Gonzaga Rugby Classic Streaming Details
Written By Ad-minion 002
Flowers are blooming, the grass is looking greener and so are the scoreboards. Doylestown has made a simple statement - we are the team to beat - a showdown in PA is on the way.
Things are getting clearer.
When we last looked, we had the top 5 teams in the East Coast as: Hough (with a win over Cobras at RSS-Guilford), Cobras (with a strong win over Downingtown), Aspetuck who as a perennial power were only lightly tested at that point, Downingtown who were convincing at RSS even in a loss against Cobras and Doylestown who had a highly anticipated roster but were also only lightly tested at that point. In the next 5 were West Carroll, Morris, North Bay+VOC, Cardinals and Clayton+RHH with Moon Area of Western PA listed as a team to keep an eye on rounding out the top 11.
Well readers, since then the picture has gotten a whole lot clearer and generally speaking...greener. Since the opening weekend of EGRL play, Doylestown has 5 straight EGRL wins, has outscored opponents by +/- 40 points (on average) and is looking the part of a frontrunner. They have a single blemish on their record, a PA state game where most of their top players were attending a USA Rugby event (and were clearly missed) but were finally fully stocked and firing on all cylinders at the Gonzaga tourney in Virginia which saw them walk away with the championship in a very dominant fashion including a statement win over Morris in the finals, a rival who has gotten the better of them in the last few years.
In the meantime:
Cobras came back and made a statement of their own in their next meeting, besting previously top ranked squad Hough 45-19. The score lines suggest they haven't looked back since.
Aspetuck has had a tough couple weeks giving up 2 in the Northern Division and 1 against Doylestown at Gonzaga but battled back to take 3rd with a win over the Cardinals (19-7).
West Carroll dropped a pair (Doylestown and Morris) in late March but to their credit, kept themselves in the EGRL wildcard contention with a couple more Central Division wins over North Bay+VOC and Corning.
Downingtown had strong wins against Play Rugby USA and Aspetuck (as mentioned) allowing them to lock down the Northern Division title with a second half try to draw with Morris.
For their part, Morris has notched 7 EGRL wins in 9 contests, falling only to Doylestown (in EGRL play) and Greenwich (CT) in the first part of a two part series with them.
Although not enough to push them into the top of the table, the W over Morris gets Greenwich on the list and
Moon Area has remained undefeated in PA which allows them to climb the ranks as well.
Headline Matches in April
April 27th is the next big competition day. Downingtown and Doylestown clash in a Rugby-PA battle which also has EGRL seeding implications while Morris looks forward to hosting Greenwich who will travel to NJ along with Play Rugby and Corning in a Senior Day quad.
Teams To Watch
North Bay + VOC and Clayton both drop out of the top 10 and Wando Wahines, who found the energy to battle back against North Bay + VOC in their final match at Gonzaga showed enough grit to move them up the list. We are looking forward to seeing Corning and Play Rugby battle it out and are always on the look out for results for other teams mentioned.
Send us your picks or tell us about teams on the EC we might have missed.
There you have it! Check in again in a few months to see where the changes are.