On a freezing day on a wet field, one of the six teams CU entered into its own rugby sevens tournament walked away with the championship.
On Saturday, the men’s rugby team hosted a three-school rugby sevens tournament on the fields outside the Leeds School of Business on the CU campus. The University of Wyoming, the University of Northern Colorado and the Buffs all entered multiple teams into the tournament.
After a long day of rugby starting at 9 a.m., the championship game came down to a battle between the Buffs’ first team and the first team from UNC. The Buffs didn’t allow the Bears to score a point in the championship, and CU came away with the tournament win.
(CU Independent Illustration/Josh Shettler)
The Buffs’ third team tied Wyoming’s first team for third place, and the Buffs’ second team won the consolation bracket. The play was sloppy due to the weather and wetness of the ball, but it was a good warm-up tournament before the Buffs head to the Pac-12 conference qualifier next month at UCLA.
The Pac-12 qualifier tournament is the only way to qualify for the national championship held at Texas A&M University at the end of November. The Buffs used this weekend’s tournament to see which team they wanted to bring to the qualifier and ultimately to nationals. By entering multiple teams into the tournament, coaches got a chance to see which players would make up the best team.
Rugby sevens will be an Olympic sport in 2016, and most of the Olympic team will be made up of current college players. Thus, the national championships, held at Texas A&M University, may include a strong showing of future Olympians.
If this weekend was any indication, the Buffs could have players in the running for the Olympic team come 2016. On Oct. 20, the Buffs will travel to UNC for the Rocky Mountain Collegiate Sevens Tournament.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Scott Annis at Robert.annis@colorado.edu.
