising temperatures, we welcome back the return of club rugby to many regions across the country. Not only have the teams started playing again, but we have landed smack dab in the middle of playoff season, and it’s spicy.

If you’re new here – all of the information for this article comes from team-entered data on Rugby Xplorer. You know the rules – the more accurate your team admin is about entering data, the more accurate I can be in these articles. Any other commentary is added for fun from someone who has zero stake in the outcome of these games. 

Also worth a note – with Super Regionals at the end of April/start of May, this is our last “monthly” recap for the 2025-26 XV season. We’ll preview all four Super Regionals as well as the National Championship tournament, and in there we will cover the last bits of how local competitions wrapped up. But don’t worry about that just yet, we’ve got all of March to cover! Let’s dive in and see how the Men’s D3 Competition fared this past month.

The Detroit Tradesmen and the Chicago Blaze are heading to the Northern Super Regional come May, and practices have already begun for the two sides that finished their regular season way back in November. In case you forgot, the #2 Tradesmen upset the #1 Chicago Blaze to take the Midwest Championship, final score 36-21. Now both teams have full schedules out for April, all in preparation of their playoff run. The Detroit Tradesmen are kicking off on April 11th when they host the Tri City Barbarians, followed by a home match against the Indianapolis Impalas. The Chicago Blaze were scheduled to kickoff last weekend in the Chicago Cup, but unfortunately the match was cancelled. They will host the Chicago Lions this weekend before a double-header weekend taking on Lake County and the Southside Irish. They’ll follow that up with a trip to Wisconsin before traveling down to St. Charles, IL to face Fox Valley. The Blaze are certainly keeping busy! Anything to hit the ground running the first weekend of May as these two teams take on the Mid-America and Rocky Mountain Champions. 

Over in Mid-America it looks like there were a ton of matches this past weekend, but as of Thursday no scores have been reported. I will update this as we know more, but I gotta get the rest of the information to the people! There are lives (not really) at stake!

From what we know closing out February and the fall season, the St. Louis Hornets (4-0) and Sunday Morning RC (3-0) are both still undefeated, with Springfield (3-1) sitting in second thanks to one more match played than SMRC. The KC Blues (3-2) have the most matches played of all teams, and are followed by the trio of Kansas City, Northland, and the Rowdies, all of whom have 2-2 records with varying numbers of bonus points.

After eight full rounds of play (two in March), we’ve finally reached the end of the Rocky Mountain Men’s D3 season, and boy was it close.

The Colorado Springs Grizzlies (7-1) won both matches this month to finish on top of the table and take the home field advantage heading into the conference semifinals this weekend. In their first match against the Littleton Scots (5-3), the Grizzlies took an early lead, scoring three tries in the opening 20 minutes. Littleton dominated the middle thirty, scoring two tries of their own and notching a penalty try, while Chris Gordon went out with a yellow card for Colorado Springs. The Grizzlies stayed in the lead thanks to the goal kicking by Thomas Perry, and scored one more try in the final minutes to take the win, final score 29-19. Their final match of the season was against the dark horse team of the year, the Northern Colorado Flamingos (3-5). The Grizzlies won this one a bit more confidently, holding the Flamingos to one try, while scoring four of their own. 

The only team to have beaten Colorado Springs this year, the Denver Highlanders (5-3) clinched second thanks to two extra bonus points that put them ahead of the Littleton Scots. Denver started their spring season with a big win over Boulder (3-4-1) 73-10 before facing Littleton. Thanks to the bonus-point win they got over Boulder the weekend before, and Littleton’s loss to Colorado Springs, second place was already secured. That was good, because Denver dropped that match to the Scots, final score 34-24. It was good for the Scots because the bonus-point win put them even with the Queen City Rams (4-3-1), who they topped thanks to their season record. 

The Queen City Rams gave it all they had, winning their sole match of the month 53-19 over the Denver Harlequins (0-8). After that, their final ranking depended on Littleton’s results. They still qualified for the playoffs as the fourth seed, but have to face the Colorado Springs Grizzlies this weekend in the semifinals. 

Finally, not reaching the final four but finishing out the season, the Northern Colorado Flamingos missed the cut this year despite a strong push in the final few weeks. They got their third win of the year on March 21st, 41-19 over the Denver Harlequins. The Flamingos are one of three teams to have taken down the Denver Highlanders this season, along with the Grizzlies and the Scots. 

