National Championships 2026 Preview

After months of hard work, blood, sweat, and tears, twenty teams are making the trip to Chicago to play for a USA Club Rugby National Championship. There are five trophies on the line, one for each of the divisions, and by the close of Sunday those trophies will be claimed by the best of the best. 

For this article, we are going to preview each semifinal match-up: the four Division 1 semis on Friday, the four D2 semis on Saturday, and the two men’s D3 semis on Saturday. These teams have all battled their way out of some ferocious Super Regional competition, and have only two matches left before National glory. Let’s get started.

Our Friday kicks off with our first Men’s D1 semifinal, New York Old Blue taking on the Austin Blacks. Old Blue are one of the most storied clubs in the Northeast; winning the Atlantic Super Regional in order to qualify for this year’s National Championship Tournament. They finished as runners-up last year, losing 27-12 to Belmont Shore in the final. They also finished runners-up in the 2023 final to the Austin Blacks, final score 38-14. In fact, Old Blue have been in a whopping six Men’s D1 National Championship games, but never won the title. Do you know who else had that same record before 2023? The Austin Blacks. And look what happened to them on run number seven, they won the championship. Either way, when you understand what’s at stake for both of these sides, you can imagine how much emotion will be poured into this match.

So back to Old Blue. As I mentioned, Old Blue won the Atlantic Super Regional by defeating the Mid-Atlantic Champions, Schuylkill River, 72-34. They also won all five of their spring qualifying matches in the Empire/New England division, putting them on a six match winning streak this year. Old Blue is pretty versatile, mixing in some crash runners in the backline with some serious speed and agility in the loose forwards. Watch out for Monate Akuei who is as good at scoring tries as he is at making instagram videos, and Kieran Joyce, who will likely be taking the kicking duty.

Representing the Gulf Coast are the Austin Blacks, who are looking to make their eighth trip to the Men’s D1 National Championship match, having won their first title just three years ago. Austin haven’t lost a game since last year’s playoffs, going down 24-10 against the eventual Champions, Belmont Shore, in the semi. They went 8-0 in the regular season, and defeated the Dallas RFC 46-21 at the Gulf Coast Super Regional in order to book their ticket. It wasn’t as clean of a win as you would expect, Dallas got themselves into some serious card trouble, losing Shane Kenny in the 33rd minute to a double yellow card, which put them a man down for the rest of the match. Austin rely on playmaker Craig Hunt to make the magic happen, but watch out for Zach Pangelinan coming in off the bench; it’s been a few years since he hit 50 caps in the MLR, but he hasn’t slowed down a bit. 

Our next match will be the first Women’s Division 1 semifinal of the day and this one is sure to be a cracker. In a rematch of last year’s Pacific Super Regional semifinal, the San Diego Surfers will take on the defending National Champions, the Utah Vipers. Last year I said last year, it was cruel to see these two powerhouses go head to head so early in the playoff run, and with the restructure, it looks like I was right (as a referee- I love to say that). 

With Utah out of the way in the Pacific, San Diego went 2-0 at the Super Regionals in order to advance to the Final Four. Taking the number two seed out of Southern California, San Diego dropped their championship match to the Santa Monica Dolphins 41-24 after going undefeated throughout the regular season. It was a little bit of a shock loss by the Surfers, but as both the Dolphins and San Diego advanced, it didn’t matter in the end. In the Friday semifinal, San Diego crushed Seattle 35-5, holding the Orcas to a scoreless second half. Meanwhile, NorCal’s Berkeley defeated Santa Monica 57-40, denying us an all-SoCal final. In the final, San Diego took a three-try lead at the start of the game, eventually entering the halftime break at a score of 15-5. However, with two back to back tries at the start of the second half, it quickly became a mountain that was too tall for the All Blues to climb, with the Surfers eventually getting to a 34-5 lead before Berkeley scored their second. The final score was 48-22 to San Diego; the Surfers punching their ticket to Chicago and the Final Four. The Surfers last made the National Championship match in 2023, winning the title over NOVA 45-22. Before that, they won back to back 2009 and 2010 titles, transitioning into the Women’s Premier League [WPL], where they won the 2016 and 2018 titles. They’ve got a ton of experience when it comes to playoff rugby, and they’re going to need it in this one. 

