Schools forge ahead with national championship

2012 champs Cathedral and Dixon are among 24 teams contending this weekend for American single-school and age-grade titles, underlining the continuing attraction of nationwide competition among youth teams.

Like the Varsity Cup, the two-track National Invitational Championship is independent of USARFU. In contrast to the collegiate knockout, which demonstrates unhappiness with Boulder's management, the school-age tournament occupies a space USARFU has abandoned.

USARFU holds state championships should be the pinnacle of schools competition, citing the National Federation of State High School Associations, which shuns national championships. But having declined to designate high schools as the organic unit of youth play, in the belief that the goal of maximizing participation trumps settling on a scholastic (or club) model, Boulder has left the door open.

Indeed, in 2007 under-19 teams were given impetus by Boulder's splitting what was once known as the high school championship into 'single school' and 'multi-school club' brackets. The latter have since allied with parochial schools, which are sometimes not part of state athletic bodies, and ambitious public school teams to keep the national tournament going.

The NIC brings a return to three games in three days. Organizers expect longer matches to reduce ties, settled by widely despised kicks at goal. As a safety precaution, youth competition limits the number of minutes an athlete may play in a single day. The Pacific Coast territory, among others, once employed the 3-in-3 format as a means of encompassing more contenders.

In yesterday's opening round, past champ Xavier of New York knocked off California's Dixon 40-29, while California's Jesuit edged Utah's Herriman 18-17. Indiana's Penn edged Charlotte 40-37, and Washington DC's Gonzaga handled South Carolina's Chapin 55-14.

In the under-19 bracket, the closest game was Danville's 17-15 win over San Diego, an intra-Californian affair. Indiana's Cathedral handled California's Marin 33-19, Utah's United best the Kansas City Blues 56-7, and Colorado Springs topped Ohio's Westerville 54-22.

Life-St. Mary's, the clash of styles featured in USARFU's college final, could be played in stormy conditions.

The Greensboro, North Carolina, forecast anticipates game-time temperature of 73 with 66 percent humidity and 50 percent chance of thunderstorms. Even if down from today's predicted high of 85, weather for the 7pm kickoff will likely test the fitness and adaptability of both teams.

Atlanta's Life favors ball control, field position, and bend-don't-break defense; while the San Francisco Bay area's St. Mary's is more daring in attack and looks to exploit turnovers. In heavy weather, both approaches have their liabilities. Though ballhandling can be perilous, equally a few individualistic breaks can pierce a defensive stalemate.

The winner will succeed Brigham Young, last year's division 1 champ and this year's Varsity Cup winner.

The existence of two competitions has fostered debate over who's actually the best. USARFU's title chase is more comprehensive. But BYU and VC runnerup Cal are the game's gold standard, a view underlined by the Bears' besting of St. Mary's this season in a non-league match.

Related:
USARFU the source of competing titles
National HS champs on the way out as 'single school' guidelines loosened
HS title revamp sets teenage strategy

Comments

[college fan]

No way! Thunderstorms in North Carolina in May. This can't be. Are USAR fools or what.

[CRC fan]

Story up about Army Rugby in trouble.

[same topic, different day ...]

25 % of Varsity Cup teams in hot water. At least 50 % o the teams don't belong in the same league as Cal or BYU.

Good start to privatizing rugby at the college level!

[USAr is losing]

Army is a USAr D1A team, not a Varsity Cup team. United States Military Academy West Point was eliminated by Life Chiropractic College from Marietta Ga.

Now Life (the school, not the state of being) plays St Mary's College of Moragan CA, for the USAR D1A national championship, in a humid thunderstorm in Greensboro NC, before a crowd which can be counted in the hundreds.

[Middy]

Come on, spill the beans, what did Army do?

[same topic, different day ...]

Your right my bad - though I did forget to point out the Dartmouth player that has been accused of rape .... heard that one on the news last night. Freshman from the UK.

[hmmm]

Doesn't make sense for Gonzaga / Jesuit to play in state rivals. Games are not close. But that doesn't mean USAR must expend funds on a national championship. Heck they should sell the rights to someone and make some money while letting others run it.

[College]

Jesuit has good rivals in-state. Gonzaga not so much.

[Deal with it]

HS calls their Championships "NIT". CRC, Varsity Cup, and Elite Cup are also NIT although they are less honest in marketing.

[Mike]

Mebbe they should stick to stuff like 'Cotton Bowl, Rose Bowl, Orange Bowl' etc. etc. Does it really matter if we have an undisputed national champion or who runs it? The Bowl system has not impacted the growth of gridiron football. But merikan rugby spends a lot of money on the top 4, and none of them can come close to beating a good Kiwi/Aussie/Irish/English/SA HS team from what I can see (Cal,BYU maybe).

Maybe the $$ is better spent elsewhere in Development of the game, which will pay back in 5-10 years. The gaps between best HS and 5th best HS, and best college and 5th best college, are massive in the US. It wouldnt take that much to make big improvements in coaching and player and ref development but all that can get sucked up in an attempt to market a product (natl championship) that may not be ready for prime time, and thus unattractive to all but niche sponsors. (Gilbert, world rugby shop). USAR doesnt have a ton of money and its not clear why they should spend it on a natl championship that benefits 88 players. let someone else do that. No one else can distribute best coaching practice from across the globe, and only usar has the connections to do that. And this gets more talent into the coaching pool, which attracts better athletes, which grows the game. sorry that your $60 dues pmt does not grant you a first class seat to NZ. Joining the US Cycling Federation does not get you to the tour de france either.