This weekend we will see the #1 Colorado Springs Grizzlies host the #4 Queen City Rams. Their regular season match was back on October 4th with Queen City hosting. Colorado Springs won that one comfortably, final score 55-24. At the same time the #2 Denver Highlanders will host the #3 Littleton Scots. These two have had the joy of playing each other twice this year, the first back in September with Denver winning 48-33, and the second just last weekend with Littleton taking the win 34-24. This means that the Highlanders technically hold the lead in the overall record with a combined score of 72-67. It’s too close to call either of these games, but both are certain to be entertaining.

Providence clinched the NERFU title back in November when they defeated Burlington at the New England championship. It’s been a long winter up in Rhode Island, but Providence are finally coming out of hibernation and hitting the rugby pitch to prepare for the Atlantic Super Regional. Their first task was this past weekend when they traveled to Worcester, who plays in the D2 conference. It was a close match, but Providence finished on top, final score 17-10. Their next game will be this upcoming weekend at Boston, before they travel to Newport to cap off their preseason run. After that, it’s time for the Super Regionals.

In the Empire conference, the spring season kicked straight off with the four conference quarterfinals; reseeding all four leagues into the top 1-8 teams and then proceeding with a typical 1v8, 2v7 structure. 

First up, #1 Syracuse hosted the #8 Morris Lions. Syracuse won the conference last year, defeating Long Island in the final before advancing to the Super Regional, where they finished third. It took a little bit for Syracuse to get started in this match, but once the first one was in, the floodgates opened. Morris did get their name on the board twice, but it wasn’t enough to stop the defending champions from the win, final score 44-12, Syracuse advancing. 

Across the region, #2 Union County hosted the #7 Rochester Aardvarks. Opposite to Syracuse, Union scored most of their tries early on, taking a big lead that the Aardvarks couldn’t hope to claw back from. The Mudturtles scored six tries in the first half, including two from Julian Caceres, who took the kicking duty for most of the game. It wasn’t until the 54th minute that Rochester finally got on the board. To the Aardvark’s credit, they did score three tries in a relatively short amount of time, but they had a mountain to climb. At full time, the result was certain, Union 66 – Rochester 17. 

For the third time this season we got to see #3 Greenwich and the #6 Fairfield Yankees go at it. The first time they met in the regular season, it finished as a tie, and the second was decided by two points after a penalty goal at the death, so this had all the makings of an epic game. It turned out to be a little more one-sided than anticipated, and not in favor of the higher seed. Upset alert! The Fairfield Yankees dotted down six tries over the 80 minutes to take down the home team and punch their ticket to the Empire semifinals, final score 34-10. 

Our last quarterfinal had #4 Long Island hosting #5 Brooklyn. This one was a nailbiter for the first half, with Long Island scoring one lone try through Dylan Clay. In the second half it managed to open up, with Long Island finding the try zone more than once, adding to their lead. Brooklyn slotted a single penalty goal to get themselves on the board, but never went further than that. A few yellow cards later and the final whistle blew, Long Island advancing to the semifinals, final score 28-3. 

Coming up next we have the Empire semifinals with #1 Syracuse hosting #4 Long Island, an exciting rematch of last year’s final, and #2 Union hosting the #6 Fairfield Yankees. The winners advance to the Empire final, and only one will take the crown and the ticket to Super Regionals. 

Over in the Capital conference we finally wrapped up the regular season with the final Challenger South match, and then saw all four leagues host their finals to determine who would advance to the conference semifinals.

In the Challenger South, James River (2-1) had to travel to the Raleigh Vipers (2-1) on the 21st to determine who would finish top of the table and host the Challenger South final. It was a resounding win from James River, who started off the match relatively slowly, entering halftime with only 10 points scored. But in the second half, James River really let loose, scoring seven tries to rack up 57 total points. Raleigh, scoring only 19, couldn’t come close. The two already knew that they would face each other again the following weekend in the Challenger South final, but now it was confirmed that James River would host. It turns out that the Raleigh Vipers were saving a little something special for last weekend, scoring right out of the gate to take an early lead in the match. James River evened the score, then pulled ahead to take the lead into halftime, 14-7. That’s when it got spicy. Raleigh tied it up right out of the second half, and both teams added a penalty goal around 60 minutes. The Vipers took the lead back a few moments later before adding another try to distance themselves from the hosts. James River added one final try before the end of the match, but Raleigh kicked another penalty goal to keep the spread at 10 points, final score 32-22 to Raleigh. Despite the loss at the end of the regular season, the Vipers pulled it out when it mattered the most, advancing to the Capital semifinals. 

