2013 Men’s Division 1 Club Playoffs – Predictions and results
June 1st and 2nd has the last four teams standing in Division 1 playing to determine the 2013 Division 1 Champion. Denver Barbarians against Life University in one semi-final, and Old Puget Sound Beach against New Orleans in the other.
The first game pitting Denver against Life should be a great one. Life is certainly one of the best teams in the country, and just dropped a very narrow decision to San Francisco Golden Gate in the Elite Cup final last week. Life does not carry a huge roster, but the players it does carry are all first XV types, no weak links on the bench. Denver has had a great season and would relish capturing the crown on the home field of their cross town rival, Glendale. It should be a great game, with Life coming out on top, barely.
In the other semi, Old Puget Sound and New Orleans could be interesting. We have been wrong about New Orleans all playoffs, they keep winning when we don’t exectt them to. We don’t expect them to beat OPSB in this round, will we be wrong again? OPSB has the unheralded pack and devastating backs and should cruise through. And if they do cruise, that would be a crucial advantage for the final. We would pick a fresh OPSB side against a weary Life side on the Sunday Championship game.
2013 Division 1 Round of 8 predictions – games on May 19
The results are in from our predictions of the Round of 16, and our predictions were correct in every game except one. In that game we expected PAC to beat New Orleans, but it was New Orleans who not only won, but won big, by a score of 58-8. A decent set of predictions ruined! New Orleans has had two big wins now, over Chicago Griffins and PAC. Can they keep up the momentum? They will play Metropolis, who defeated Middlesex comfortably. So both teams had opportunity to ease up and save some energy for Sunday. Can New Orleans keep the momentum going? The weather might be a factor, with 80ish temps and lots of humidity. We think Metropolis should be able to slow New Orleans down and win, but since we have been often wrong where New Orleans is concerned, it’s probably a toss-up.
The other round of 8 game in Virginia Beach has Boston against Life University. Life handled Boston easily in the Elite Cup, but Boston has an interesting habit of playing Life closer in their second or third meetings of the season. Closer yes, but Life has stepped up a gear in the last few weeks, and as long as Life doesn’t get caught looking ahead to the Elite Cup, it should be a Final 4 appointment for Life.
Over in Dallas, two great games are in store. A wild card throughout Sunday’s games is that players invited to the USA camp in Glendale will not be available to their clubs. This impacts some teams more than others obviously but the potential for disruption certainly exists. First up we have OMBAC against Denver. OMBAC got the better of Dallas by a try, and we can’t decide if Dallas was better than we thought or if OMBAC has some issues. Denver has had a good season, despite losses to OPSB and SFGG and should be poised for the win in a very close game. We picked against OMBAC once already and lost, but we feel safer with this pick.
Finally, the dream matchup of Glendale against OPSB rounds off the action for the day. Glendale racked up 49 points at home when these two met in the Elite cup. Glendale has loads of depth, and they will need it to overcome USA camp attendees. With less disruption, OPSB should be firing on all cylinders and should avenge their earlier loss to Glendale. This game could be worthy of the championship game, too bad someone has to go home.
So there you have it, we expect the final 4 to consist of Denver, Life, Metropolis and Old Puget Sound Beach.
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2013 Men’s Division 1 Round of 16 predictions
We did ok with our round of 32 predictions, with two glaring exceptions. OMBAC defeated Sacramento Lions, and Dallas Harlequins beat Provo. Neither game was close, which makes our mistakes all the more glaring. Oh well, onto the round of 16. First up in Dallas is OMBAC against Dallas Harlequins. The game is in Dallas, which will obviously benefit the Harlequins, but probably not enough to get them the win. We will go with OMBAC, like we should have done in the last round.
The second half of the bracket has Denver Barbarians against Santa Monica, a great matchup. Both teams benefit from top quality opposition this Spring. Santa Monica has lots of experience, but we think Denver is too strong.
Still in Dallas, the next juicy matchup has Belmont Shore against Glendale, another meeting of former champions. It’s impossible to pick this one. Belmont has the history and experience, Glendale has both as well. We will choose Glendale though this could go either way.
Austin Blacks take on Old Puget Sound Beach in the final game in Dallas. We expect OPSB not to have any problems here.
