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We were treated to games between #1 and #2, and #3 and #4 this weekend. Even though the 1 v 2 matchup wasn’t a league game, it was played like one and BYU won it. St. Mary’s were right there for a while, but were blown out late, after they emptied their bench.

Don't get us wrong; BYU was the better team, but perhaps the score wasn't quite indicative of true competitive balance between the teams.

Meanwhile #4 Life did what we suspected they would, and won in Marietta. St. Mary’s drops from #2 to #3, and Life jumps from #4 to #2. Arkansas State drops a place.

That isn’t the only move in the D1-A Top 20. Colorado continues to provide us with some interesting fodder for rankings. Their 67-5 blowout of Arizona State has to move them up.

And we have one new team. Oklahoma drops out and Ohio State, which almost pulled off an upset over Kutztown, and looks stronger this year, goes in at #20.

A long-running legal dispute between USA Rugby and a former kit supplier is now, apparently, over.

Jackie Finlan interviews Kimber Rozier of the USA women's 7s team while Rozier trains at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista.

This video is available to Premier Members.

One week from today, the USA Women 7s team will have finished their first day of games at the Hong Kong 7s, and with any luck, they'll be heading to Hong Kong Stadium for the Cup semifinals next Saturday. As RugbyMag.com reports all of the happenings, reference this lookbook to know who's who. The majority of photos were taken this week during the squad's training camp at Chula Vista's Olympic Training Center, and a few supplemental pictures from the Women's International Invitational 7s event in Las Vegas are also included.

When the USA Women 7s training squad assembled for this afternoon’s practice, head coach Ric Suggitt first ran the team through some passing drills then quickly moved into team skills. He focused his attention on the two full sides, which left three players (with Jane Paar and Katie Dowty still injured on the sidelines) sequestered to the other end of the field to practice drop kicks and ball-handling drills. There was only so much they could do before migrating to the sidelines and watching the Hong Kong squad and alternates run through training.

The taxi players have a purpose, and for players like Katie Lorenz and Ryan Carlyle, who relocated to San Diego in order to get more playing time alongside the residents (as does Emilie Bydwell, a San Diego Surfer), they understand their role at the Hong Kong preparation camp. But for residents Kaelene Lundstrum, Kelly Griffin and Bui Baravilala, it was a little difficult being omitted from the Hong Kong tour.

The roster for Hong Kong was determined shortly after the Las Vegas tournament.

“There were players who performed really well in Las Vegas, so being in the residency program doesn’t necessarily guarantee you a spot on the traveling team,” Suggitt said. “But it puts us in a really good environment to train your players, so hopefully they’ll be there in time. The players who played well in Las Vegas deserve the opportunity to go to Hong Kong, so that’s how we were able to make our decision pretty quickly.”

The three residents left off the Hong Kong squad are relatively young, especially Baravilala, but the Hawaii native appeared to have responded well to the disappointment.

“Bui was a tough one, but we have a lot of time with her and she’s going to be a really good rugby player,” Suggitt said. “But when we were in Vegas, she played the same position as Kimber [Rozier], Beth [Black], Katie [Dowty] and Irene [Gardner], and they played better, so they get to go. Bui’s going to work hard and knock one of those players off the pecking order. That’s the competition we want to have within our group, knowing where you stand and who you have to beat out.”

This was one of the first hard decisions to affect the group of residents, and it’s partially why Suggitt is introducing a sports psychologist into the team’s regimen. Every player is different in how they deal with competition, but Baravilala seems to be coping well.

“Her workrate and skills at practice have increased, and her attitude is always great,” Suggitt commended. “She’s got a good bounce in her step. She’s rebounded well. She’s one of the 20-year-old we know that when players like Beth [Black] age out that she’ll step in with a seamless boot. Beth keeps surprising us with her fitness, workrate and attitude, so we have to find the right time to make the right move. They’ll dictate that by their performance. We’ll see how it goes, but it’s healthy.”

