D1A Rugby Rankings: October 14, 2021

1 St. Mary's

2 Lindenwood

3 Life

4 Cal

5 BYU

6 Navy

7 Central Washington

8 Arizona

9 Arkansas State

10 Kutztown

11 UCLA

12 Davenport

13 Colorado State

14 Indiana

15 Army

St. Mary's

No matches for St. Mary's this week. I haven't found a schedule for their 15's squad yet. For a summary of why St. Mary's is #1, check last weeks rankings.

Lindenwood

Lindenwood played three matches in the last week or so. They demolished Southern Illinois University 71-5. The Lions also notched two wins over Washington University in St. Louis, presumably an A-side and B-side match. Although the quality of opponents was low, Lindenwood still seems to be in top form as they improve to 9-0.

Life College

The Running Eagles only have B-side matches on the schedule so far, but no scores have been reported. In November, they are set to play Davenport. Until then, Life keeps their spot in the rankings.

Cal

From what I can see, Cal won't play any 15's matches until spring. However, they did win the championship at the Cal Poly 7's tournament. They pulled of a 27-21 win over UCLA. Of course we will have to wait until spring to see what Cal can do with 8 more men on the pitch.

BYU

The Cougars had a strong performance last weekend. Utah State and Utah Valley took the pitch against BYU on consecutive days, only to loose by a combined score of 131-0 across the two matches. Hooker Tyler Findlay and flanker Caleb Johnston both notched hat tricks in their respective matches which spurred BYU's try filled weekend. These two matches marked the last regular season conference games for BYU. The next time the Cougars step on the pitch will be for the Rocky Mountain Conference Semi-Finals.

Other Changes to Note

Army drops to #15 in the rankings. This weekend Army fell to Dartmouth, a D1AA team, by a score of 21-10. Although Dartmouth looked just as formidable of an opponent as any D1A team, Army's performance looked sloppy overall. It's obvious Army has good athletes with serious potential, but until they tighten up they take a back seat in the rankings.

Colorado also drops from the rankings after a loss to their in state rivals: Colorado State. The Buffs were overwhelmed by the physicality of CSU and rarely tested the edges. Colorado had a number of blunders that ended their chances of winning.

Indiana University jumps to #14. The Hoosiers sit at 4-0, after beating Michigan State by a narrow margin.

Comments

Arkansas State Downs Lindenwood in Defensive Battle

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...

BYU Catches the Bears Hibernating In 53-26 Win

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...

All Smiles from The Cougars: BYU beats CSU 90-21

In what looked to be an exciting matchup, the Cougars dominated from start to finish. CSU captain, Mason Kreiter, had mentioned physicality as a key to the game for his squad. He was spot on as it was a key to the game, but in this matchup, it was the key to their demise. The Cougars monopolized the contact area in every phase of the game. In this 90-point track meet, Cole Semu and Tielu Sagala both scored a mind-numbing four tries. Sagala earned himself the first-ever "Try Times Player of the Game" award with his ridiculously hard running. Just as I predicted, missed tackles absolutely killed the Rams. Sure their alignment was bad defensively at times, but so many line breaks were generated from missed tackles. I was also disappointed with the absence of Sam Masterson, CSU's most dynamic back. Without the boot of Masterson, the Rams struggled to take advantage of BYU's penalty count and lack of back-three experience. BYU's attack looked incredibly sharp for most...

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