Up in the Challenger Central division, we had an equally heart-stopping final. Rocky Gorge may have racked up a total PD of +208 this year, but they only beat the Potomac Exiles by three points in the regular season. It was a back and forth match, with the Exiles opting for points wherever possible. Rocky Gorge outscored Potomac with three tries and a penalty try, but Potomac had the ace kicking of Kenneth Rothmann, who slotted two conversions and two penalty goals to edge the Exiles closer. In the final minute it was Mark Lewis who stole the win for Potomac, diving over in the 80th minute to pull ahead and win the game, 25-24. 

I wish we could get less dramatic after that one, but the stakes remained high as we head into the Central league final between Severn River and the Washington Renegades. Based on the regular season results, this seemed like it would be an easy enough win for Severn, who beat Washington a combined 85-7 over two games. Turns out it was anything but easy. Washington saved their best for last and brought it to Severn in the league final. In the end they would just fall short, final score 22-20 to Severn, but it was the best performance that Washington had put out all year. Severn on the other hand, advance to the conference semifinals knowing that they have been tested, and are ready for the challenge.

Finally in the South, we had a final that wasn’t cardiac arrest-inducing. Virginia continued doing what they had all season, and absolutely dominated Virginia Beach for the South title and the chance to advance to the next round. Virginia put down 15 tries in 80 minutes (or about a try every 5 minutes) to reach triple digits in their win. Virginia Beach on the other hand, were just there for the ride. They did avoid getting a goose-egg, with one penalty goal on the scoreboard, but a tough end to the season for Virginia Beach as Virginia advanced, final score 103-3.

Next up we’ve got the Capital semifinals on April 11th, followed by the Capital Championship on April 18th. The winner of that one will advance to the Super Regional. Virginia will host the Raleigh Vipers while Severn River hosts the Potomac Exiles; this is our first chance to see how the conferences really stack up against each other. 

The EPRU kicked off their month with the two play-in quarterfinals, followed by the conference semifinals. 

#4 Brandywine hosted #5 Northeast Philadelphia in the first play-in on March 21st. Last time the two played, Brandywine took the win 38-21. This time however, Northeast Philadelphia came to play. They scored all of their tries in the first half, taking a quick lead, but Brandywine crept back into the match as the time ticked down. Ruan Joubert kicked the lone points in the second half, a penalty goal around 60 minutes, but the defense did the real work to hold Brandywine in check so that at the final whistle, Northeast Philadelphia took the win; final score 25-17. 

In the other play-in, it was more straightforward with #3 Wilkes-Barre taking a comfortable win over the #6 Montgomery Bucks. A pair of tries from Jake Cole in the first half helped propel the defending EPRU champions to a strong lead, which they kept throughout the entire match. The final score was 61-17 in favor of Wilkes-Barre, the first step in making it back to the EPRU final for the Breakers. 

Last weekend Northeast Philadelphia and Wilkes-Barre took on the first and second seeds, who had byes directly to the semifinals. #2 Lehigh Valley hosted #3 Wilkes-Barre in the first semifinal. The two hadn’t yet played in the regular season, though last season Wilkes-Barre defeated Lehigh Valley 42-31. Turns out, a lot can change in a year, as Lehigh Valley topped Wilkes-Barre in a 47-40 barnburner of a match. Dwayne Clemmons scored three tries for Lehigh Valley in the win with Todd Hetrick kicking six of seven conversions. 

In the other semifinal, the #1 seed, Jersey Shore hosted #4 Northeast Philadelphia. Jersey Shore were undefeated in the regular season, and their train did not stop here. Northeast Philadelphia put up more than a valiant effort, but Jersey Shore scored twice in the final 20 minutes of the game to hold onto the lead and pull away from the visitors. The final score was 29-18 in favor of the Sharks, who would live to hunt another day.

There’s one match left and it’s a big one. The EPRU final will be held on April 11th, with Jersey Shore taking on Lehigh Valley. The two haven’t faced each other yet this season, so this could easily go either way. Jersey Shore are still undefeated while Lehigh Valley’s lone loss of the season comes from Northeast Philadelphia back in September. It’s a new year though, and either team could have tricks hiding up their sleeves. 

Over on the West Coast, NorCal do their playoffs a little differently, and honestly I am here for it. After the season closed in March, the top eight (of nine teams) were broken into two brackets. Teams 1-4 in the standings play for the Cup while teams 5-8 play for the Plate. The Cup rounds are for the spot that will advance to the Super Regional, while the Plate rounds are just for glory; but a great way to stay playing for something, even if you’re out of the mix. First let’s cover how the regular season shook out. 

Life West (7-0) finished undefeated despite their final game against the San Francisco Golden Gate (2-5) not going off. Turns out, they didn’t need another win in order to top the table and play for the Cup. Life West notched two wins this past month, 59-15 over the Olde Gaels (6-2) and 36-14 over Berkeley (2-6). It’s interesting to see a larger point differential in the win over the higher-ranked opponent, and a smaller one in the lower-ranked opponent, but maybe that’s just how Life West plays the game. 