In Virginia Beach, Boston takes on Palmer in the first bracket. Boston surprisingly struggled to dispatch Maryland the last round, and Palmer is always tough, but Boston’s depth should be enough to see Boston through.
Life University and Old Blue could be an interesting game. Old Blue played Life very close recently, but Life should be on a high with their recent defeat of NYAC, so we will choose Life here.
PAC against New Orleans is a tough one to call. Both came in with big wins in the last round. Is New Orleans for real? On the road, we are not so sure, especially with the shorter trip for PAC. we will go with PAC.
Finally, Middlesex against Metropolis. Another tough one to call. Both teams have depth and continue to improve. Metropolis will look to make another final four appearance and we think will be too strong for Middlesex.
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Division 1 Men’s Club Playoffs, April 27, 2013.
Round of 32:
Round 1 of the Division 1 Club National Playoffs is scheduled for April 27th, with a wide variety of contests on order. The brackets can be found at various locations including usarugby.org and rugbymag.com. Here are some predictions, going in the order they are listed at usarugby.org.
OMBAC at Sacramento Lions: Sacramento has the top seed in their division, helped by San Francisco deciding not to proceed in the playoffs and Old Puget Sound not being eligible to capture the top seed. Sacramento struggled against the likes of those two teams, but was solid otherwise. OMBAC has always been a force in California, and if this game was at OMBAC we would expect an OMBAC win, but we are going with Sacramento.
Provo at Dallas Harlequins: Who knows how strong Provo will travel? That is always an unknown with that team. Dallas Harlequins has the experience and have had a lot of games in preparation, but Provo may cause enough problems here to come away with a win on the road.
Austin Huns at Denver Barbarians: Denver looks to be in position to make a good run this year, and at home should not have many problems.
Maryland Exiles at Boston: Boston is as good as they have been in a couple of years, and they should have no problems here, taking advantage of tough competitive games to be in a good position for a run at the D1 playoffs.
BYE at Palmer. Palmer takes advantage of not having to get play in this round.
Chicago Lions at Life University: Another juicy match-up here. It would be a shock to have a team as strong as the Lions not make the round of 16, but that’s the way this is shaping up. Life is tough at home, and the Lions would have to fire on all cylinders to take this. We don’t see it happening this time.
Schuylkill River at Old Blue: Schuylkill has been knocking at the door on the D1 level for a few years, but got a tough draw against Old Blue in this round. It is not a long drive for Old Blue, and they should take the road win.
Buffalo at PAC: Buffalo had a great Fall season and came into the last round highly rated, but completely laid an egg in the regional playoffs. This fixture is likely another bridge too far, especially on the road against a solid PAC side.
Chicago Griffins at New Orleans: New Orleans got bounced at this stage last year by the Chicago Lions. Can the Griffins do the same? New Orleans seems to have sought out a tougher schedule this year, so should not be surprised at this fixture. Can the Griffins travel strong? Maybe, but we will stay with the home team this time around.
BYE at Metropolis: A week off for Metropolis.
Norfolk at Middlesex: Norfolk is a solid team with good experience at this level. Middlesex continues to improve, and bring a level of fitness and tenacity that Norfolk will not be able to match.
EPA Razorbacks at Belmont Shore: 2012 Champions Belmont Shore should be to strong here, especially at home. The Razorbacks benefit from tough everyday competition, but Belmont should prevail.
Dallas at Glendale: We cannot see Dallas bothering Glendale here, despite some good results recently. Glendale will want to make another good run at a title, and they won’t slip up here.
KC Blues at Austin Blacks: Another interesting game here. KC is capable of playing good rugby, and they are in a very tough division so high seeds are hard to come by. Knocking off Austin though might be too much to ask, so we will go with the home team again.
San Diego Old Aztecs at Old Puget Sound Beach: Despite some decent performances, the Aztecs have struggled against the top teams in SoCal. This will be no different, and a full strength OPSB side could run riot here.
So out of fourteen games, we are going with the home team in all but two. Provo and Old Blue are the two road wins we are picking, and honestly we waffled on Provo. If you are looking for more upsets, the two Chicago teams and maybe KC Blues are ones to look for. It should be a great playoff series this year, too bad San Francisco Golden Gate and NYAC will not be part of it.