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Captains Micky Franco (OSU) and Nick Viviani (Bowling Green) lead their teams.
By Jackie Finlan
When you think college rivalry, what is the first pairing that comes to mind? Many sports fans, especially collegiate football fans, would say Michigan v Ohio State. The USA Sevens Collegiate Championship Invitational is capitalizing on these timeless match-ups, as it tries to create a little history of its own.
The Wolverines were unavailable for the CCI, but Bowling Green (Mich.) gladly stepped up, and brought its contentious history with OSU to boot.
"We have a huge rivalry with Ohio State," Bowling Green captain Nick Viviani said in advance of the teams' meeting Saturday. "We've won the Midwest Cup over Ohio State the last three years, but the last time we played them on their home pitch, we lost. So, there is some home-field advantage for OSU."
Bowling Green is only two hours from Columbus, so the team hopes to balance the OSU-heavy crowd with fans of its own.
Buckeye Robert Rhodes didn't give home-field advantage too much influence. "The game's going to be won or lost on the field," he said. "We've gone 1-1 recently, so this is the rubber match."
Bowling Green entered and won two local 7s tournaments the previous two weekends, facing fellow CCI participants like Indiana and Notre Dame. The team capped off its preparation with a scrimmage against University of Arizona yesterday.
"It didn't go as planned," Viviani said, "but the style of half-touch didn't really suit our brand of play. We were hoping to work out the kinks."
So is BGSU nervous? "No," Viviani assured. "We're ready."
Many of the OSU players, though they hadn't played organized 7s in the past, are already approaching the decade mark in rugby experience. A random sampling of players - Rhodes, Andrew Little and Gareth Willatt - had all played high school rugby either in Ohio or Washington, D.C.
Scrumhalf and captain Micky Franco, who has a couple of Super League and summer 7s seasons with the Chicago Lions under his belt, will be anchoring the squad. Franco graduated in March (and still has eligibility) and also played for the Lions team that advanced to the Championship Cup Series final against Belmont Shore during the USA 7s in Las Vegas.
The stage is set for an intense game - hometown fans, professional stadium, national exposure - and now that the cameras are watching, the country will be able to share in one of rugby's long-established rivalries.
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