Marin (5-3) finished in second place over the Olde Gaels (6-2) despite having a worse record, all thanks to bonus points. Well, bonus points tied the two up on table points, but Marin had the head to head win from back in January that sealed the deal. Marin would have more easily secured second had they won their final match this past month when they hosted Baracus (5-3) on the 21st. They won the two before that, on the 7th and 14th, against Reno (0-8) and Colusa (3-5) respectively. 

The Olde Gaels lost their first match of the month against Life West, but won the second over Silicon Valley (5-3) which was key to keeping them in the Cup while SV plays for the Plate. The Olde Gaels are an interesting case, they have the lowest points scored of the top four teams, and are the only with a negative total PD. Still, they have the second best record in the competition, so maybe they just like to keep things close. 

The final team joining the Cup competition this year are Baracus, who just snuck into fourth, despite having the same record as Silicon Valley. However, Baracus closed out the month with three wins in a row, including one over SV, 48-12. Their biggest win of the month was definitely the 36-26 win over Marin on the 21st, cementing their place in the top four. 

Playing for the Plate are Silicon Valley, who as we mentioned above, were quite unlucky to miss the cut for the Cup competition. Their losses to Baracus and the Olde Gaels weren’t enough to be covered by their lone win of the month over San Francisco Golden Gate on the 14th. Colusa joins Silicon Valley after going 3-5 in the regular season. Their 45-29 win over Berkeley on March 7th gave them the leg up to one of the top two seeds in the competition, though hosting rights aren’t clear on the upcoming schedule. Golden Gate and Berkeley round out the bottom two of the Plate; Golden Gate finishing just on top after their lone win of March over Reno, 53-5. 

The semifinals for the Plate and Cup will both be on April 4th. #5 Silicon Valley will host #8 Berkeley while #6 Colusa hosts #7 San Francisco Golden Gate for the Plate. Silicon Valley last defeated Berkeley on opening weekend by a score of 53-12, while Colusa topped Golden Gate on January 31st by a score of 71-24.

In the Cup competition #1 Life West will host #4 Baracus while #2 Marin hosts the #3 Olde Gaels. Life West and Baracus last went head to head on February 28th; that one was incredibly close, with Life West barely getting the win 31-29. As mentioned above, Marin and the Olde Gaels saw each other on January 24th, Marin winning that one 33-15. Although there will be two champions named from these two separate pathways, only the Cup champion will advance to the Pacific Super Regional at the end of April.

There were two rounds left of the regular season in Southern California before the top four teams advanced to the conference semifinals. 

The Fullerton Dead Elephants (6-0) finished the season undefeated after winning their final match of the season 59-24 over the LA Rebellion (2-4). Fullerton had already clinched the top spot at the end of last month, but any prep is good prep for the playoff battle that awaited them. The Dead Elephants really showcased their depth with seven different players scoring tries and five different players kicking conversions during the match. This shows that Fullerton are in this for the long haul and have their sights set on the Super Regionals. 

Temecula (4-1-1) snuck into second place in the standings thanks to two wins this past month. On March 7th they struck down the LA Rebellion 60-14 before setting their sights on the West Coast Marines (1-5). This match seemed more like an unopposed scrimmage than a game, with Temecula racking up 95 points to the Marines’ zero. Temecula are certainly going to hit the ground running come the postseason.

The LA Soul (4-2) and Riverside (3-2-1) are the two final teams to make the cut, both traveling to the higher seeds for the semifinals. The LA Soul won their final two matches in order to make the cut, as well as defeating Riverside to take the higher seed on March 7th. Their final match of the season was a big 62-22 win over the San Diego Armada (0-6), getting them ready for last weekend when they traveled to the second-place team for the semis.

Last weekend we saw the #1 Fullerton Dead Elephants host #4 Riverside and #2 Temecula host the #3 LA Soul. Fullerton kept their undefeated streak alive with a powerful win over Riverside. Riverside held the Dead Elephants to less points than their first match, putting up an impressive fight, but still fell 35-24 in the semi. Temecula versus the LA Soul was much closer. The last time the two played was back on February 21st, with Temecula taking the away win 25-12. This time Temecula took the early lead, but the LA Soul charged into the halftime break with three quick tries. Temecula chipped away at the difference, eventually taking the lead back with 10 minutes to play, but the Soul sent Kristoff Usher over in the final minutes for the winning try, final score 31-27 to LA. 