In the meantime, Suggitt is making the best of the 19 (Nathalie Marchino left camp last night) athletes he has in camp, whether he’s finetuning his Hong Kong squad or exposing young athletes to a wealth of experienced players.

Two very different training sessions evolved for the USA Women 7s team today. The morning was another light-hearted, game-filled practice, which didn’t include the residents, who were lifting in the gym. The afternoon was much more results-oriented, as head coach Ric Suggitt drilled players on various defensive situations and attacks off set pieces. He didn’t curtail any disappointment when poor decisions were made, especially with repeat offenses.

“We’ve designed a lot of drills that start with an individual skill, right away into a unit skill, right away into a team drill, and we just play,” Suggitt said. “We work on our individual skills and fundamentals, and we try to make sure that we’re sound on our basics so that when we play in a high pressure situation, we don’t make those basic errors.”

Which is probably partially why Suggitt appeared agitated this afternoon. The team was working through some coverage lapses that allowed linebreaks between non-communicating defenders, and slow-sliding defense in the middle of the field. There were some miscues on offense as well, attempts to ship the ball to a non-supported side of the ruck or dropped balls on kickoff receipts.

Suggitt didn’t curtail his praise either, so when the team adjusted to his feedback, they got the reward they deserved.

It was also evident that the team was now focusing on Spain. On several occasions, Suggitt referenced Spain’s redhead, who must be one of their big scorers out wide. The team’s been watching video on their first-game opponent at Hong Kong, and it was clear they were shoring up areas of the game that might be challenged.

Assistant coach Jo Kos said Suggitt’s mood was similar to that of a couple of days ago. Fact is, the team is only five days away before they head to Hong Kong, and there are still some kinks to work out.

“They’re a quality team,” Suggitt said of Spain. “They’re well organized, well drilled, quick and great kickers. They’ll be a big challenge for us. The Hong Kong tournament is a kind of like a death tournament the way it’s set up this year. You can’t afford to lose one game or you’re out and you can’t move forward. We don’t know anything about [second-round opponent] Tunisia, so if we do well in our first two games, we’ll have Australia, which is going to be tough. And then on the other side [Cup semifinal], it should probably be Canada and England.”

The USA faced Australia in the third place match at Dubai and lost 22-5, but the Eagles are eager to improve on the second stop of the IRB Women’s Challenge Cup, which currently resides in Canada’s possession.

“We should always expect to be in the final,” Suggitt said of the team’s expectations at Hong Kong. “That’s our unwritten goal: to be as competitive as we can. We want to make sure that we’re always one of those teams that’s vying for a final spot. We’ll hopefully put strategies together and surprise a couple of teams, and they’re going to be able to do the same thing with us.”

Confidence is going to be key to the USA's success in Hong Kong. The squad already feels it's moving in the right direction, still motivated by their loss to Canada at the Women's International Invitational 7s in Las Vegas last month.

“Additionally, as with any sport, we need to get some bounces, but make the bounces come our way,” Suggitt said. “We can’t sit back and let teams dictate the way the game is played, so if we come in confident and aggressive, and we execute the fundamentals we’ve been working on, I think it’ll take care of itself.”

With poor weather on the horizon, the next two days of camp will focus on skills, positional and team-specific work. Live contact, tackling and rucking were covered on the first two days of camp, which is why a couple of players are still on sidelines nursing injuries. They should join the team tomorrow as they head into the final half of preparation in Chula Vista.

Another day with the USA Women 7s team in Chula Vista, Calif. The morning session involved the non-residents, who joined head coach Ric Suggitt, assistant coach Jo Kos and guest coach Richie Walker (San Diego Surfers) for a fun, game-filled series of kicking contests, props and experiments with roving lifts on kickoff receipts. The afternoon saw the full group reunite as two full sides worked on specific defense scenarios and attacking strategies off set pieces. Click here for photos from those two sessions.

