Four years after USARFU sidestepped the thorny question of youth-championship eligibility by sanctioning both high school and under 19 titles, private institutions are dominating the 'single school' category while youth rugby's popularity in Salt Lake City has grown to rival the drawing power of America's top colleges.
Six of eight teams in the high school competition are parochial institutions that have adapted rugby to a varsity approach. That is unsurprising: Private schools often evince a strong sense of identity as well as a nimbleness that eludes their public counterparts in many fields, not only athletics.
But last years's Xavier-Gonzaga final, a breakthrough for the Washington DC XV, attracted little interest among Salt Lake's burgeoning rugby cognoscenti. By contrast, a raucous 3,500 or so watched United down archrival Highland in the U19 championship.
Local affinities rather the sport itself normally drive rugby crowds. It's one thing for teams to be advancing technically, and another for events to progress as a commercial properties. Only the USA 7s and College Rugby (7s) Championship, and perhaps temporarily homeless Cal, might claim otherwise.
As a another example, the audience for last weekend's College Premier Division semifinal was dismal, even though Denver isn't terribly far from Salt Lake. ESPNU's cable telecast notwithstanding, BYU fans clearly stayed home in anticipation of this weekend's finals matchup against Cal.
The collegians' Saturday night finale at Rio Tinto Stadium will cap a pair of school-age tournaments that kick off Friday in nearby Murray, before shifting to the Major League Soccer ground the next day. Xavier, New York's four-time champion, opens against St. Thomas Aquinas, which returns to the eight-team event after a year's absence.
The first day's drama figures to be in a semifinal match between Gonzaga and Sacramento's Jesuit, a perennial contender. A year ago, Gonzaga upset the then-reigning champs 17-15, fracturing the duopoly which had reigned since Highland exited in 2008.
While Highland and United look to be the class of the U19 tournament, there are a pair of sides from ex-Super League clubs, Belmont Shore and the Kansas City Blues. This supports the contention of teams which said they were withdrawing from the nationwide circuit to spend more on youth XVs.
Last week the RSL's expansion Utah Warriors announced it would be adding a division 1 side and assuming responsibility for Highland, America's most distinguished youth outfit.
As was the case a year ago, yellow cards will carry 10-minute suspensions even in 50-minute matches. International Rugby Board regulations limit youth players to a maximum amount of minutes for any given day, but USARFU's rugby (i.e., technical) committee has twice declined to decrease the sanction on the grounds that 10 minutes reflects how long it takes a 'typical' team to score a try, not an interval proportionate to the length of the contest.
The trophy commemorating the College Rugby Championship, set for next month in Philadelphia, will be named after Pete Dawkins, Army's 1958 Heisman Trophy winner who took rugby while studying at Oxford University, tournament organizers announced.
Again, USA7s is ahead of USARugby in creating a named perpetual trophy as the symbol of college rugby supremacy. I expect that there will be the same $2 chinese-made medals (that go straight into a drawer) for the winners and runners-up and a $50 trophy for the winners and a chromed plate (that goes straight into a drawer) for the runners-up.
There ought to be a big perpetual trophy for the premier competition of our sport in America.
Posted by: show me the trophy | 18 May 2011 at 18:22
there ought to be a lot of things show men. trophies are at the bottom of the list. though my favorite was the one year usar handed out realistic looking eagle trophies. the kind of eagles you would find at a souvenir/model shop that you could then paint yourself. Slapped a plaque on it and called it the championship trophy. ugliest thing ive ever seen.
Posted by: trophy hunter | 18 May 2011 at 18:38
Winner gets a dozen Gilbert balls. Afterall, the sponsor always gets to create the trophy...
Posted by: Marketing 101 | 18 May 2011 at 19:25
More rugby union bashing from rugby league's hired media thig Brian Lowe.
http://www.wearerugby.com/news/articles/doubts-over-rwc
Hope they pay him well because his good will with union folks is done.
Posted by: Lowe Syndrome | 19 May 2011 at 07:35
I got that same article from RugbyeNews.com, a NZ rugby magazine. Lowe just reposted it on his site.
Posted by: Icanhazrugbyball? | 19 May 2011 at 09:09
Here's the article in its original form:
http://www.rugbynews.co.nz/newsarticle/?article=4612&utm_source=Spikemail&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20110519-issue-384
Posted by: Icanhazrugbyball? | 19 May 2011 at 09:11