There’s only one match left before one team punches their ticket to the Pacific Super Regional and that will be between the Fullerton Dead Elephants and the LA Soul. With Beach Cities up in D2, there will be a new D3 Champion in SoCal, we just don’t know who it is yet. 

We’re down to the final two teams in the Pacific Northwest Men’s D3 Championship, who will go head to head on April 11th. 

March did bring a fair amount of drama as the top of the table Portland Pigs (9-1) suffered their first defeat of the season at the hands of the Clark County Chiefs (7-3). The game was as close as they come, with the Pigs even scoring with two minutes to go to get within killing distance, but the Chiefs held out. Final score 33-31, giving two losing bonus points to the Pigs. Portland quickly bounced back with a pair of wins over the Budd Bay Buffaloes (6-4) and the Seattle Quake (1-9), but their perfect record was no more. 

The Chiefs snagged a win over the Yakima Griffins (1-9), but then lost their final match of the regular season against the Snohomish Rhinos (6-4) 41-26. By then the Chiefs had secured their place in the championship, so maybe they were just testing out some new combinations. Snohomish did everything they could in March to qualify for the finals, but it ended up being out of their control. Their 78-5 defeat of the Seattle Quake back on the 21st was a good teaser for the victory that ended their season. 

Budd Bay also ended on a win, defeating the Seattle Quake 29-14 on the road and the Yakima Griffins 77-46 last weekend. Finally, the Seattle Quake took on Yakima at the start of the month. A game that meant nothing in the standings, but everything to the teams. It was a close contest, decided by only two points, but it was Yakima on top 36-34 for their first and only win of the 25-26 season. A little victory in the big scheme of things, but a success for Yakima. 

Coming up in April we get ready for the big showdown between Portland and Clark County. They played back in October, Portland winning 40-19. They played a few weeks ago, Clark County winning 33-31. The Pigs are the defending PNW D3 Champions, but Clark County has got a fire beneath them. Only one will advance to Las Vegas.

Our final region in the Pacific Super Region, and host to this year’s Super Regional Playoff, is the Southwest. There’s one match left in the regular season for the D3 sides before playoff rugby begins, but there’s plenty to cover from March. 

The Scottsdale Blues (7-1) finished with the same record as their D2 side and are currently on top of the standings. They didn’t have a perfect March however, as their opening game of the month was their first loss of the season. The Brujos (6-1), who have one match left to play, beat them 44-26 back on March 7th. If the Brujos win their final match this weekend against El Paso (5-2), they will jump into first. Scottsdale did finish with a solid 50-33 bonus point win over the Tucson Magpies (1-7), so they have done everything possible in order to hold onto first if the Brujos lose or draw. Comparing the scores, the Brujos defeated the Magpies the weekend before 50-7, a bigger differential than Scottsdale. Either way, as long as there’s some sort of Southwest Championship, those two will both be top contenders.

Phoenix Camelback (4-2-2) are also worth a second look heading into the postseason; they blanked the Albuquerque Aardvarks (0-8) on March 7th before drawing against the D2 Las Vegas Irish 45-45. They followed that up with a four-point loss to the D2 table leaders, the Scottsdale Blues. These are D2 opponents we’re talking about! I’m not sure how the playoff structure works, but Camelback is definitely not holding anything back. 

The Santa Fe Santos (5-3) pulled off an outstanding win this past weekend when they hosted the Brujos. Over 100 points were scored between the two sides, and it was pretty evenly split. The final score just wavered in favor of Santa Fe, 51-50. It might be the end of the road for the Santos this year, but they sure went out with a bang. 

The Landsharks (6-2) finished pretty well, defeating the D2 Tempe Old Devils 53-36 last weekend. This was one of two wins last month for the Landsharks, the first coming the weekend before when they topped Phoenix (2-5-1) 29-17. 

El Paso also had a thrilling March, they shot up the table after three wins this past month. First they beat the Tucson Magpies 67-25 on March 7th. They followed that up by blanking the Phoenix Storm (0-7) 71-0. The real kicker was on March 21st when they took down the Santa Fe Santos 40-10. Now, I’m not sure if these wildly different scorelines are thanks to home field advantage or availability of players, but this conference is all over the place!

As I mentioned, there is one final league game to be played this season before the teams (probably) head to the playoffs, and that is between the Brujos and El Paso. If El Paso can keep their winning streak alive, they could hop into second; if the Brujos win, they will take first.

Starting off in the True South, there were a number of regular season matches to kick off the month followed by the True South Championship semifinals that were held March 28th and the final the following day.