Back for their third National Championship tournament in a row are the current defending National Champions, the Utah Vipers. Utah were moved to the Northern Super Regional this year, where they defeated the Midwest Champions, Chicago North Shore, 31-24 in order to book their return ticket to the Final Four. It was by no means an easy feat, with North Shore continuously clawing their way back to stay in the fight. Utah took the early lead, scoring twice in the first 20 minutes through Breauna Tsosie and Vaimalo Manuo, before North Shore scored their first thanks to speedy winger Emma Farnan. Utah scored again before the half to take the lead into the break, 17-7. With another score just after the half, it looked like the Vipers were going to run away with it, but that’s where Chicago dug their heels in. Slowly North Shore chipped away at the deficit, when a try in the 78th minute from Maria Bashmakov tied it up 24-24. It was then that the Vipers put their magic into action and scored their first try in 35 minutes to seal the deal at the death, final score 31-24. A little too close for comfort there for the Vipers, who must now face their old Pacific rivals in order to make it back to the National final. Last time these two went head to head it was a 29-26 win in favor of Utah, which just goes to show that this is going to be anyone’s game. 

We keep the excitement going with our second Women’s D1 semifinal, Northern Virginia [NOVA] taking on Life University. This one is interesting because it pits one of the strongest Women’s D1 clubs in the last few years against historic collegiate powerhouse, Life University, who are on debut this season in the Senior Club scene. 

NOVA are back for round six of their Final Four appearances, after successfully defending their Atlantic Super Regional title against Philadelphia by a score of 36-25. NOVA lost their regular season match against Philly back in March, 24-10, and finished second overall in the Atlantic WD1 standings. Fortunately NOVA got a second chance, as the top four regular season sides played in the semis and finals of the Super Regional. After taking down New York Rugby Club in the semis 43-21, the rematch was set against Philadelphia, who defeated the DC Furies 55-0 in their own semifinal. Years of experience in high pressure matches paid off for NOVA, who secured the win and started planning their trip back to yet another National Championship tournament. As far as Nationals go, NOVA have been in the last five National Championship matches, claiming titles in 2019, 2022, and 2024, and finishing as runners-up in ‘23 to Seattle and ‘25 to Utah. Before this run, the Raleigh Venom ran the region, meaning that the Atlantic are 7/7 when it comes to the last seven National Championship semifinal results. This time, NOVA are facing the new kids on the block, and trust me, Life U isn’t going down easy.

It’s rare that we get new teams appearing in the Final Four, and it’s even rarer to have the new club make the Final Four in their debut season. It happened with Life West in 2017 (winning the 2016 D2 title), who went on to win back to back National D1 titles before promotion to the WPL; so perhaps history is about to repeat itself. Life U are here representing the Gulf Coast region, having played in the Red River Premiership for the regular season. Life won the Gulf Coast pretty confidently, despite the Houston sHARCs scoring the opening try of the match. In fact, the sHARCs dominated most of the opening 40 minutes, entering halftime with a 14-14 tie. It was the second half that the Running Eagles ran away with it, scoring six tries before Houston found the try zone at the game’s end. Final score was 57-19 to Life, their trip to Chicago confirmed. It’s difficult to really pull comparisons between Life and NOVA, seeing as it’s Life’s first year in the league, but fortunately they made a little East Coast road trip back in October that gives us some background. In early October, Life played Atlantic D1 teams, NYRC and Philadelphia, recording big wins over both sides, including a 71-3 defeat of Philly. Now sure, these were both friendlies and it was in the middle of Atlantic’s competitive season so we don’t know what kind of side that the Atlantic teams put out, but a win is still a win, and a win that big is pretty hard to ignore. Either way, the only way to find out who has the upper hand in this one is to tune in live.

Finally, in case you didn’t get enough action on day 1, we’re going to finish off with our second Men’s D1 semifinal, the Seattle Orcas taking on the Chicago Lions. Compared to our other semifinal, we’ve got two relatively inexperienced sides when it comes to Men’s D1 National Playoffs. Calm down, calm down, I have stats to back it up. Seattle has been in one Men’s D1 National Championship match, in 2013 against the Life Running Eagles. The Chicago Lions have never featured. Compared to the Blacks’ seven and Old Blue’s six, I’m allowed to say “relatively inexperienced”. 

