The Try Times

Did you absolutely embarrass yourself in your family March Madness bracket challenge? Did your nearly deaf grandmother beat you by picking her favorite colors? Well say goodbye to the embarrassment of losing to someone with dentures and hello to a second chance at chance.  The D1A playoffs are just days away from kickoff! The Try Times is sponsoring a bracket challenge, with a prize for the best bracket! Scroll to the bottom for instructions on the bracket challenge. In this article, I will dive into my bracket and the reasoning behind my picks. Hopefully, this will be helpful as you fill out your brackets. If you're reading this and you don't like what you read, please go prove me wrong. There's nothing more I'd love to see than some upsets.  West Round of 16: Okay, let's start with the West. All signs point to the Gaels as the favorites in the West. They were undefeated in spring play and notched wins against every opponent on their side of the bracket. St. Mary...

March really wasted no time bringing us upsets. If we've learned anything this year in college rugby, it's that this year is anybodies year. I would call college rugby somewhat predictable in seasons past. But, this season has been an absolute departure from predictability. The last two weeks we've seen a number of upsets. It's truly been an exciting time to be a college rugby fan. With that said here's this weeks rankings: Navy stays on top. They are still undefeated and put a beat down on Western Ontario this weekend. They are set to face Cal in the coming weeks which should answer any questions about the Midshipmen. A new addition to the top 5, the Life University Running Eagles. The past few weeks Life has unquestionably earned a spot in the top 5. The Eagles beat Lindenwood and Arkansas State in subsequent matches and they look very sharp. They're always a physical squad with good skills. Their loss to Navy in the fall keeps them from claiming the number on...

Another exciting weekend in college rugby. A solid number of teams were in action this weekend. The St. Mary's Gaels, pummeled UCLA at home 58-5. Cal took a trip to Arizona and beat the University of Arizona and GCU by a combined score of 159-17! Obviously Coach Jack Clarke lit a fire under his squad because they took out all their frustration in Arizona. Arkansas State pulled off an gutsy win against the formerly #1 ranked Lindenwood Lions. In Ellensburg, WA, Central Washington pulled of a solid win against a threatening Cal Poly team. Down in Texas, Texas A&M beat the University of Texas 19-12.  Now onto the rankings. Navy hasn't played a match yet this spring. But they're the defending champions, they went 11-0 in the fall, and really haven't done anything to blemish their resume. And so they slide back up to #1. BYU might have a compelling argument for #1 if it weren't for that close loss to Lindenwood in November. They're a team with a lot of momentum, ...

First Half Arkansas State and Lindenwood met in a windy and chaotic matchup on Saturday. Lindenwood loves to put the ball to boot and keep the pressure on their opposition. They stayed true to form and there was a good amount of kicking to start off the match. Both teams conceded possession on a few early handling errors. Anyone who's been under a high ball on a windy day knows just how difficult it can be to field those kicks.  The Red Wolves struck first after earning a lineout just outside their attacking 22. Ark State ran a forward pod in the midfield off the flyhalf. Ark State continued with another phase to the same side, attacking the edge with their backs. The Lions failed to fold properly, leaving Ark State with a 5 on 3. The ball went high to the center who corralled it and popped it to the hard charging fullback, James Beauclerk. Beauclerk sliced through a disjointed Lindenwood defense and won the race to the corner.  Arkansas State led 5-0 after missing the convers...

Since my last rankings there have been some very exciting matchups in the college rugby scene. Central Washington beat Arizona, BYU beat Cal, UCLA beat GCU, and top teams playing weaker competition continued to roll.  Saint Mary's dismantled Boston College 74-7. Arkansas State pumped Mckendree 113-0. Cal Poly obliterated UCSC 112-8. I don't care how bad the opposition is, it's not easy to put up 100 plus points in a match. And #1 Lindenwood beat Mary Washington 39-0 at a neutral site.  Of course, the BYU vs Cal game was quite a surprise. Check out my article earlier this week to read more about that game. How did that game impact the rankings? Well the Cougars shoot up to #2 after their convincing win over the Bears. I think BYU has truly earned the number two spot. Against Cal their attack looked absolutely unstoppable. Every player knew their role and performed well. They had very few handling errors which gave them a big advantage over Cal. BYU plays a very loose and ex...

Check out my video recap: This weekend college rugby fans had the privilege of witnessing two old rivals and rugby powerhouses, BYU and Cal, go head to head in Berkley. Every year this is one of the most exciting matches. The last meeting between these two teams was the D1A Semifinal. In that match exploded in the second half to put an end to BYU's playoff run. There's no doubt that match was still in the minds of the BYU players as they were clearly out for revenge.  Coming into this matchup, undefeated Cal sat at #4 in the rankings and BYU at #5. BYU's only loss of the season so far coming in the fall to Lindenwood. The college rugby world anticipated this to be a tight matchup between these two physical teams. And that was what college rugby fans got for the first 35 minutes of the match.  The first 35 minutes were back and forth. Cal struck first with a try in the fourth minute. Will Shankland made a Cougar miss with a nice step inside and dove over the line. Cal looked...