2009 NSCRO Men's Division III Rugby Tournament

The National Semifinals were held on a warm sunny day, on a badly worn pitch at Green Acre Park in Cherry Hill, NJ. The event was not well publicized. Each match was attended by about 40 rugby fans, friends and family members. The event host, South Jersey RFC, had a small concession lean-to, offering pretzels, sodas and event T-shirts.

In the first match of the day, New England Rugby Football Union Champion Salve Regina met NY State Rugby Conference Champion SUNY Oswego. Salve Regina was the only true small college in the tournament (having approximately 500 male students to SUNY's 3000), and it showed. SUNY's large squad took advantage of poor SRU tackling up the middle and took a 22-0 lead into halftime. The first half was led by the dominance of Oswego flankers Matt Moir (senior)with 4 tries, Kandu Agmibson, fly half Jordan Storie (senior captain), and outside center Jay McGukin (senior captain).

In the second half, Oswego replaced four of its starters including starting scrum half and senior captain Alex Rufer among others due to injury and conservation for the finals match, which was to be determined. Consequently, SRU showed some spirit and put points on the board, exchanging tries with SUNY, but they never really got the hang of EPRU referee Pete Hesler's refusal to penalize an offside. And on those other penalties that were called, SRU was physically restrained from quicktapping on multiple occasions by Hesler to allow Oswego to adequately retreat. One such restraint took place on the Oswego 5m line, evoking a barrage of criticism from the SRU sideline, and for which they probably should have been disciplined. Overall, SUNY Oswego was by far the better team on the day, running in multiply tries from outside the 22m.

In the second match, VRU Champion Longwood met USA Rugby South Champion Coastal Carolina. The two teams were well coached and matched up very well. Again, however, the large college program carried the day. Coastal Carolina was physically larger, and took an early lead, but Longwood battled back, playing smart rugby and making some key kicks for points. At halftime, Coastal Carolina held a 17-13 lead. In the second half, fitness seemed to be an issue, not so much for the teams, but for the officiating crew, all of whom seemed to be approaching 60 years old and overweight. Apparently, the event host had some difficulty arranging referees, and had to do some last minute scrambling to obtain referee coverage. Longwood took a brief lead, before giving it back to Coastal Carolina for good about midway through the second half. Coastal Carolina was the best team on Saturday. They were big, fit, aggressive and knowledgeable. Longwood matched them in every category but size and points.

• National Small College Rugby Organization