College Premier Division (CPD):
Cal handled Utah with the precision that has become a staple of Golden Bears rugby. The scoreline of 62-14 was an unfortunate one for the Utes. I feel like they are a much better team than that, but they weren't able to get much going. Even with Thretton Palamo playing at flyhalf, the Cal defense was quick to pressure him and didn't give the Utah attack much room to operate. When Cal had the ball, they worked quick and linked up well to devastate on attack. BYU on the other hand, had its hands full with Arkansas State. This match was very entertaining to watch and I found myself really concentrating on the rugby that was being played and less on the empty stands. The score was 19-15 in favor of BYU with 25 minutes to go. But ASU just couldn't get much else going. In the end BYU was able to pull away to a 36-15 hard fought victory. Sets up another great matchup between Cal and BYU for the National Championship.
I did watch both matches and my first thought was about the low attendance in the background. I admit I was selfishly glad to be able to watch the rugby on ESPN3 and ESPNU. But I think most would agree that showing the empty stands could have been detrimental or at the very least, not desirable. With all teams having to travel to Colorado, it was certainly a neutral site.
In filming on campus, what if the teams that advanced, didn’t have the facilities for a good broadcast. Now, I know that Life, BYU, and Cal could all be set up for broadcast. Same with Army and St. Mary’s. But in some of the comments, fans have complained about the multiple lines on the fields and the “traffic cones” used to mark the fields. Obviously, this year we would have had that problem, but if we had teams without “adequate” facilities-then what? More fans at the game, but the broadcast would probably be hurt by the facilities. It is problematic that no matter what you do there is a drawback, USA Rugby and the CPD decided to opt for a high quality venue, but were cursed with poor weather that obviously hurt the attendance. But even with the driving rain, especially evident in the second match, it is doubtful that the attendance could match that of an on-campus matchup.
Rugby Super League (RSL).
As someone who was cheering for Life, and probably Golden Gate, this matchup for the final is somewhat anti-climactic. I know Life and GG were both undefeated in a very tough competition, and I know that this year was still a great one in RSL, but I guess I was hoping that maybe the Golden Gate match would be closer than it was, 52-23. I enjoyed the suspense of the Life match(27-23), I didn’t get to watch it live (if you didn't either you can still watch video archives of several Life matches here). Still this should be another very entertaining match between Life and Golden Gate. I think I favor Golden Gate in the matchup, and would pick them in a neutral venue. But being played at home, I think that could be enough to swing into Life’s favor.
More teams need to make their matches or at least highlights available and RSL needs to improve the way that it promotes its product. It is a great competition, and the PR needs to rise up to the way the teams perform on the pitch. I'm not sure what the hold up with the highlights is. The College Rugby Films blog does a great job of getting CPD highlights available to view. I know that more than one RSL club has matches on webcast, why not throw together a highlight each week similar to College Rugby Films? I know you could get a company to sponsor that RSL week 1 highlights brought to you by: (sponsor name).
