Men’s Division 2 – September 2026 Recap

Days grow shorter, temperatures and leaves start dropping, kids head back to school, and all around the country rugby players gather at their local clubs to start laying the groundwork for another USA Club Rugby XV season. Unlike the 7s season that’s short, sharp, and played around the country at the same time; the XV season is a different beast. Different regions of the country play their regular season (and sometimes their playoffs!) at different times, usually weather-dependent. They also often don’t play across Geographic Unions, and if they do, it’s typically not when both teams are at their peak. So what does this mean? It means that one – it’s hard to compare teams across regions, and two – these monthly recap articles tend to be very heavily focused on certain regions depending on what time of year it is. Everyone eventually gets their moment in the spotlight, so if it’s not now, it’ll be later, just hang tight. 

If you’re new here – welcome to the monthly USA Club Rugby Recaps! How this works is simple. Every month I will cover what happened in the active GU’s and competitive regions, broken down by division. We have five divisions vying for USA National Championships – Women’s 1+2, and Men’s 1+2+3. There are Women’s Division 3 and Men’s Division 4 in some regions in the country. Depending on the density of these teams, they might play for a regional championship, or play in a hybrid league with some of the NCS-seeking teams. For now, hybrid leagues are the only time we’ll cover them, but there’s always room for growth in the future. 

So – where do I get my information? Ah, I’m so glad you asked. I get my schedules and league formats from union-entered data on Rugby Xplorer. So if there’s no schedule uploaded, I have to guess. I get my scores and stats from team-entered data on Rugby Xplorer. This means the more detailed your team is at entering match data (rosters, scoring, subs, cards), the more detailed I can be in my recaps. If you don’t upload the info – I’ve got to adlib, and no one wants that. That being said, if you do see a mistake feel free to reach out via email – I’m always going to try to get the most accurate information out there.

Whew, now that we covered all that (and for you regular readers out there) it’s time to get into it. Check out below to see what happened in September (and the end of August!) in the Men’s Division 2 Competition.

Let’s begin in the Midwest. We’ve got three regional subdivisions that have shifted around a little bit since last year. The biggest changes are that the Chicago Blaze have moved up from D3 to D2 after their second place finish at last year’s Midwest Championships, and Buffalo has moved over from the Empire league to join the Midwest Eastern league. Detroit has also joined the East, replacing Canton-Akron, the Gazelles have moved from the East to the Central and the Lake Country Coyotes have moved from the Central to the West. In total we have 23 teams playing in three regions, so you can imagine, there’s a fair amount to cover!

Let’s start in the Central league. This was the home of the South Side Irish last year, who defeated Fort Wayne in the Midwest Championship and advanced to the Northern Super Regionals. This year we have two teams left undefeated, and their head to head won’t be until October 17th. The Grand Rapids Gazelles (5-0) and the Chicago Blaze (5-0) both have maximum bonus points, so it comes down to total PD to separate them. The Gazelles have that advantage right now with a total PD of +185, but once these two face off, that probably won’t matter anymore. The Gazelles have won all of their matches pretty comfortably, including a forfeit win over the Fox Valley Maori (1-3) on September 5th. Their closest match of the season thus far was their opening game against the Chicago Lions (1-4), which they won 45-19. The Chicago Blaze have had a couple of tighter fixtures. They topped the Southside Irish (2-3) by only 14 points after eking by the Chicago Lions 22-19. The Blaze can thank Alfredo De Lara for the try that put them in the lead in the final ten minutes of the match. 

Lincoln Park (5-1) is currently third in the standings with one more game played than both Grand Rapids and the Blaze. Their final match of the season is this upcoming weekend hosting the Blaze; a win there would push Lincoln Park into the top two, just in time for playoffs. Their lone loss comes from the Grand Rapids Gazelles on the 12th, but their 47-31 win over the Southside Irish and 76-24 win over the Chicago Riot (1-4) are enough to instill confidence that this is still a playoff-caliber side. 

Outside of the top three teams, the Southside Irish are the closest to the top with a 2-3 record. Impressively the Irish still have a positive overall PD of +20, despite having a losing record. I’m sure their 53-0 blanking of the Westside Condors (0-5) from back in August and 61-12 win over the Chicago Lions have something to do with that. They’ll take on the Chicago Riot and Fox Valley Maori this upcoming month, hoping to finish at 4-3 overall. 