Seattle defeated the defending National Champions, Belmont Shore, in order to qualify for the Final Four, making an absolute statement at the PSR on Sunday. But first, we have to cover the Friday night semifinal. Seattle had to take on OMBAC, the SoCal champions, in a rematch of the 2024 Super Regional semi. That one ended 45-40 in favor of OMBAC thanks to a try on the final play from OMBAC’s Tom Morrison. This year, the Orcas found the try zone first, scoring through Lu Alainuuese just minutes into the game. But the joy only lasted so long as OMBAC piled not one, not two, not three, but FOUR tries on the Pacific Northwest Champions to take the lead 26-7 just 20 minutes into the match. But rugby is a marathon, not a sprint, and Seattle stayed calm and focused, and chipped away at the deficit, heading into halftime at a respectable 26-21. The second half was all Seattle as the Orcas came out firing, scoring four unanswered tries to take the lead and stay there. OMBAC scored once more in the 70th minute, but it was too little too late, Seattle advancing by a final score of 47-34. Meanwhile, while this was happening, Life West were busy knocking off the defending champs by a score of 26-24 despite being down 24-0 just before the end of the first half. With both SoCal teams out of the final match, it was down to Life West and Seattle to battle it out. Life West scored first, opting for points from Louis Penent. Adrea Tuqovu then scored moments later for the Gladiators, Penent converting to take a measly 10-0 lead into the break. The start of the second half is where all the action took place. Seattle scored twice, converting one, to take the lead 12-10, but Life West snatched it back through a try from Dev St.Bruno-Ferris and another conversion from Penent. With Life West leading 17-12, Seattle needed a score to tie and a conversion to take the lead. They did just that, with Alainuuese scoring and Jonathan Reid converting. The last twenty minutes was all a defensive dogfight, as Seattle held onto their two point lead with everything they had. At the final whistle, it was confirmed, Seattle would head back to the National Final Four for the first time since 2023, final score 19-17. 

We now turn our attention to Seattle’s opponents, the Midwest Champions, the Chicago Lions. The Lions are an interesting case, they are the only team at this year’s National Final Four to not have played a qualifier at a Super Regional. Instead, they advanced directly from the Midwest Championship way back in November. Sure it was thrilling stuff back then, but how have Chicago fared in the winter? Have they really done enough to prepare for Nationals? Only time will tell. We do know that the Lions have certainly been busy this spring, taking on a number of select-side programs in order to prepare themselves for the fight against Seattle. They won the Chicago Cup back in April, after a whopping 91-7 defeat of the Chicago Griffins (among other wins over the Blaze and the South Side Irish). They took down the Midwest Thunderbirds 55-12 on April 25th, and while the rest of the competition was duking it out at the Super Regionals, they crushed the Wisconsin Selects 50-24. Now the Lions definitely have an uphill battle on their hands. Midwest teams have been in exactly one of the last 32 Men’s D1 National Championship matches, and that was the St. L0uis Bombers, who won the 2024 title. Before that, it was Milwaukee in 1993 who came runners-up to OMBAC. Maybe this means a tide has already started to turn for Midwest rugby, but it’s certainly a monkey on the back that’s hard to shake. 

With all the action finished on Friday, we move into our Saturday semifinals. This is where the Men’s D2, D3, and Women’s D2 kicks off. Don’t expect the action to lull because we’re not in the premier divisions, these teams mean serious business and if the Super Regionals are any indication, the excitement is going to be edge of your seat stuff.

