The Concordia Stingers men’s rugby team travelled to Royal Military College in Kingston today to take part in an elite pre-season competition, featuring two of the most accomplished teams in U.S. college rugby.
RMC has arranged for Kutztown University from Pennsylvania and Navy to visit Canada for a Can-Am competition. Both are Top 10 teams in the USA Rugby collegiate rankings. (The NCAA does not currently have men’s rugby championships or rankings.)
The Kutztown Rugby Football Club finished spring rugby with an 11-2 win-loss record and ranked No. 8 in the U.S. The program develops a lot of strong players. Last season, inside centre Marco Barnard was named an USA Rugby all-American and No. 8 Dirk Scheepers was an honorable mention all-American.
Navy comes with similar achievements. The team finished the spring season with a 10-3-1 record and ranked No. 9.
The Stingers and the RMC Paladins played Wednesday night to help prepare for the weekend’s action. The Kingston hosts edged out Concordia 17-10. Eric Van Thiel, a 2007 conference all-star, scored the lone Stinger try.
“It was a good game for the boys considering it’s the start of the season,” said head coach Clive Gibson.
The Stingers will meet Kutztown on Friday at 7 p.m. They face Navy on Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m.
