Women Eagles: Yes, they lost to Canada last Saturday on the heels of a very embarrassing loss earlier in the week. However, their performance on Saturday was much improved and gave cause to think they can make an impact at this summer's World Cup. It was apparent over the two-match series that it's time for some of the younger players on the squad to play a bigger role. It was solid to see so many of them step up when called upon.
Central Washington vs. Utah: This was arguably the best match of the year. The outcome was only decided in the last minute when Central Washington's Josh Bower hit a penalty to win the game. Both sides brought a lot of intensity and skill. Overall it was a great advertisement for college rugby. Too bad no one besides those there could watch it live.
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Junior All-Americans: International rugby can be cruel at times as the Junior All-Americans found out at the JWRT. One missed result against Tonga cost them a chance at the final. Overall they finished with three wins and one loss. That is not bad for a side that had little lead in time and that wasn't expected to make it as far as they did. Full credit to the coaching staff and to the players for making it happen.
Chris Wyles & Saracens: Things keep getting better for the American back and Saracens. They are going to win the Premiership regular season title and they still have a chance at silverware in Europe. Wyles has been at the center of it all season and even Hayden Smith got in on the action this last week.
Eric Fry: Fry is going to make the move to the Premiership and Newcastle after spending a year and a half with London Scottish. It's never a bad thing when a player moves up.
NCRC Expansion: As we noted earlier today, the NCRC is going to expand and add a lower division. This is awesome news. Essentially all the college rugby in the Pacific Northwest is now going to be under the same umbrella. That's a good thing. Hopefully more conferences and regions around the country can follow suit.
Losers
College Rugby Playoffs: Aside from the Central Washington-Utah match this year's college playoffs (DI-A and Varsity Cup) have yet to deliver any compelling matches. The closest result besides CWU-Utah was Davenport-Army (28-24) and Colorado-San Diego State (22-17). In the DI-A the average margin of victory was 19.5. The Varsity Cup was far worse. Throughout eight total matches the margin of victory is 40 points. If you take out the CWU-Utah match it moves up to 45.5. Just the three matches on Saturday the average is 50 points.
DI Playoffs: In a month's time the DI playoffs may be the leading item in the winners column but for right now it's hard to get excited about them. I reality there are only two or three teams that are going to be in their at the end and compete for a title. The rest of the field will have to travel distances and have bizarre play-in matches just to compete.