2011 USA Sevens Collegiate Rugby Championship: BC Eliminated Early, Dartmouth Wins Title

It was a fairly short tournament for the Boston College men's rugby sevens team, as the Eagles were bounced by LSU in the Challenger Quarterfinals this morning. BC went down 7-0 at the half, and the Tigers added a try in the second half to earn a 12-0 win over the Eagles.

LSU would go on to win the Challengers bracket, defeating North Carolina 24-7 and Notre Dame in the Challenger bracket final 24-0 (thank you, Tigers). Here are the results from Sunday's Challengers bracket:

Challenger Quarterfinals

Match #29: LSU 12, Boston College 0
Match #31: North Carolina 19, Temple 10

Match #30: Notre Dame 28, Ohio State 7
Match #32: Navy 19, Oklahoma 0

Challenger Semifinals

Match #35: LSU 24, North Carolina 7
Match #36: Notre Dame 12, Navy 10

Challenger Final

Match #38: LSU 24, Notre Dame 0

It was a pretty tough weekend for the Eagles ruggers. Though when you consider that BC had to face the eventual Champion (Dartmouth), bronze medal winner (Utah), Challenger bracket winner (LSU) and Challenger bracket runner-up (Notre Dame), it wasn't exactly the easiest draw for the Eagles who were participating in their first USA Sevens Collegiate Rugby Championship.

Even though the Eagles went winless in this year's CRC and got outscored by a whopping 96-5 margin, hopefully the Eagles can learn from the experience and return to next year's tournament. Besides, the CRC rugby sevens tournament format is very conducive to having your fortunes change in the span of just a year. Look no further than the Army rugby team.

In last year's inaugural Collegiate Rugby Championship, Army failed to win a game. The Black Knights returned this year and went a perfect 3-0 in Pool C play, defeating Central Washington, North Carolina and archrival Navy by a combined score of 61-32 on Saturday. Army then beat Texas in the Championship Quarterfinals, 19-7, and upset defending champion Utah 12-7 before falling to Dartmouth 32-10 in the title game.

Hopefully this year's 2011 USA Sevens CRC also gave us all a better sense of the game of rugby sevens and a view into a pretty cool college sport.

Go Eagles!