The Riot, the Lions, and the Maori have all only won one match, although the Lions have come close more than once. Dropping their last two matches by three points against the Blaze and four points against Lincoln Park, the Chicago Lions are very unlucky to be sitting in sixth place. They topped the Riot 76-0 when they played on September 5th, but are still sitting one place below them in the standings thanks to bonus points. The Lions have two matches left against the Condors and the Maori; although a winning season is out of the question, they can still end on a high with two big wins. 

The Riot got their lone win of the season over the Westside Condors, 29-17, and the Fox Valley Maori got their lone win of the season over the Riot 24-21 just last weekend. With one less match played, the Fox Valley Maori could go on an absolute tear and still finish with a winning record, but they would need to take down the Lions, the Irish, and the Condors in order to do so. Defeating those three would vault them into fourth overall, an impressive jump from seventh, where they currently sit. The regular season runs until October 17th before playoffs begin. There’s not a lot of time left in this one, winter is coming.

Moving over to check in on the Eastern league. Newcomers Buffalo (5-0) are the only undefeated team left in this one. Not a massive surprise from the team who placed third overall at the Atlantic Super Regionals last spring, but still impressive for their first time in a new Geographic Union. They had a forfeit win over the Detroit Tradesmen (1-3), and a big blowout of Detroit (0-4), but outside of that, their games have been decently close. In their first match of the season they topped Columbus (3-1) only 39-33, with a try from Daniel Pollino at the death to extend the lead. A few weeks later they defeated last year’s champions Fort Wayne (2-1) 32-26, a try from Nathan DeMartin taking back the lead in the 73rd minute to propel Buffalo to victory. They’ve only got one match left to go this season, this weekend at the South Pittsburgh Hooligans (2-2). Win that and they are guaranteed a slot in the postseason. Lose and they are probably still in, but there’s always a chance. 

Thanks to the double losing bonus points gained in their match against Buffalo, Columbus are currently in second place with maximum bonus points. They’ve put in some solid performances, but have yet to face third place Fort Wayne. Both teams look pretty evenly matched, with similar scorelines against Detroit, South Pittsburgh, and Buffalo, so this one is certain to be a good one. Fort Wayne has three matches left to play, but will need to save some gas in the tank for their final match of the season hosting Columbus. 

The South Pittsburgh Hooligans are currently 2-2, hanging out in the middle of the pack. Their two wins were both good ones; they opened their season with a 38-33 defeat of Detroit, who scored at the death to get within seven points for two bonus points in the loss. They also topped the Detroit Tradesmen 29-22 back on September 19th, with three second half tries to overcome the deficit and take the win. With only two matches left, it might be too late for playoff hopes for South Pittsburgh, especially considering their next one is hosting Buffalo this weekend.

The Cleveland Crusaders (1-3) and the Detroit Tradesmen both have one win under their belts, which for the Crusaders is an improvement from last year. Cleveland beat Detroit 31-10 on the 19th and the Tradesmen beat the Crusaders 31-29 in August for their lone win of the season. The Tradesmen scored an extra try while the Crusaders opted for posts in that one, giving us the two-point differential that eventually gave the win to the Detroit Tradesmen. Cleveland will play Fort Wayne and South Pittsburgh to end their season while the Tradesmen take on Detroit and Columbus.

Finally in the Western subdivision, Palmer College (6-0) are currently top of the table with one match left to play. Last year their lone loss of the regular season came at the hands of Wisconsin (2-2), who they defeated 20-17 back on August 29th. Palmer scored first in that one, but Wisconsin took the lead just after halftime. Palmer scored again through Nick Hardrict with twenty minutes left to play and Nicholas Breitzman nailed a drop goal with just minutes left to play to extend the difference to eight points. Wisconsin did manage to score a final try to get a losing bonus point, but the win went to Palmer College 20-17. Palmer has one match left, but it’s against Green Bay (4-0), so it’s not going to be easy. 

