With one last weekend of regular season and conference playoff college rugby in the books it's time to look ahead to the DI-A and DI-AA playoffs.
DI-A
One match in the first round of the DI-A playoffs actually took place last weekend where Rugby East's Penn State beat Big Ten qualifier Wisconsin 33-8. Penn State will take on top seed Life in the second round on April 25th. Life come into the tournament undefeated on the year and are looking like favorites to make it back into the DI-A final.
Last year's winners, St. Mary's, enter as the number two see and will host the winner of Cal Poly vs. Utah also on April 25th. Utah will get another bite at the playoffs after losing to Central Washington last weekend in the Varsity Cup. The Utes and Mustangs are ranked #6 and #7 respectively in the Canterbury DI-A rankings.
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The other first round matches on April 18th in addition to Cal Poly at Utah are Colorado State at Lindenwood and Wheeling Jesuit at Davenport. Lindenwood haven't been able to overcome Life this year but they have looked very strong. Colorado State will hope to rely on the contributions of Ben Pinkelman. Davenport have also been strong and should be able to top Wheeling Jesuit. It's not unlikely that three teams from the Mid-South will make the semi-finals.
The winner of the Colorado State/Lindenwood match will play at Air Force while the winner of the Wheeling Jesuit/Davenport match will play at Army.
Round 1 – April 18
Colorado State @ Lindenwood
Wheeling Jesuit @ Davenport
Cal Poly @ Utah
Round 2 – April 25
Penn State @ Life
Winner of Colorado State/Lindenwood @ Air Force
Winner of Wheeling Jesuit/Davenport @ Army
Winner of Cal Poly/Utah @ Saint Mary’s
DI-AA
The DI-AA playoffs after set with several more teams claiming their conference titles over the weekend. One of those teams was Cal State-Long Beach from the Gold Coast. They will head to the West Regional at UC-Davis along with Western Washington, UC-Davis, and Arkansas. Western Washington beat Washington in the NCRC final. UC-Davis won the Pacific Western Conference and Arkansas took home the Heart of America title. Davis will have the advantage of playing at home while Arkansas will have to raise the money to travel to California.
The East Regional will feature South Independent winner and defending DI-AA Central Florida. The team has graduated several players from last year's team but they still have been a powerhouse in DI-AA over the last couple of years. Yale were the surprise winner in the Ivy Conference. That spot usually goes to Dartmouth but Varsity Cup commitments have kept them out this year. Keystone winner West Virginia will also be there along with King's Point from the Empire. Stony Brook won the conference but King's Point will take the playoff spot.
The regional will take place at Founders Field in Pittsburgh with Central Florida playing King's Point and Yale will play West Virginia. The finals will take place on Sunday.
West Regional: UC Davis (April 24-26)
Gold Coast---Cal State-Long Beach
Northwest---Western Washington
Pacific Western---UC-Davis
Heart of America---Arkansas
East Regional: Founders Field Pittsburgh, PA (April 24-26)
South Independent---Central Florida
Keystone---West Virginia
Ivy---Yale
Empire---King's Point