CRC: Busy Day in Philly

By Ted Hardy

Day two of the USA Sevens Collegiate Rugby Championship is in the books. UCLA, Dartmouth, Cal, Penn State, and Life topped each of their respective pools with 3-0 records in pool play. The pool winners each picked up an automatic trip to the Cup round and kept their hopes of a CRC title alive. The five pool winners, along with the next three highest seeded teams (Navy, Kutztown, and Arizona), move onto the Cup Quarterfinals and a chance to take home the 2013 CRC title.

Stories of note heading into the Cup round include Dartmouth, who has taken home the last two CRC titles is riding a 15-game CRC winning streak. Do they have a third straight title in them? Cal is a dangerous squad, but has yet to bring home a 7s championship at a big tournament. Penn State had the luxury of a light pool after Army dropped out of the tournament. Can they ride some pool momentum against what will be very tough opposition?

There were a few more close games on Day 2, but the lopsided score theme continued from Day 1 of the tournament. Of the twenty games played on Day 2, only six were decided by 7 points or less. Of those, there were a few thrilling matches. Virginia Tech rallied from a 15-0 deficit to defeat Temple 17-15, Delaware and Texas locked into a tight 10-5 victory for the Blue Hens, Cal trailed Kutztown going into halftime but scored a 10-5 victory, and UCLA nipped Navy 12-7.

The game of the tournament, thus far, was the Dartmouth and Arizona battle to decide the Pool B lead. The seesaw affair wasn't decided until the final moments with Dartmouth coming out with a thrilling 21-19 win.


Winning teams outscored their opponents 551-137 (an average of 27.5 to 6.8). The margin of victory on Day 2 was slightly tighter than on Day 1 when the average margin was almost 30 points per game.

On the women's side of the CRC, Ohio State topped Pool A with a 3-0 record and Penn State led the charge out of Pool B. The action in Pool A was fairly tight with four of the six games decided by ten points or less. Texas finished 2nd in the pool with their only loss coming in a 15-14 loss to Ohio State. Penn State ran rough shot over Pool B outscoring their opponents by a whopping score of 120-5. Georgia Tech finished 2nd in Pool B with a 2-1 record.

Men's Scores from Day 2 of the CRC

Pool A

Navy 38 St. Joseph's 12

UCLA 41 Villanova 0

St. Joseph's 48 Villanova 0

UCLA 12 Navy 7

Pool B

Dartmouth 31 Wisconsin 5

Arizona 26 Penn 5

Dartmouth 21 Arizona 19

Wisconsin 17 Penn 7

Pool C

Virginia Tech 17 Temple 15

Cal 10 Kutztown 5

Kutztown 39 Virginia Tech 0

Cal 55 Temple 0

Pool D

Penn State 42 North Carolina State 7

Penn State 26 Notre Dame 0

Northeastern 15 North Carolina State 12

Notre Dame 22 Northeastern 12

Pool E

Delaware 10 Texas 5

Life 35 Florida 7

Florida 22 Texas 7

Life 24 Delaware 12

The 2013 Collegiate Rugby Championship wraps up tomorrow at PPL Park in Philadelphia. The championship rounds at the CRC have traditionally been very hotly contested. This season should continue to that form as the Cup matchups present some intriguing games.