First up we have Brevard Old Red Eye taking on the Detroit Tradesmen. Brevard won the Gulf Coast Super Regional, the breeding ground for D3 National Champions. And I say this because the last six D3 National Championship titles have gone to Gulf Coast teams. Four to the Austin Blacks, one to the Columbia Rhinos, and one to the Palm Beach Panthers. If Brevard wish to add their name to that list, it’s all or nothing for the next two matches. Brevard actually finished 5-2 in the regular season, chalking up two losses to the Palm Beach Panthers. In the Florida final however, Old Red Eye got their revenge, smashing the Panthers to qualify for their third Super Regional in a row. In 2024, they lost in the final to the Austin Blacks, 18-14, who went on to take the National title. In 2025, they lost in the final to the Columbia Rhinos, 31-24, who went on to take the National title. This year, they defeated the Austin Blacks in the semifinal 46-34 before taking on New Orleans in the final. New Orleans took a 24-0 lead into halftime, looking like it would be another disappointing finish for Brevard, but Old Red Eye was not about to go down without a fight. It was slow going, but Brevard dotted down once, twice, and suddenly with ten minutes left in the match, we had a game on our hands. When Jean-Eric Van der Elst Portero (what a name!) scored in the 74th minute, the stands were riotous. Koby Deacon converted for Brevard to take the lead 26-24. The final five minutes were chaos as New Orleans desperately tried to take back the lead, but Brevard stood firm. The final whistle went, and the Florida fans stormed the fields. Brevard did it, they were heading to Chicago. Old Red Eye know the competition only gets tougher from here, but they’ve been through hell and come out the other side. Florida might just have another National Championship team on their hands.

Standing in the way of Brevard and this fairy tale ending are the men from Michigan, the Detroit Tradesmen. While Brevard had their share of regular season losses, and close games, Detroit are the opposite. The Tradesmen have been near unstoppable this season, going undefeated in league play since they kicked off in August. After winning the Midwest Championship over the Chicago Blaze back in November, they stacked their spring season with friendlies in order to best prepare for playoffs. It clearly paid off as they blanked the St. Louis Hornets in the Super Regional semifinal 66-0, advancing to the final. It turns out they would once again face the Chicago Blaze after Blaze eked out a win over the Rocky Mountain Champions, the Denver Highlanders, 21-12. In the all-Midwest final, Detroit scored early and scored often to storm out to a blazing lead over Chicago. With a halftime score of 31-12, the Tradesmen were only halfway through their scoring streak. Both teams dotted down a few more times, but it was never out of Detroit’s control, final score 58-31. If Detroit make it to the final, it will be the first time since 2019 that a Midwest D3 team has made it to the National Championship match, following in the footsteps of the Grand Rapids Gazelles. The last time the Northern Super Regional Champion made it to the final was back in 2023, when the Colorado Springs Grizzlies won their semi. The last time a Midwest D3 team won outright was in 2011, with Metropolis claiming the National title over the Syracuse Chargers. It would also be the Tradesmen’s first time in a D3 National Championship match, and their first visit to any National Championship match since 2018, when the D2 team finished as runners-up.

On the other side of the bracket, we’ve got our Pacific Super Regional Champions, Life West, taking on the Atlantic Super Regional Champions, Syracuse. Life West’s Men’s D3 team is one of two Life West sides in the National Final Four, the other being the Women’s D2. As we covered above, the Men’s D1 barely missed out on locking up the Pacific Super Regional seed, showing that the Gladiators are building something strong over on the West Coast.

Life West finished their regular season undefeated in Northern California, though it didn’t come easily. They only beat Baracus by two and three points (two matches), and Marin by four. Their first match in the Pacific Super Regional was against the Southern California Champions, the LA Soul. The Soul had a dream run through playoffs, toppling the higher seeds in order to claim the crown. However, when they ran into Life West, it didn’t turn out in their favor. They held off the Gladiators for twenty minutes, but once the scoring started, it didn’t stop. Life West only allowed one try, in the 78th minute, a consolation prize for LA. Their opponent for Sunday would be the New Mexico Brujos, who defeated the Portland Pigs 35-28 in their semifinal. New Mexico were a bit of a wild card in the regular season, taking down Phoenix Camelback and Scottsdale in the Southwest before making the trip to Vegas for the first time. After taking the lead 19-0 into the half, it looked like the Gladiators were going to sweep this one up, but if the other Super Regionals matches have taught us anything, it didn’t stay that way. The Brujos kept battering Life West back, scoring two tries to bring the difference to seven. Life West scored one more to lengthen the lead, but the Brujos scored at the death to bring it within four points. Life West held on though, and when the final whistle blew, it was the Gladiators who punched their ticket to Nationals, final score 26-22. Life West are newbies when it comes to the Men’s D3 playoffs, but the club itself has four titles in three divisions, and adding a Men’s D3 would get them even closer to the Club Grand Slam (a title I’ve invented). 