In the South it was relatively straightforward as New Orleans (5-0) took the top spot and the Pensacola Aviators (4-1) came in second. The Crescent City Blues (3-2) had one final chance to crack into the top two back on March 7th, but it involved defeating New Orleans at home, a tough task. New Orleans took the win in that one, final score 64-5. Pensacola lost their lone match of the year back in December when they traveled to New Orleans, final score 33-21. As the semifinals and final were all held at the same venue, no one got home field advantage in the semis, which worked out for Pensacola.

Over in the Northern division, Huntsville (5-1) secured the top seed after their March 14th defeat of the Clarksville Headhunters (0-4-1). However, second place was a little harder to suss out. According to the table, Chattanooga, Memphis, and Knoxville all finished with 4-2 records. From our last recaps we know they all lost/beat each other in a cute little round robin which is great for suspense but terrible for deciding final seeds to playoffs. In the end, the Memphis Blues made the cut despite losing to the Possums 24-21 on March 14th. It could also be that on the same day, Chattanooga lost 42-31 against the Montgomery Yellowhammers (2-3-1), who ended their season on a high. Don’t ask me, I just write articles. Either way, Memphis traveled to Knoxville to face New Orleans in the True South semis. 

Championship weekend started out with New Orleans (S1) taking on Memphis (N2) and Huntsville (N1) facing Pensacola (S2). Both matches were high-scoring and entertaining, with every team scoring over four tries, and 178 total points scored in the semifinals alone. The South division reigned victorious in both matches with New Orleans defeating Memphis 55-28, and Pensacola upsetting Huntsville 56-39. This set up the Sunday final as a rematch between New Orleans and the Aviators. From the kickoff it seemed like New Orleans had this match in hand, scoring four tries and two penalty goals for 32 points to Pensacola’s lone penalty goal in the first half. However, it was a tale of two halves as Pensacola made a late run to shake New Orleans up. The four tries the Aviators scored in the second half wasn’t enough though, as New Orleans took the win 56-27. 

It’s still not a guaranteed trip to the Gulf Coast for New Orleans, despite them winning the True South title. Since the Gulf Coast region has five men’s D3 conferences, the bottom two must play a pre-Super Regional play-in in order to qualify for the tournament. This year New Orleans will have to travel to the Georgia Rugby Union champion on April 11th in order to keep their playoff dream alive. Should they win that one, they’ll be heading to Austin, Texas at the end of the month.

Heading to the home of the Gulf Coast Super Regional this year, it’s time we check in on the Red River Rugby Conference. This conference finished regular season play this month before the top team from each division played in the semifinals last weekend.

In the D1-c division, the Austin Blacks (6-0) finished undefeated with only 23 points scored against them all season. Their closest match of the year was back on March 14th when they faced the Dallas Harlequins (3-2), but even then the difference was 25 points. With only one team advancing to the playoffs, almost everyone knew they were out at the start of March, but that didn’t stop them from showing up and trying to end their season with a couple of wins. The Austin Huns (3-3) evened their record out with a 29-0 defeat of the Dallas RFC (3-3) back on March 7th. They followed this up with a 24-0 defeat of HARC (0-5) the next weekend. Unfortunately the Huns lost their final match against the Dallas Quins, who dumped 87 points on Austin on March 21st. At least the Quins ended with a big win. Dallas also ended their season with a win when they defeated San Antonio (1-5) on the 21st, final score 27-19. 

In the North division the OKC Legion (7-2-1) advanced to the semifinals despite the Arkansas Gryphons (7-2) topping the table. The Gryphons passed the playoff bid to OKC as the back to back travel required for Corpus/Austin would have been too demanding. OKC hosted DARC (4-4-1) on March 21st; now that game was either a 21-0 win by DARC or OKC didn’t fill out their RX. Either way, good for DARC who either won or followed the rules. Tulsa (4-4) finished their season strong with two wins in March before one final letdown. The first was a 60-17 sweep of Little Rock (4-6) on March 14th, followed by a gritty 32-30 win over the Gryphons on March 21st. Both teams traded penalty goals in the final five minutes, with David Sandoval sending the winning kick over at full time for Tulsa. Tulsa unfortunately did not keep the streak alive, as they allowed themselves to be shocked by DARC for the final game of the season. It was an impressive performance from the Dallas Area Rugby Club, who dumped 79 points on the visitors. That’s one way to end the season.

Heading south to the Central division, the Corpus Christi Crabs (6-0) qualified as the lone D3 representative in the hybrid division. Their final showing in the regular season was a dominant 86-10 defeat of D4 McAllen, who finished 2-3. 

