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D1A Rugby Rankings: October 7, 2021

 1 Saint Mary's

Photo by David Barpal
2 Lindenwood
3 Life
4 Cal
5 BYU
6 Army
7 Navy
8 Central Washington
9 Arizona
10 Arkansas State
11 Kutztown
12 UCLA
13 Davenport
14 Colorado
15 Colorado State

Saint Mary's
The Gaels are an obvious choice for the top of my list. They haven't played a match this season, but what they accomplished last year is enough to earn them a number one ranking. To finish out last season they beat BYU by a narrow margin, and they walloped Central Washington and Cal. With a 32-14 victory of Cal last spring, there is no debate that the Gaels deserve to be at number one. 

Lindenwood
6-0 Lindenwood snags the number two ranking. Lindenwood has a packed fall schedule and has already played twice as many matches as most teams. In addition to their convincing wins the last month or so, Lindenwood played incredibly last year as well. Lindenwood beat top ranked teams such as Arkansas State, Life, Army, and Davenport. Lindenwood even beat some of these teams multiple times. Their only loss was to Life in March of 2021. The Lions two wins over Arkansas State and current undefeated record vault them past Life, in spite of their springtime blemish. 

Life College
Life College sits at the number three spot because of how well they finished last season. The Running Eagles began 2021 with a loss to Arkansas State and Lindenwood. However, they came back to beat both teams just a month after their first meeting. Life is one of the top programs in the country every year so for now they claim the number three ranking. By November we will know if they deserve to be ranked so high. Life is set to play Davenport and number one St. Mary's. 

Cal
Thanks to the air tight COVID restrictions of the state of California, the Golden Bears have only played three matches in 2021. Cal is the most decorated team in college rugby and never fails to field a quality squad. Despite their storied past, Cal falls to fourth in the rankings because of the lack of matches they have played and their level of play in recent matches. In 2021 Cal's most impressive match was a massacre of Arizona. Other than that, Cal hosted a tight match against BYU followed by a beatdown from St. Mary's. In those three matches Cal lacked aggression and execution. St. Mary's college embarrassed Cal physically. Until Cal proves that they are a top tier team, a top spot in the rankings will allude them.

BYU
Perhaps surprisingly, BYU falls at number five in the rankings. Although BYU suffered multiple losses last spring, the score line and quality of play from the Cougars warrant their top five ranking. Last season BYU lost to Cal and St. Mary's. Against Cal, BYU trailed by only four points with just minutes left in the match. St. Mary's then downed BYU twice. First by one point, and then by seven. Although BYU lost these matches, they showed flashes of brilliance. The Cougars were just a couple of plays away from a win. BYU also notched a tie against Central Washington after starting out the match down 21-0. If the Cougars can find a way to start out their matches strong, they will climb in the rankings. They sit ahead of Central Washington and Arizona because both teams lost by significant margins to St. Mary's and Cal, who BYU kept up with.

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