They won’t have it easy though, they are taking on a side that has worked tirelessly to get back to the Final Four, and isn’t about to let this opportunity slip. Syracuse were the National runners-up way back in 2011, losing 46-25 against Metropolis, and haven’t been in a National Championship since. They surged back onto the scene last year, qualifying for the Atlantic Super Regionals, but falling by two points to Rocky Gorge in the semifinal. They won their consolation match on the Sunday, beating Wilkes-Barre 24-15, taking home third overall. This year they went undefeated in league play, throwing up some massive numbers against their Empire opponents, to finish with a regular season differential of +325. They steamed through league playoffs, smashing the Fairfield Yankees in the final 64-15. In the Super Regional semifinal, they took on the NERFU Champions, Providence. It was nothing like the massive wins they had been getting locally, but Syracuse advanced thanks to a 34-15 victory. On Sunday they faced a very good Jersey Shore side, who beat Severn River in their semifinal 41-7, in order to qualify for the final. This was the closest match the Chargers had all season, with the Sharks always staying in striking distance of the win. However, at the final whistle, Syracuse pushed ahead and took the win, final score 24-17. It’s been a little bit since the Atlantic region dominated at the D3 level, mostly thanks to the run that Gulf Coast has been having, but they’ve had a number of National Champions over the recent years. The Union County Mudturtles made the final back in 2022, and Long Island finished second in 2018. The last Atlantic D3 National Champions were the Fairfield Yankees in 2016, and New York Old Blue before them in 2014. Syracuse will certainly have their hands full with this year’s competition, but should they prevail, they will join an elite group of clubs in the Northeast.

Next up we have our only two Women’s matches of the day, the Women’s D2 semifinals. The first semifinal pits the Pacific Super Regional Champions, Life West, against the Northern Super Regional Champions, the Milwaukee Scylla. Not only are both teams former D2 National Champions, they actually won it in back to back years, with Life West taking the honors in 2016 and Milwaukee raising the trophy in 2017. 

Life West didn’t just take home a D2 National Title, they followed it up with back to back D1 National Titles in 2017 and 2018 before joining the WPL in 2019 (where they made it to the final, losing 39-31 to the Glendale Merlins). After that, Life West laid low, going through some rebuilding trouble that saw them pull out of the Super Regionals last year. This year they came back with a vengeance, playing against the Sacramento Amazons (2019 D2 National Champs) and the Berkeley All-Blues (12x D1 National Champs) in the Northern California D1/D2 hybrid. The top team advanced to the D1 postseason, while the second place team advanced to the D2 playoffs. Life West went toe to toe with the All Blues in both league games, eventually losing in the final, 32-12. However they still qualified for D2, making the trip to Vegas alongside their Men’s D1 and D3 clubs. Their first match of the Super Regionals was a 42-24 barnburner against the Portland Pigs, out of the Pacific Northwest. Life West scored out of the gates, but then there was a stalemate for about 30 minutes. Both teams managed to score before the half, and the Gladiatrix took the lead into the break 17-7. Life West pulled away in the second half, eventually sending a total of eight different players into the try zone throughout the 80 minutes, a true team performance. This meant they were onto the final, taking on the current D2 National Champions, the Las Vegas Irish. The Irish defeated Los Angeles in the semifinal by a score of 36-14, and were keen to return to the National Championships to defend their title. Angelina Lomu scored first for Life West, followed by teammate Lauren Kenyon. Linda Gabele converted the second to bring the Gladiatrix’s halftime count to 12. Meanwhile, Las Vegas got their own through Matelani Lotomau, converted by Catrin Turner, and the halftime score was 12-7. Two tries from Life West’s second row Charmaine Sheffield grew the difference, and Las Vegas soon found themselves out of answers. Catrin Turner would score her own in the final minutes, but Linda Gabele closed out the scoring with a game-ending try, Life West advancing to the Final Four. Life West have proven themselves to be the best in the West, but they still have another coast to dominate before they can call themselves National Champions again.