Finally in the South division, it came down to the wire between Bay Area Rugby Club (7-1) and Shreveport (6-2). Both had one final match in March to try to secure the playoff spot. BARC barely snuck by the Houston Arrows (5-3) on March 14th in order to lock up the top spot; thanking a last minute penalty goal by Alan Mateja for pushing them ahead. BARC led by one point right up until the end when the Arrows kicked a penalty goal to take the lead 22-20. Discipline let Houston down though, when BARC were awarded a penalty and they looked to Mateja. One swift strike and the ball was through the uprights, BARC in the lead 23-22. The defense held out for a few more minutes, and at the final whistle, BARC had done it. Shreveport also won their match the following weekend, but there was nothing they could do to get by Bay Area now. 

Heading into the last weekend of March, the Austin Blacks hosted Bay Area while the Corpus Christi Crabs hosted OKC. Two wildly different matches took place, but only two teams advanced to the final being held on April 11th. The Austin Blacks proved they are just as good cross-division, if not better, with a 83-7 defeat of Bay Area on March 28th. Matthew Razdavich scored three tries, while Sam Gadbury and Bryan Roche both took two. Replacement Brixton Soape got on the board for Bay Area as the game wound down, with Mateja kicking the extras. The Blacks will advance to the RRRC Finals, chasing their sixth title in a row. 

The other semifinal was polar opposite to the Blacks/BARC match. Corpus Christi came in as unknowns; they’d been beating up on D4 sides all year and now just booked a ticket to the D3 playoffs? Come on. Well, the Crabs sure proved why they were at that playoff match, drawing even with the OKC Legion at full time. Everyone knows you can’t have a tie in playoff rugby, so the match went into extra time. It was hectic, both teams throwing all they had at the opposition. In the end, a penalty goal won it, kicked by Gregory Forrester for OKC. 

The stage is set for the RRRC Final on April 11th in Durant, OK. With OKC Legion in the game, they are sure to have the sidelines packed with fans, and even the best of the best (the Austin Blacks) might get a little stagefright in unfriendly territory.

Over in the Sunshine State, there were three weeks of regular play left in March, plus one play-in match to get to the playoffs which start this weekend. Let’s wrap up the regular season first. 

In the North division, Jacksonville (5-1) wrapped up the top spot with two big wins this past month. On March 7th they took down FSU (3-3) 61-33, before showing their prowess over second-place Gainesville (3-4) the following weekend. Gainesville only got on the board in the final minutes in that one, final score 29-7. Gainesville managed to sneak their way into the playoffs thanks to a 59-17 win over FSU on March 21st, earning a spot in the play-in match. Although already out of playoff contention, Daytona Beach (0-5-1) lost their last match of the season when they traveled to FSU on the 14th, final score 42-17. Also out of the running, the Claymores (2-3-1) did manage to win their final match of the year, a massive 82-0 defeat of cross-conference rival Lakeland, on March 21st. Brandon Chatmon scored four tries in that win while Alexander Cavanaugh went 11 for 12 on conversions. 

In the South, the Palm Beach Panthers (6-0) kept the undefeated streak alive after taking down Sarasota (5-2) and Brevard Old Red Eye (4-2). Brevard took an early lead in that final game of the season, but the 2022 National Champions were unfazed. They evened the score and slowed pulled ahead, up 47-24 by the time the whistle went for full-time. Sarasota managed to creep by the Hammerheads (2-4) on March 21st to snatch their chance at the postseason. That one was spicy, with two penalty tries awarded to Sarasota in the last 20 minutes, and three yellow cards shown in the match. But Sarasota hung on, and managed to finish on top, final score 33-27. Brevard defeated the Hammerheads a bit more comfortably back on March 7th, final score 31-5. This guaranteed them a trip to the semifinals on April 4th, taking on the North divisional leader. 

The one play-in match that happened on March 28th was between the second-place side in the North, Gainesville, and the third-place side in the South, Sarasota. Now don’t ask me why or how, that is not important, I’m just here with the details. Sarasota scored the first try in that match through Jackiia Bowman, just a few minutes in. Gainesville took the lead back through three tries of their own a little bit before halftime, heading into the sheds on top. The second half was all Sarasota, as Wes Piggins scored twice for Sarasota, alone with another from Bowman and one from Nathan Sheptock in order to jack up the score and take back the lead. A red card was shown to Sarasota’s Pedro Cruz in the 50th minute, but Sarasota made up the difference and held the lead until the final whistle, final score 31-19 to Sarasota.

Next up are the conference semifinals, held this weekend. Palm Beach will host Sarasota while Jacksonville will host the defending FRU champions, Brevard. The winners will play in the FRU championship, and the winner of that will head to Austin, TX for the Gulf Coast Super Regional.