Green Bay are also still undefeated, but have a busy October planned as they have three matches left to play. They’ve had some pretty big wins so far this season with an average PD of 38 points per match, but their match last weekend could have gone down as a draw to Des Moines (3-2). Green Bay started off the scoring with a try from Henrickus Echols, but failed to convert. Des Moines got on the scoreboard with a penalty goal from Justin Johnson about ten minutes later, then right before the half time, Johnson scored the lone try for Des Moines and converted, taking the lead into the half 10-5. When the second half kicked off, Green Bay tied it up thanks to Cole Mattek, and it was all even at 10-10. With twenty minutes left in the half, Laquentin Banks scored again for Des Moines, and it was his try that stood as the tiebreaker all the way to the final whistle, final score 17-10. Green Bay will take on Palmer College this weekend to see who tops the league, followed by a trip to the Milwaukee Barbarians (2-3) then Wisconsin to close out the regular season. 

Des Moines, Wisconsin, and the Milwaukee Barbarians are all closely huddled in the middle of the standings. Des Moines beat the Barbarians 29-19 back on September 19th, and Wisconsin beat them the weekend before 30-18. The Barbarians got their two wins over the Lake County Coyotes (2-5) and Milwaukee (1-4), both of whom Des Moines has yet to play. Wisconsin smashed Milwaukee when they played back in August but lost to Des Moines 36-29 at the start of September. It looks like these three will shake out as expected as there aren’t any big upsets between them.

The Eastside Banshees (1-3) have one less match played than Milwaukee, but are tied in the standings on table points. Both Eastside and Milwaukee’s lone win comes from the Lake County Coyotes, which means we still have their head to head match to look forward to. That one happens on October 10th at the Eagan Rugby Fields. 

As we mentioned above, there is not a lot of time left for these Men’s D2 teams in the Midwest. Playoffs are coming and every match matters. By the end of next month we will likely have progressed through at least one round of playoffs, but we’ll still be able to give you the low down on the semifinals and finals in November.

The MARFU Men’s Division 2 has kicked off with four teams this year, losing the Royal Ramblers to Division 3. Five matches have already taken place, and we’ve got a solid picture of what the competition looks like this year. 

The Omaha Goats (2-1) are on top of the standings for now, but it’s only a bonus point that keeps them above undefeated Kansas City (2-0). The two have already faced off once, last weekend, and that one went to Kansas City by a final score of 55-24. The rematch won’t be until the 17th, and Kansas City will be going nonstop until then, so perhaps Omaha can get a breather and come back stronger to top them at home. Omaha also notched wins over Wichita (1-2) and the St Louis Bombers (0-2) by a combined score of 113-12. Although there seems to be a gap between the top two and the bottom two teams, the Bombers and Wichita look pretty evenly matched based on their first meeting. Wichita put in a solid second half to score three tries to match the Bombers, and in the end it came down to a conversion kick as the difference. The Barbarians kicked three to St Louis’ two to take the win 26-24. Both teams got a slew of bonus points in the game, Wichita took one for over four tries, and the Bombers took two for four tries and coming within seven points. Those two will face off again on October 17th in Kansas. The regular season will finish up at the end of October this year before the MARFU D2 Championship takes place on November 7th. Fortunately, we’ll have time to recap who makes the final cut before then. 

Over in the Rocky Mountains we have the RMR Men’s D2 competition, home of the highest average score per match in a single season (I think. You do the math). Whether it’s true or not, year after year these teams put up some wildly high-scoring but also competitive matches, and this year is no different. The same four teams are back in action from last year, but we’ve got some changes in the standings. 

The Park City Haggis (2-2) are currently on top of the table, albeit with the most matches played. Historically the Haggis have a habit of winning their home matches and losing their away games, but that trend has been broken this year after their big win over the Denver Water Dogs (0-3) last weekend at Infinity Park. They also came so close to winning their away match at the Denver Barbarians (2-1) the weekend before, just falling short in the 41-40 barnburner. I think the Haggis are the real deal this year, they only lost their season opener by 15 points to the defending champions, the Gentlemen of Aspen (2-0), and won their second match against the Barbarians 33-26. They’ll host the Gents on October 10th, and that will be the real test of who is the team to beat. 