Back in the Final Four fold for the first time since 2023, are the Milwaukee Scylla. Milwaukee come from the Northern region where they absolutely dominated the competition this year. Similarly to Life West, they’ve gone up and down between the D1 and D2 competitions, going 2-4 in the regular season of Midwest Women’s D1 last year, having been promoted after their 2023 Nationals run. This year, Milwaukee went 4-0 in league play, racking up an average PD of +54 per match. They were relatively untouched during playoffs as well, holding their opponents scoreless in the first two rounds, before eventually toppling the 2023 Northern Champs, South Buffalo, in the Midwest Finals. Both South Buffalo and Milwaukee advanced to the Super Regionals, playing in separate semifinals. The Scylla sliced through the Utah Slugs, with Claire Tomashek scoring three in the 64-12 victory, en route to the Northern Championship. South Buffalo had a bit of a harder battle on their hands, making a late surge in their semi, scoring an astonishing five tries in the final 20 minutes to claw back from a 19-point deficit, and take the win 44-36 over the St. Louis Sabres. This set up an All-Midwest final for Sunday, a rematch between South Buffalo and Milwaukee. The Scylla kept South Buffalo scoreless for almost 60 minutes, running in four tries before South Buffalo put points on the board. Milwaukee dotted down twice more, taking the win 42-5, punching their ticket to the Final Four. The last time Milwaukee represented the Northern Super Region was back in 2023, losing against Severn River in the semifinals, 39-24. The last time a Northern team made the National Championship match was back in 2018, when St. Louis finished as runners-up to Charlotte, and before that it was Milwaukee’s own title in 2017. It’s been a little bit, but with the same team in action, history could very well repeat itself, and the title could be back in the hands of the Midwest by the end of next weekend. 

Our final women’s semifinal is a rematch of the 2024 National Championship match; Phoenixville White Horse against the Tampa Krewe. There is no doubt about it, these two teams know this tournament better than their own playbook, and will do anything to hoist that trophy. This is truly the battle of the titans. 

Phoenixville White Horse are back for their third National Final Four in a row, having come runners-up the last two years. Every year they’ve gotten closer and closer to the title, losing by only seven points last year to Las Vegas. Phoenixville absolutely dominated the EPRU again this year, confirming their playoff spot with three league matches still left to play. As expected, they hit a speed bump when the competition went up at the Atlantic Super Regional, but they did what Phoenixville does best, which is buckle down and get the job done, cruising through Severn River 34-22 in order to make the Atlantic final. With seven of the starting 15 from last year’s National Championship game starting in this year’s Atlantic Championship, Phoenixville relied on team cohesion to defeat New Haven Old Black and defend their Atlantic title. It was by no means an easy run over, New Haven stayed a little too close for comfort, but at full-time it was White Horse up on the scoreboard, 27-22. Phoenixville are 2-0 when it comes to National Semifinals, winning 32-21 over the Sacramento Amazons in 2024 and 40-12 over the Grand Rapids Growlers in 2025, but they haven’t yet lifted a National Championship trophy. In 2024 they faced the Tampa Krewe, who won by the biggest margin in Women’s D2 National Championships since 2016, final score 59-14. The following year they kept the scoreline respectable, with a narrow 31-24 loss to Las Vegas, who had beaten Tampa in the semifinals. This year, it’s gotta be Phoenixville. They’ve done the work, but still two games and two strong opponents stand in the way of them and the glory they’ve chased for two years. 

