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HBCU Rugby Weekly: Finalizing the Fall season – HBCU Rugby Classic HBCU Rugby Weekly: Finalizing the Fall season – HBCU Rugby Classic

HBCU Rugby Weekly: Finalizing the Fall season

Last week I took off and unfortunately was not able to let you know about what was happening in HBCU Rugby. I apologize for that. But the schools have not taken a rest, even when we did. So, let’s take a look at what happened these last two weeks and what we see happening moving forward.

recap

The last couple weeks we have seen some remarkable play by the Howard Rugby program. They have been on a roll taking on challenges and backing up with the responses that you would want to see. 

Howard University Rugby Women

On October 28th, Howard University step up their level of play and took on the rugby club, NOVA Rugby. NOVA Rugby program has been in the National Title for 3 Title shots in a row, including winning two of them back to back, while finishing runner-up in this year’s National Championship game. All Fall Season, I have said that Howard University wanted to make sure they had the experience and the toughness to make it to the National title game again and play against more difficult teams. 

Howard University Women continue to be serious about their play, as they beat the NOVA Rugby squad, 30-0. The second side took on the DC Furies, and placed a valient effort, but eventually fell 33-0. 

Howard University Rugby Women would follow up their win against NOVA Rugby, Howard women continue to take on high-level competition, as they decided to do a round-robin against Virginia Commonwealth University and James River Rugby Club out of Richmond, VA. The women took on James River for their first game of the day and got some pushback from James River, as Howard would fall 22-17 to James River.

However, Howard University women were able to impose their dominance on VCU, beating them 35-5.

Howard University Rugby Men

Howard Rugby Men have been working on their 15-a-side squad this Fall. Last year, they came in with a focus on developing their 7-a-side team, and found themselves competing in the National Collegiate Rugby Sevens tournament, Collegiate Rugby Championships. This year, they have turned their attention to improving their team for the next level of play. 

Similar to Howard University Rugby Women, Howard Rugby Men decided to put together a robust schedule to not only provide them some awareness of where their players are at this point but also a chance to feel higher level competition so they can make a strong playoff push in the Spring for major games. 

On October 28th, Howard University would take on in-state opponent, Mount Saint Mary’s. Mount Saint Mary’s is a Division 1 collegiate team that has been perpetually known for their contention for national championships. Howard University would take on their C-Side to test the waters of where their 15s team stands. In good form, they were able to make a positive push, and they defeated Mount Saint Mary’s, 14-3. 

Last week, November 3rd, Howard Rugby Men, went over to Pennsylvania and took on the Philadelphia-based rugby team, Temple University. Temple University is a Division 1 collegiate rugby team competing under the National Collegiate Rugby organization. Howard University has a chance to show off what they learned against Mount Saint Mary’s, and continued it against Temple University. Howard University Men would go on to win 55-7. A great accomplishment for the young team. 

games for this week

Howard University Rugby Men

Howard University Men will be finishing their 2023 campaign for the year. They will take on a new Round-Robin tournament against Baltimore-based, Towson University Rugby, Pennsylvania-based, Bucknell Rugby, and Shippensburg Rugby. This will be a great way to end the 15s-a-side season for Howard Univesity. 

This match will be taking place at Towson University starting at 9 AM EST on November 11, 2023. 

Prairie View A&M Rugby Men

Prairie View A&M is back on the field again after almost two months since their last game. Unfortunately, as a result of still developing a schedule, you face teams that are not always able to field teams to compete against. Now Praire View A&M will be taking on Stephen F. Austin for the second round of this match-up. Last time PVAMU defeated Stephen F. Austin, 49-0. With this being the last game of the calendar year for PVAMU, they will look to come out of this season unscathed and have a lot of momentum going into 2024.

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