You can’t ignore the Gents, especially since they are last year’s champions AND still undefeated. They’ve only played two matches though, so they are sneakily hiding in the middle of the standings. They’ll go nonstop in October, playing the Water Dogs, Haggis, and both matches against the Denver Barbarians on four straight weekends. They had a close-ish win over Haggis to start the season but they absolutely demolished the Water Dogs on the 12th, final score 73-19. Storm Silich and Adam Wright both scored twice for the Gents, while Christopher Cambell kicked seven conversions, sharing the wealth with Risteard Mulcahy who got two. 

The Denver Barbarians are also worth a second look with a 2-1 record. Coming from last year’s 0-6 record, it’s a marked improvement for the Barbos who last won the D2 National Championship in 2023. They are undefeated at home, taking down the Water Dogs 31-19 on opening weekend before narrowly squeezing by the Haggis last weekend. It was a nailbiter of a game and there were bonus points galore, as Denver held tight at the final whistle, winning 41-40. And that’s why Rocky Mountain is known for its high scoring games. Denver will travel to the Gents this weekend before playing the Denver Water Dogs on the 10th. The Water Dogs are hungrily looking for their first win of the season, so it won’t be an easy one. Games finish up at the end of October, and every one counts.

Moving over to the Atlantic, we start up north in New England with our NERFU Men’s D2 conference. We’ve dropped from seven total teams to six, losing Charles River to the Men’s D3, and teams will now play seven total matches instead of six. How does this work? There are two pools of three teams each. The teams in the same pool will play a home AND away fixture against each other as well as a home OR away fixture against each team in the other pool. Based on the final standings from last year’s regular season, Pool A has the teams who were ranked second, third, and fourth while Pool B has first, fifth, and sixth. But enough of organizational details, this conference has playoffs on Halloween weekend, so we’ve got to get into it!

Let’s start in Pool A. Here we’ve got the Boston Irish Wolfhounds (2-1), Boston (2-2), and Worcester (1-3). It’s tight at the top of the table based on record, but when it comes down to the head to head results, the Wolfhounds have that in the bag. On September 12th, BIW stormed out to an 89-3 victory over Boston in their first match of the year. Ten different players scored for the Wolfhounds in the win and James Moriarty kicked a phenomenal 11 for 12 conversions. The lone points from Boston came from Nathan Master, who opted for sticks to avoid the goose egg. It’s not all bad for Boston though, they won their first match at the end of August over Worcester, 31-15. They also recorded a forfeit win over Mystic River on the 19th (score reports say forfeit but also 50-5, your guess is as good as mine). At the bottom of the table is Worcester, who got their first win of the season last weekend as they defeated Boston by almost the same scoreline as their first meeting. Carson Shoemaker scored twice for Worcester in the match, and Jared Rozowsky and Gregory Whelan helped the Shamrocks go a perfect four for four in conversions. 

Over in Pool B we have last year’s NERFU champions, Portland (3-1) (who finished FIFTH in the regular season mind you), joined by Mystic River (2-2) and Newport (1-2). Listen, when I say scores are all over the place in this one, just buckle up. So Portland is top of the table, smashing Worcester 45-7, annihilating Newport 95-5, and even sneaking by the Wolfhounds 33-27. But where did that loss come from? Ah yes, Mystic River crushed Portland back on August 29th by a score of 66-33. Mystic River who went on to also crush Newport 83-5, but then flopped against Boston 50-5. Then just last weekend, Newport spun things around and defeated Mystic 41-17 at home! So who’s the team to beat in this one? Apparently everyone? Mystic host Worcester on the third while Newport hosts Portland for their second match of the year. Newport then has to travel to the Wolfhounds on the 10th, and Portland hosts Mystic River for their rematch on the 17th. I’m honestly not sure what’s going to happen next in this league, but it’s sure going to be entertaining.

The Empire Men’s D2 conference remains at five teams this year, but has swapped out last year’s champions Buffalo for White Plains. Seeing as White Plains has forfeited both of their matches so far this season, I’m not sure how this one will play out. Montclair (1-1) and Old Blue (1-1) both have forfeit wins in their record, so keep that in mind as we recap this past month.