Down in Georgia, March both closed out the regular season, as well as progressing through semifinals and the final in order to give us the 2026 GRU Champions who will play for the chance to advance to the Super Regional, but more on that later. First, let’s cover how the season ended, and how our champions ended up where they did. 

In the Eastern division, the Charleston Outlaws (4-0-1) finished on top of the table after winning four league matches and drawing against the Savannah Shamrocks (3-0-1) back in February. This meant that Savannah finished in second place, and had to travel for their semifinal. In the West, the Gainesville Spartans (5-0) took the top spot after winning their final match of the season over the Atlanta Renegades (4-2) 36-21. High Country (5-1) took second in the standings after an excellent season with only one loss back in November to the Spartans. 

On March 14th Charleston (E1) hosted High Country (W2) while Gainesville (W1) hosted Savannah (E2). Both games were instant thrillers, coming down to the wire. Charleston successfully defended their home turf thanks to a game-ending try from Michael Cook and conversion from Joseph Broderick III that broke the stalemate and sent the Outlaws to the GRU championship match. Gainesville, on the other hand, had their hands full with the Shamrocks who fought tooth and nail to make their way to the GRU final. It was a very low scoring match, which meant that a single try at any time could tip the scales. In the end it was the visitors who had the lead, final score 9-7 to Savannah. 

Savannah and Charleston met in the GRU final on March 28th. This was a rematch of last year’s final, which the Shamrocks won. Savannah ended up advancing to the Gulf Coast Super Regional where they lost in the first round to Brevard Old Red Eye out of Florida. Savannah managed to defend their title this year with a nail-biting 30-25 win over Charleston, Marcos Churio taking home the MVP award from the Championship. 

Savannah now has one more match before they can go to the Gulf Coast Super Regional, and that will be on April 11th, when they host the True South D3 Champion New Orleans in the play-in.

For our final region, we check in on the Carolinas Men’s D3, where the regular season finished this past month and the top two teams from each league went into the conference semifinals. 

Charlotte (8-0-1) wrapped up the West division as the top seed thanks to a 87-9 win over the Charlotte Barbarians (2-8) on March 14th. Charlotte has been excellent over the season, with an overall PD of +453 and no losses. They did tie the Columbia Rhinos (7-1-2) back on November 8th, but a tie isn’t a loss. This meant that Charlotte secured the home semifinal, hosting the Eastern #2 seed on March 28th. 

The Columbia Rhinos took second in the West after their last regular season match against the Asheville Iguanas (5-3-1) was recorded as a forfeit win. The defending D3 National Champions may have started off the season rocky, but they came back just in time for the playoff run, qualifying for the semifinals against the #1 Eastern seed. 

The Asheville Iguanas managed to get one win in March, though not enough to qualify for the playoffs, especially after their forfeit. They defeated the Greenville Griffins (4-5) back on March 14th with a final score of 35-22. Greenville and Asheville were slotted to play one final match last weekend, but it looks like that one never got off the ground.

Over in the Eastern league, we had three teams finish with records of 7-3 and matching table points. It looks like it came down to total PD to determine the top two, which saw the Southern Pine Big Cones and the Onslow Misfits advance to the semifinals. Cape Fear just missed the cut despite a February 14th win over Onslow in the regular season. Onslow defeated Southern Pines back on March 14th with a final score of 33-31, which gave them the top seed heading into playoffs, with the home semifinal berth while Southern Pines had to travel to the West #1.

The Fayetteville Dragons (5-5) and Tobacco Road (4-6) may not have been able to make it to the playoffs, but they had one heck of a final match on March 14th to close out their regular season. The two hadn’t yet played in the regular season, but they both brought all they had to end with a bang. Tobacco Road ended up pulling out the win at the final whistle with a score of 30-29. 

Heading into the semifinals, we had Charlotte (West #1) hosting Southern Pines (East #2) while the Onslow Misfits (East #1) hosted the Columbia Rhinos (West #2). Both matches were pretty one-sided, with the western side of the conference dominating. Charlotte blew out the Southern Pines Big Cones 55-7 while the defending National Champions toppled the Onslow Misfits 56-0. We now get to see the highly anticipated rematch between the Columbia Rhinos and Charlotte for the CGRU Championship on April 11th. The first time these two met was a win to Charlotte on September 13th, final score 32-5. However, a few months later, the Rhinos clearly came to play as the match ended with a 31-31 draw. Will the Rhinos keep up this trend and topple the top seed, or will Charlotte head to the Gulf Coast as the new CGRU Champions?