Also back for year three of the National Final Four, are the Tampa Krewe, who defended their back to back title in the Gulf Coast in order to make another trip to Nationals. Tampa Krewe have dominated Florida the past few years, taking home five state titles to make themselves the undisputed queens of the Sunshine State. It took them a bit to make it out of the Gulf Coast, thanks to Knoxville Minx’ run at Nationals in 2022 and 2023 (taking home the D2 title in 2023), but as soon as they got their shot, they brought it home to Florida. And, of course, it was by defeating the very team that stands in their way for round one of this year’s National Championship, Phoenixville White Horse. Last year Tampa went to the Final Four, going out early with a narrow 21-19 defeat against the eventual National Champions, Las Vegas. This year at the Gulf Coast Super Regionals, Tampa were tested early against Carolinas Champions, Charlotte. Charlotte actually scored first in the match, but then it was the Krewe’s turn. Tampa scored four unanswered tries to take back the lead and extend it. Both teams would score a try in the closing minutes, but the damage was done, Krewe advancing 31-21. The Gulf Coast Final was the same it had been for years, Knoxville Minx against the Tampa Krewe. This time, Krewe got their biggest win yet, blanking the Minx 60-0 in order to punch their ticket for Chicago. Now Tampa is back on familiar turf, and they’ve got their sights set on another trophy.

There’s no telling who will come out victorious in this once, but it’s guaranteed to be a thrilling match, you don’t want to miss out.

Finally we’re on to the last divisional semifinals, the Men’s D2 competition. Don’t expect the action to slow just because we’re at the end of the day, these four teams mean business, and these are going to be two spicy semifinals. First up we have the defending National Champions, Atlanta Old White, taking on the Northern Super Regional Champs, Kansas City. 

Atlanta Old White is back, and they show no signs of slowing down since their National Title run last year. Once the lone Men’s D2 team playing in the Carolinas conference, Atlanta joined the True South this year to have a concrete regular season schedule, instead of just poking around to find qualifying friendlies across the Southeast. This meant they faced teams like Nashville, New Orleans, and the Birmingham Vulcans over the late fall and spring. They were solid competitors in the True South, going 6-0, but they only had a total PD of +117 over those six games, making us wonder if perhaps they’d lost a step or two since their Championship win last year. When Old White showed up for the Gulf Coast Super Regionals, it was clear they had not lost a step, in fact they looked stronger and more put together than they did last year. They toppled the Fort Lauderdale Knights in the semifinal by a score of 53-24, with two of the Knight’s tries coming in the final ten minutes. Then, in the final, they obliterated HURT 69-0, with eight different players scoring a total of 11 tries over 80 minutes. Timothy Mwanjia Mmasi was responsible for the additional three, bringing his total to four in that match and five over the whole weekend. Last year Old White took down the Boston Irish Wolfhounds in the National semifinal by a score of 53-12, before advancing to the final where they smashed Boise 39-8. Before this, their last trip to the National Championship was back in 2018 when they lost to Olympic Club 12-10 at Fortress Obetz in Ohio. Old White rely on their homegrown talent to carry them through, with players like Life U’s Daemon Torres and Maciu Koroi and Kennesaw State’s Shea O’Hanlon highlighting the starting lineup. It’s not going to be easy, but as one of only two teams able to defend their National Title, they’re gonna give it all they’ve got to bring it back home to the 404. 

Standing in the way of Atlanta and this dream run, are the Northern Super Regional Champions, Kansas City. Kansas City are back in the National Final Four after defending their Northern title just a few weeks ago against some very stiff competition. Kansas City are the four-time Mid-America Champions, having beaten the Omaha GOATS this year after going undefeated in the regular season. Back in 2024, they qualified for the Super Regionals, only to have their trip cut short thanks to the Indianapolis Impalas. Last year they defeated the Chicago Blaze in the semis by a score of 43-25, to set up a final against the five-time D1 National Champions, the Gentlemen of Aspen. It was a fierce match, with Kansas City taking the lead early with a flurry of tries in the first half, but the Gents came close, and in the end the difference was only five points, Kansas City taking the win. KC ended their National run with a 29-25 loss to Boise in the semifinals, going home wanting more. This year, they picked up right where they left off, going 7-0 in the Mid-America competition to advance back to the Super Regional playoffs. In the semifinals they slaughtered Fort Wayne, who took the second seed out of the Midwest, by a score of 71-10. Caleb Creeman scored four tries for KC in the win, while Charles Mays and Jacob Field both added two. As the Gents had won their semi over the South Side Irish, it set up a thrilling rematch of last year’s Northern final for Sunday. Kansas City scored first, through Gordon Palmer, with Coleson Warner kicking a penalty goal a few minutes later. The Gents took the lead back with a pair of tries from Clifford Kindred and Christopher Campbell, both converted by Campbell. Zane Palmer would score back to back tries before entering halftime, to pull Kansas City back into the lead heading into the break. The second half was back and forth, every time Aspen would score, Kansas City would score one of their own, keeping the lead and holding the Gents at arms length. Both Gordon and Zane (members of last year’s Super Regional Championship team) would dot down once more before the final whistle, securing another victory for Kansas City, and the golden ticket to Chicago, final score 45-33. Kansas City will certainly have their hands full with Atlanta Old White, but if they can make it through them, they will find themselves in the club’s first National Championship match in history. 