New York Rugby Club (2-0) hasn’t lost yet this season, a promising start to fill the gap that was left behind from Buffalo. NYRC finished second in the standings last year with a final record of 6-2, but fell in the conference semifinals to Old Blue, knocking them out of the Empire final. NYRC’s first win was a big one, defeating Montclair 57-26. Philip Carter scored four tries for NYRC, while Montclair opted for penalty goals, raising their score, but ultimately denying them bonus points for scoring more tries. In New York’s second game of the season, they took on the New York Athletic Club (1-1), who had won their first match over Old Blue 53-26. Hubert Chan and Sondai Adjei shared the kicking duties in that one, slotting two penalty goals and six out of seven conversions between the two. Between NYAC and NYRC though, it was much tighter. The rain slowed down the tempo of the match, leading to a low-scoring affair. NYRC pushed through at the end to send Daniel Bamford over for the winning try, final score 19-15. NYRC failed to get the four-try bonus point in the win and NYAC got a losing bonus point for coming within seven, something that might come back to haunt either team at the end of the season. 

Coming up in October we have Old Blue traveling on back to back weekends to NYRC and NYAC while Montclair hosts NYAC on the 3rd. White Plains is also still on the schedule there, hopefully they will take the pitch and start churning out some results!

Our Capital Men’s D2 remains the same four teams as last year; Raleigh, James River, the Riverlands Golden Boars, and the Norfolk Blues. We’re only three games in, but already we’ve had an average of 56 points scored per match, with the biggest point differential at 18 points. That’s good, exciting rugby no matter who you cheer for. 

Raleigh (1-0) are our only undefeated team left, but they’ve only played one match so far against the Riverlands (1-1). The entire first half the Golden Boars put the pressure on the Vipers; sending three penalty goals over the posts through Taylor Jordan. They took the lead into the sheds by a score of 23-12, but were unprepared for Ibrahim Harb’s second half for the Vipers. Harb scored three tries in 40 minutes, becoming incredibly familiar with that in-goal area, propelling Raleigh to a 34-23 victory. Raleigh hits the road next weekend to face the Norfolk Blues (0-1). 

Despite having a loss on their record, James River (1-1) are actually currently above Raleigh in the standings, thanks to all those losing bonus points gained in their season opener. And who beat them in the season opener? Well that would be the Riverlands Golden Boars, who are somehow in third in the standings. Gosh we love bonus points. Riverlands topped James River 39-34 back on September 19th. Aaron Sheckels scored three for the Riverlands while Taylor Jordan was again excellent off the boot, kicking nine points to add to his two tries. But then the next week Raleigh beat the Golden Boars, denying them any losing bonus points. While that was happening, James River got their first win of the season over the Norfolk Blues 28-10, giving them a winning bonus point. 

So right now, it’s still very much anyone’s game. James River and the Riverlands square off next weekend while Raleigh and Norfolk trade home and away fixtures over the next two weeks. Games will continue on until November 7th, when the season breaks for the winter before resuming with playoffs in the spring.

Finally we check in on our teams in the Eastern Pennsylvania Rugby Union. We’ve got the same eight teams as last year, which isn’t surprising since at least every team walked away with a win by the end of the season. We’re only two weeks into the season, as this one goes until November before breaking for the winter. It’ll return in the spring before finishing up with late-March/early-April playoffs. 

Three teams are still undefeated with maximum bonus points, North Bay (2-0), Old Gaelic (2-0), and Media (2-0). They’re currently ranked on total PD, but that won’t last long. Both North Bay and Media logged wins over the Lancaster Roses (0-2) who finished in third place overall last year, a surprising result. North Bay actually blanked the Roses 59-0; somehow still not their biggest win of the season thus far. Old Gaelic got their two wins over Doylestown (0-2) and South Jersey (0-2). Between the two matches, they’ve only allowed 10 points so far this season. 

Media also topped Monmouth (1-1) in a thrilling 38-26 battle this past weekend. Kevin Delarosa scored the final try for Media in the closing minutes to deny Monmouth a second losing bonus point for coming within seven points. That bonus point is currently the difference between fourth and fifth place. 

Monmouth are full of close games this season, their first win of September saw them close out a match 33-30 over Doylestown. Monmouth took an early lead in the match but Doylestown made a late push to get the two losing bonus points. Those points put them just ahead of the Roses and South Jersey on the bottom of the table. 