The San Francisco Golden Gate club goes into their opening match for the Super League season having lost some top-notch talent.

The Chicago Griffins don’t get any freebies these days. After warming up against the defending DI club champs in Glendale, the Griffs will open their Super League schedule against defending RSL winners, SFGG.

It’s gotta be tough. Naming professional 7s athletes is one of the great hallmarks in American rugby, and while no one can bemoan the opportunities afforded our young athletes, there are veteran players who have been sacrificing for years in order to wear the Eagles jersey, and who could torment themselves with the question, “If only I were younger …”

It’s the cycle of life, but for many in the women’s 7s pool, the opportunity to be a resident is both at their fingertips and out of reach. Take Beth Black, for instance. A veteran on the international 7s scene, the 33-year-old was captain until the final of the Women’s International 7s Invitational in Las Vegas. The captainship was then handed to resident Deven Owsiany.

“That was one thing that was hard for me to take,” Black said, “but you want your captain to be your stronghold, someone you can always go to, and a resident is a great choice. Sometimes I come in late to tours, and you need your captain there at all times. There were no hard feelings; it was a great decision. We still work together, and it feels like a co-captainship. It’s not official, but it’s still a cool thing.”

Becoming a resident wasn’t a realistic option for Black, like several of her peers grounded outside of rugby.

“I’m established in the D.C. area,” Black explained. “I own a house, have a partner, a job I’ve been at for six years. It’s so tempting to say, ‘It’d be awesome to pick up, leave and just live a different life.’ But I’m 33 and know there’s a specific amount of time until your longevity is out, so to pick up and move everything for a very short amount of time didn’t make sense in my head.”

The staff is doing everything it can to keep the non-residents in step with the Olympic Training Center regulars, supplying in-depth training regimens that lead up to every event. And even though the veterans of the 7s pool are acclimated to what is essentially a second job training, the pressure continues to mount when weighed against the collective progress of the residents.

“We’ve called ourselves the taxi players, coming in and out [of camps],” Black said. “It’s been working well so far, but there are a couple of teachers – like Amy Daniels – who are getting a lot of push back from the schools. We get supported, but a lot of concessions are made to miss 30-40 days out of the school year. And all of the series is in the school year; none of it is in summer. It’s a stress to juggle everything, try to appease everybody and still be able to perform at your job and rugby.”

The added pressure only makes that “if only I were younger” fantasy more enticing.

“You can’t help it,” Black almost lamented. “I remember when I was 23 or 24 and wondered what I was going to do for a career and not worried about settling down. What better opportunity is there than being paid as a professional athlete? That’s been a dream of mine since I was four or five years old. It’s super tempting but you’ve got to make life work out.”

Even though Black and company aren’t technically professionals, they treat their rugby job with respect, and Suggitt has expressed that he has no apprehension that those athletes won’t come to camp prepared.

“You always have gnawing in the back of your head that you’ve got to be ready; you’ve got to be prepared for whatever’s coming up,” Black said of training on her own. “Not being a resident, you’ve got to take it upon yourself and find two or three people willing to work with you and do skills and do what we’re missing out on here.”

The residents live in enviable circumstances, but considering that only five of the eight contracted players are traveling to Hong Kong, the expertise of players like Black is greatly respected. And Black isn’t taking anything for granted.

“This isn’t a set squad. You have to perform every time,” Black said. “Ric says all the time that there will be people coming in, people coming out, and nobody’s a set deal. Yes, you have your resident for a year, and that’s a done deal, but anyone else, even the taxi players, have the possibility of movement in there.”

Today's afternoon training session lent a sneak peak into the Women Eagle 7s lineups for the Hong Kong 7s. As the group of 20 rotated through exercises with assistant coach Jo Kos and guest coach Richie Walker, USA Women 7s coach Ric Suggitt sequestered the traveling players and hammered out the nuances of some set plays. See more here.

