Rugby Club Team to Play Army in First Round Playoff
JONESBORO – Arkansas State University’s rugby club team departed early Thursday morning for West Point, N.Y., to begin play in the D1ARugby.com National Championship. The seventh-seeded Red Wolves face No. 2-seed Army, Saturday, April 13, in the first round of the east division.
2018-19 Arkansas State University Rugby Team
The match starts at 11 a.m. CDT at Anderson Rugby Complex, and will be streamed live through FLORUGBY.com. A-State and Army met each other in 2012 in the national quarterfinals, with the Red Wolves winning.
This is the 11thyear that Arkansas State’s rugby squad has made it to the Division I playoffs. The championship run ends May 4. The winner of the first-round matchup will take on the winner of No. 3 seed Wisconsin and the No. 6 seed Lindenwood in the quarterfinals on April 20.
“I’m very happy with our program as a whole,” said Blake White, A-State head coach. “Everyone has been training very hard and the excitement of playoffs certainly helps. Army is a very well-coached team and has talent all over the field. This is a great opportunity for our guys to go compete at the highest level.”
A-State, ranked sixth nationally, closed the regular season March 30 with a 34-16 victory over Davenport University at home with senior Dylan Boast scoring 16 of his team’s points. The team goes into tournament play with a 5-3 overall record and 3-2 in Mid-South Conference play, clinching third. Army, ranked seventh, is coming off a 17-10 loss to Navy.
D1ARugby.com calls the 2019 16-team playoff field “arguably the strongest field ever.” Seven conference winners and nine at-large teams will be chasing the national title. Arkansas State plays in the Mid-South conference, which is considered to be one of the country’s top two leagues. It has four squads in the top six and five in the Top 20 of the rankings.
Here is the seeded bracket for round one:
West
#1 California vs. #8 California-Davis
#4 Arizona vs. #5 Central Washington
#3 Brigham Young vs. #6 UCLA
#2 Saint Mary’s vs. #7 Grand Canyon
East
#1 Life vs. #8 Penn State
#4 Oklahoma vs. #5 Navy
#3 Wisconsin vs. #6 Lindenwood
#2 Army vs. #7 Arkansas State
