Your Scrumhalf Connection - Women's Rugby Blog

from USA Rugby:

PALO ALTO, Calif. – USA Rugby is set to host the top men’s and women’s collegiate teams from around the nation at the 2009 National Guard Collegiate Championships at Stanford University’s Steuber Rugby Stadium on May 1-2.

Featuring non-stop rugby action from 10 a.m. – 8:30 p.m. on Friday and 1 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. on Saturday, with its LIVE Fan Festival coinciding with the competition, USA Rugby is again expecting this year’s College Championships to be one of its marquee events in 2008.

USA Rugby’s National Guard Collegiate Championships is also part of ESPNU’s expanded coverage of USA Rugby. A College Championships highlights show will be aired on Tuesday, May 12, at 9 p.m. (ET), while the Women’s Division I Championship match will be show in its entirety on ESPNU on Wednesday, May 20 at 7 p.m. (ET) and the Men’s Division I Championship will be shown at 9 p.m. (ET).

Several California teams can be spotted battling it out for the top spot in their division as the perennial favorites, the top-ranked California Golden Bears (29-1), return to this tournament and hope to walk away with its sixth-straight Division I title. The Golden Bears will have their work cut out for them; however, as they must first overcome Army, on Friday at 7 p.m. in the semifinals before facing the winner of the San Diego State University and Brigham Young University match-up on Saturday at 5 p.m.

In the Division I women’s competition, Stanford University is no doubt itching to use the home-field advantage and repeat last year’s success. Stanford will first have to defeat Brown University in its semifinal matchup on Friday at 1 p.m., while Penn State will compete against the U.S. Naval Academy in Friday’s 3 p.m. game.

The Division II, the men’s semifinals will pit this year’s Cinderella team, #16 Wisconsin, against the #5 Miami-Ohio side in a 2:30 p.m. match on Stanford’s second rugby field. Middlebury return to seek a championship run like it had in 2007, and will first play #7 Georgetown in the semifinals at 1 p.m. on Field 2.

In the women’s DII bracket, defending Champions, Shippensburg will face fourth-ranked Washington State in the first match of the day at 10 a.m. Then at 11:30 #6 Stonehill will face #7 Delaware in their semifinal face-off at Stanford.

Cost for the event is $15 for adult and $5 for students/military with valid ID. Tickets are available at the gate.

For more information on the USA Rugby National Championships, visit www.usarugby.org/goto/usar_championships. Media interested in attending, please contact Sara John or by phone at 719-310-2606.

Friday, May 1, 2009

10:00 am: Shippensburg vs. Washington St. 29 - 7
11:30 am: Stonehill vs. Delaware 27 - 12
1:00 pm: Georgetown vs. Middlebury 18 - 45
1:00 pm: Stanford vs. Brown 31 - 12 (thanks to Kali for the score updates!)
2:30 pm: Wisconsin vs. Miami-Ohio 14 - 12
3:00 pm: Navy vs. Penn State 0 - 33
5:00 pm: San Diego State vs. BYU 13 - 31
7:00 pm: California vs. Army 42 - 15

Saturday, May 2, 2009

1:00 pm: Division 2 Women’s Championship - Shippensburg vs Stonehill 29 - 5


3:00 pm: Division 2 Men’s Championship - Middlebury vs Wisconsion 27 - 11


5:00 pm: Division 1 Women’s Championship Stanford vs Penn State 46 - 7
7:00 pm: Division 1 Men’s Championship California vs BYU

Feel free to send scores, updates, pictures and videos to scrumhalfconnection@gmail.com or 405-802-2490. Thanks all!

I found some videos from the games this morning via the Mobilescore Live Scoreboard at USA Rugby (there are plenty other videos posted, just click on the little film strip looking icon next to the scores):



For results from the Round of 16 (or Sweets 16s) that determined the final seedings, go here. You can also view select archived videos from Round of 16s at the USA Rugby Media Center.