[Middy]

"USAR doesnt have a ton of money and its not clear why they should spend it on a natl championship that benefits 88 players."

Mike
I agree that USAR should not be spending their money on National Championships - particularly collegiate national championships. But this is the way they justify Cipp. USAR is based on a flawed model that taxes colleges kids to pay for the national team and a huge fat cat salary for its CEO.

Stop taxing college kids and go get those sponsorship dollars that are out there. If you can't get them, fire the Marketing Director who should in place and replace them if with a commission based agency that will go get the funding you need to pay the Sevens and Fifteens Eagles the salary they deserve,

Then the 2K a year some college teams pay Cipp can be reinvested.

[Deal with it]

Agree CIPP revenue could be better spent. Promoting regional conference championships like bowls is not expensive and limits team travel expense while staying close to the fanbase. Also a bit of money can go a long way running clinics for all clubs in all regions that actually add value as opposed to the crap clinics USAR runs currently.

Leave NIT Championships (CRC, Elite Cup, Varisty Cup HS NIT) to the established clubs that can afford them. Like a Champions League with top clubs being invited and participating if they can afford it through self funding.

[lv_rugger]

USA Rugby South defeats Bermuda:

http://www.royalgazette.com/article/20130518/SPORT10/705189897

[Old Boy Rugger]

What USAR fails to understand or refuses to do is give back the money they take in. I went to the Mens club semi's in Virginia Beach today. The fields were ok but few places to sit. No programs, no station with results and listings of games. Expensive horrible food but lots of guys standing around in USA Rugby shirts. The stadium across the street where the Norfolk club plays has these things called bleachers and a PA system and its great to watch games. USAR should get out of all rugby but the national teams. Totally worthless group.

[Deal with it]

Having hosted USAR events I know that USAR provides nothing locally except people to tell local volunteers what to do. The host clubs are expected to provide (and pay for) all the amenities. Yes, for championships USAR is a totally worthless group.

[college fan]

There needs to be a discussion on the D1A national championship. Congratulation to Life as champions and to SMC for getting to the title match.

USAr used (WASTED) an iRB grant to support this D1A championship. The grant was intended to develop US college rugby. USAr decided the grant would be spend on only D1A, even though there isn't much left of D1A. This results in the rest of college rugby seeing zero benefit from this grant.

Why does D1A need a full time employee as commissioner? What did the commissioner do other than create the worse college playoff events in the history of USAr. What do the two college rugby directors do? Do they bring in sponsorship? What do they do other than watch the splintering of college rugby with a pay check.

The climax of the USAr D1A championship event was last night in Greensboro NC. The match drew less than 500, maybe 350. At the end of the exciting match about 100 fans still remained. This match is what USAr wasted a $250k grant on. Which employees planned and managed this nonevent-event? USAr can't afford to compensate this level of incompetence. Funding is too hard to come by to waste it on underachieving employees and poorly conceived championships.

D1A is now officially a joke. Both semis were played in front of minor campus crowds. In total the D1A tournament, play-in matches, quarters through final, sold less than 1000 tickets. The final was an embarrassing farce of a so called national championship.

This $250k coupled with the remaining years of the grant could create a lasting impact of US college rugby. Instead it is being wasted on employees and one-off rugby games.

USAr using the grant to pay to produce this disaster for ESPN 3 put US college rugby back 20 years. USAr needs to stop wasting this grant, now!

[Deal with it]

How many D1 games did NOLA and Life play before this weekend's Sweet 16?

[Tired Crowd Argument]

College Fan -

I agree with you on a few things, USAR is wasting money and it can be better spent elsewhere, and the ESPN3 deal is a joke. no doubt about it.

But I don't think misleading people on the number of people in attendance is needed in your argument. The stadium is said to hold 2,800 and from what I have been told by more than a few who were in attendance is that the stadium was probably a third to maybe closer to half way filled at the start of the game. so your whole it only had "300 to 500" people there argument is BS. Was it a huge crowd... no. but no need for the blatant BS. And the reason it was empty at the end was due to the weather. And that's also with a small non name team from California playing against a chiropractic school from Atlanta... so I get it, the brand names we're not there.

But Im telling you, outside of this being in BYU or Rio Tinto with BYU playing, you're not going to fill up many stadiums out on the east coast or midwest or south. period. You could put Texas vs Notre Dame in the championship (2 of the biggest brands in all of college sports) and have the game played in South Bend in the Football Stadium, with "Rudy" as a guest presenter and the "Rocket" doing the sideline reporting and you're still getting 2,000 to 3,000 max. and that's probably even a stretch. So spare me your tired crowd argument for D1A. We know there aren't crowds there. But there are no MAJOR crowds at any games other than BYU vs Cal, and a handful of other California based teams.

[Tired Crowd Argument]

OK I take it back... I can admit when Im wrong. I just watched the D1A final... and you're right. cant be more than 300, maybe 500 tops if you count the players and referees... ugggh. good game, bad crowd.

Still, in reality the only teams that can pull off big numbers are again, Cal and BYU.