Philadelphia Whitemarsh (1-1) are sitting in fifth overall thanks to a win over South Jersey and a loss to North Bay. They gave it almost as good as they got it, piling 61 points on the Devils, with help from three tries by winger Louis Nabhan. Curiously enough, Whitemarsh only converted three of 11 tries, all from different kickers. Now it could have been very windy or all of the tries could have been scored in the corner, we don’t know the context from the score sheet, but conversions can make or break a game, so it’s definitely something Philly will want to look at as they get deeper into their season.

Coming up this next month we’ve got a ton of spicy games to look forward to; Doylestown and the Roses go head to head on October 17th while Media hosts North Bay, and Old Gaelic hosts Media on Halloween weekend, talk about scary.

Heading over to the West Coast, most of these games won’t start until 2027, so expect this section to be a little light. In Northern California, we had a D1/D2 hybrid last year, but Silicon Valley did so well, I wouldn’t be surprised if they moved up to D1. The Life West Gladiators had a banger of a season in D3 as well, I could also see them joining the mix as a newly minted D2 side. On the other end of the table, Sacramento forfeited a few matches at the end of the season last year, so they could theoretically move down to D3, but so did EPA and Santa Rosa, and they still finished with solid records. This is all speculation, so don’t hold me responsible for any of these statements. Until the schedule is formalized, we won’t know for sure. 

The Pacific Northwest Premiership Men’s D2 has dropped from six teams to five this year with the promotion of Eastside Tsunami to D1. Fortunately for us, the Tsunami will still show up in these recaps because the Men’s D1 and D2 clubs in the PNW play a hybrid schedule, allowing us to see our five D2 sides take the three D1 sides. However, when it comes to playoffs, all bets are off, and the slot to the Pacific Super Regionals is wide open. 

So far we’ve only had two matches take place between the D2 sides, though Chuckanut Bay played two matches against Seattle in September; one against Seattle’s second side in the annual “Battle of the Border”, and one against the D1 side just last weekend. In the first, the Geoducks pulled out an outstanding 39-38 win to topple Seattle in the curtain raiser to the Seattle vs UBCOB game. The second was a heavy win to favor Seattle, as the Geoducks were held scoreless.

In regular league play, the Portland Pigs (1-0) came out to a stunning start with a 48-24 win over the Tacoma Nomads (1-1), who topped the Valley Kangaroos (0-1) just the weekend before. Portland scored eight tries in the match, with Will Mohan and Tito Macchai each dotting down twice. Tacoma did score four tries in the loss, bagging the bonus point, which always comes in clutch at the end of the season. Speaking of bonus points, the Valley Kangaroos also got a bonus point in the loss against the Nomads on the 19th, holding Tacoma to only two tries in 80 minutes. A penalty try to the Kangaroos helped pull them close to the tie, but they were unable to convert their other try, final score 14-12 to Tacoma. 

Coming up in October we’ve got the Moscow Mules making their debut when they host Portland on the third; the Kangaroos host the Geoducks on the 17th, and the spooky season culminates with the Tacoma versus Portland rematch on Halloween. 

Southern California won’t kick off until the new year, and we haven’t seen a schedule posted yet. Last year Belmont Shore made it all the way to the National semifinals, but as they already have a team playing in Division 1, they won’t be moving up this year. Los Angeles also had a stunning year, and could theoretically jump up if they wanted to, but they probably aren’t required to. I think they’ll be in the hunt for the D2 SoCal title this year. Kern County, Pasadena, and the Gurkhas all finished 1-8 last year, so I don’t think any of them will drop down. The Fullerton Dead Elephants could move up, they finished undefeated in D3, despite losing the final 15-7 to the South LA Soul. Unless there’s a massive restructuring, I think we’ll have a similar playing field to last year’s competition. 

There’s nothing yet posted for the Southwest Men’s Division 2. Last year this league played a hybrid D2/D3 schedule with 16(!) teams participating. Four of these were designated D2 teams, but results were all over the board, so I could see a possible league restructuring in the future. The Scottsdale Blues advanced to the Pacific Super Regional last year after finishing the season with a 6-1 record. Both Phoenix Camelback and the New Mexico Brujos had impressive seasons last year; I could see either one of them moving up to create a larger dedicated D2 conference. I’m just guessing here! While there were one or two matches last fall, the lion’s share of the matches were played in the spring, so plenty of time for a formal schedule to be posted. 