Finally, our last match of Saturday pits the Pacific Champions, Belmont Shore, against the Atlantic Champions, North Bay. West Coast versus East Coast, and these are two formidable sides about to go head to head, both in search of their first ever appearance in a D2 Men’s National Championship. 

Now obviously Belmont Shore aren’t seeking their first ever appearance in ANY National Championship, with the D1 team winning the title last year, but their D2 side are relatively new when it comes to the National scene. Belmont finished 9-0 this year, defeating Los Angeles 58-25 in the SoCal final in order to advance to Super Regionals. After their D1’s surprise defeat on Friday, the D2 knew that they had to do whatever it took to carry the Belmont Shore name back to the National Championship tournament. Their first obstacle was the Pacific Northwest Champions, Eastside Tsunami. The Tsunami were welcoming a D2 world without Boise United, who claimed the title the last few years, and quickly rose to the top of the table in the PNW. Eastside scored the opening three tries of the match, running out to a 17-0 lead before Belmont managed to put points on the board. With the help of a few penalty goals and two tries, Belmont managed to take the lead into half with a score of 20-17. The second half was when Belmont really fell into their groove, scoring four more tries before Eastside finally put more points on the board. By then it was the final ten minutes, and the damage was done. Belmont advanced to the Pacific Final, final score 49-33. There, Belmont took on the NorCal Champions, Silicon Valley. Silicon Valley won their semi over the Scottsdale Blues 40-17, and were looking at their second Super Regional final in two years. Belmont scored first through Thomas Toral, but then Silicon Valley took the lead with three first half tries of their own, kicked off by speedy outside center, Harrison Eagle. Belmont added a penalty goal, but the halftime score was 21-10 in favor of Silicon Valley. Belmont again proved that they are a full 80-minute team, putting in a massive second half performance to cut the deficit down, and take the lead with 15 minutes to go. Nicho Domine scored for SV with minutes to spare, and Roel Marania converted to bring the difference to a single point, but Belmont held strong to the end, final score 29-28. It’s about as close as they come, but Belmont can be sure that they are coming into this National Championship tournament battle-tested and ready for anything.

Our final team in the Men’s D2 Final Four are our Atlantic Super Regional Champions, North Bay. North Bay defended their EPRU title this year, heading to their second Super Regional in a row. Last year they lost 35-29 against the Boston Irish Wolfhounds in the Atlantic semi-final, though they won their consolation match 55-19 over the Capital Champs, the Riverlands Golden Boars. This year, North Bay smoked the competition in the EPRU, and I don’t say that lightly. They finished 8-0 with a total PD of +376. They won their semifinal 66-7 over Old Gaelic, who went undefeated last year, and the final 65-18 over Philadelphia Whitemarsh. They carried this momentum into the Super Regionals, toppling Buffalo 36-5 before facing Portland in the final. The game was really better than the score suggests, but there’s not that much that can be done to shine up a 52-17 loss for Portland. So North Bay moves on, absolutely steaming ahead. Now, we do have to consider that Atlantic Men’s D2 teams have historically underperformed when it comes to the National Championship tournament. Their last appearance in a Men’s D2 National Championship match was in 2014 when Rocky Gorge won the title. Wilmington Rugby came second the year before, and Rocky Gorge won another title the year before that, but nothing in the last 14 years. So this begs the question, is North Bay really that good, or is the competition just not on par with the rest of the country? Only time will tell, but I have a feeling that North Bay is the real deal. We’ll know for sure on Saturday, when the top twenty teams goes down to the top ten.