The Carolinas has made a massive shift in their Men’s competition as six Men’s D3 clubs have moved up into an entirely new Division 1/Division 2 hybrid league. The Columbia Rhinos, the Asheville Iguanas, the Greenville Griffins, Cape Fear, Southern Pines Big Cones, and Charlotte make up the core D2 teams in this new league. They will be periodically joined by D1 Life U and newly-D1 Atlanta Old White for a few crossover games that (I assume) won’t count towards the D2 standings. These games started kicking off back on September 19th, so we have a few results to go over. 

It looks like only three matches took place, though I’m seeing a forfeit by Southern Pines to Charlotte from weekend 1. Now, it’s not calculated in the table, so I’m hoping that it’s actually postponed to later in the season, but it could be a legit forfeit, which would put Charlotte at 1-0 for the season. Forfeit notwithstanding, the top of the table is currently being dominated by the Columbia Rhinos (2-0) who clocked two massive wins so far this month. They took down the Asheville Iguanas (1-1) 85-7 on the road, before crushing Cape Fear (0-1) 69-12 at home last weekend. Columbia were decent last year in D3, finishing with a 7-1-2 record, but lost to Charlotte in the Carolinas Final 37-33. The year before that, they took home the D3 National Championship; it doesn’t get much bigger than that. The Rhino’s next match will be October 17th hosting Greenville (0-1) before the highly anticipated rematch between Charlotte and Columbia on October 31st. 

Coming in at second in the standings are the Asheville Iguanas, who have split their matches with one win and one loss. Last year Asheville went 5-4-1, which kept them at fourth in the West Division and squarely out of playoffs. Asheville lost their first game to Columbia, but bounced back with a strong win over the Griffins, 38-26. Clifton Hanich and Joshua Sansbury scored twice each in the win, with Bryan Du Plessis kicking four for six conversions. Asheville’s next match is a big one, hosting D1 Atlanta Old White on October 10th; they’ll follow that up with a trip to Charlotte on the 17th. The Iguanas have a massive October ahead of them. 

We’re still waiting to see Charlotte and Southern Pines spring into action thanks to that early season cancellation (or forfeit). Charlotte’s first game will be at Cape Fear this weekend while Southern Pines will travel to Greenville on the 10th.

Last season Atlanta Old White joined the mix in the True South, going 6-0 en route to bagging another National Championship title. Both the Birmingham Vulcans and New Orleans are focusing on rebuilding and have dropped to the D3 competition, leaving Nashville as the lone Men’s D2 side in the True South. In order to play a full slate of qualifying matches and still advance to the D2 postseason pathway, Nashville will play in a hybrid D2/D3 True South competition while adding in friendlies against other D1 and D2 sides like Charlotte, the Cincinnati Wolfhounds, and Atlanta Old White (they just missed them so much!). We’ll keep you updated with Nashville’s progress in both the hybrid league and their friendlies in this section moving forward.

The Men’s Division 2 in the Texas Rugby Union gets a shakeup this year as the four D1 sides join in order to create a hybrid conference. Now, the cross-conference D1 results won’t affect the D2 standings, but it will certainly create a more intense environment for the nine D2 sides. After a year in the D1, HARC returns to the D2 comp, while the other eight teams remain from last year. The first matches of the season will be on November 21st when HARC hosts Fort Worth, HURT hosts the Dallas RFC D2, and San Antonio hosts the Austin Huns D2. In December, four teams will taste their first battle against D1 competition as the cross-conference matches kick off in earnest. There’s still two months to go until this league really gets going, but expect preseason to begin at the end of October for some teams. 

Down in Florida, the 2024 National Champions, the Miami Tridents, are now officially back in the D2 mix. After a brief jump to D1, followed by a tough rebuilding year last year, the Tridents have committed to a full season again as a Division 2 side. They will join last year’s champions, the Fort Lauderdale Knights, Boca Raton, the Pelicans, Orlando, and the Tampa Krewe when the season starts on January 23rd.