USA 7s Head Coach Alex Magleby has made four changes from the team that played in Las Vegas, although two of those changes were forced upon him.

Coming into my first training session with the USA 7s Women’s team (on the sidelines, of course), I was expecting to see a fierce, intra-squad scrimmage - players traveling to the Hong Kong 7s in less than a week desperately trying to solidify their patterns with teammates, and taxi squad-ers fighting for their spot to stay in the pool.

Can the Super League replace Utah at short notice?

After losing Roland Suniula last week and an unfortunate injury Monday, the Eagles are down to nine contracted players available the rest of the season.

It is still early days in the Boys High School Club season, but here are a few things you need to know:

For the last four years, teams had to play-in to the Girls High School/U19 National Championship, but 2012 marked the return to an invitational (the competition’s format from 1999-2007). This year’s teams had to apply for entry into the tournament, and not only had to prove their history of success on the field but also their financial aptitude. The goal was to get the best eight teams in the country competing, regardless of territorial seeds, and also alleviate the financial pressure of a late berth to nationals. But as with any new system, it was met with some resistance.

Six of the eight teams invited competed in the 2011 NIT and at least one other recent tournament. The 7^th and 8^th place teams – New York and Sebastian River (Fla.) – were replaced by Catholic Memorial (Wisc.) and Downingtown (Pa.).

First, the obvious choices: Fallbrook High School (San Diego) and Sacramento Amazons. The two California teams have been finalists the previous two years, splitting titles. Divine Savior (Wisc.) won the previous six NITs and finished 3^rd the last two tournaments. Kent (Wash.) also has a slew of NIT appearances and always gives the top teams a run for their money.

Lakewood could easily find itself in a top-four spot, having lost to Kent by a point in last year’s first round, and with multiple NIT trips under their belt. West Carroll, too, has been MARFU’s best team the last couple of years and finished only two points shy of Lakewood for sixth.

Those six teams’ invitations are difficult to dispute and all rightfully deserve their spot at nationals. But when it came to filling out the roster, the National High School Invitational Committee chose to double up in Wisconsin and Eastern Pennsylvania. Representing the girls’ division was Marin Pinnell (Fallbrook), John Klein (DSHA), Bryn Chivers (USA U20 WNT) and Brad Rockwood (West Carroll).

“The applications were each evaluated, the references contacted and each team was contacted to discuss their structure, strength and history,” USA Rugby Director of Youth and High School Rugby Kurt Weaver explained. “The goal is to get the eight teams that most deserve to be there from the applicants involved. The evaluation process went off the applications and prior national tournaments, prior state tournaments and prior play.

“The applications for those two teams [Catholic Memorial and Downingtown] and the other six were stronger than the other applications,” Weaver continued. “Both New York and Sebastian River applied, but were not as strong applicants.”

Sources close to the committee say that the debate over those final two teams was probably the most spirited discussion of any of the three championships, including the boys’ high school and U19 divisions. Some were pushing hard for a second tier to ensure the right eight were picked at the top, and that might happen in 2013, but USA Rugby had already made plans for 2012 which precluded extra teams.

The good intentions are there, but the new process does take that wild-card factor out of the tournament. There’s no rewarding an up-and-coming team until they prove their worth.

“I feel like this system is a bit bogus,” New York coach Molly Dengler said. “I understand it because I realize that USA Rugby is a bit of an organizational mess these days, but try explaining that to the girls. It simply doesn't make sense that no matter how well you perform in your season and at the State Championships that there is no way to go farther now. I hope that this new system is only temporary, while the SBROs come together to provide another, more fair way of qualifying for nationals. It places unnecessary limits on new up-and-coming clubs that cannot prove longevity of success. Let's take the San Diego Surfers in the WPL as an example. The WPL structure made it possible for them to come in to the WPL and get the #1 seed in the conference going into nationals based on their stellar first season. Shouldn't this be a model for more national playoffs?”

Dengler admitted that her team would have had a difficult time affording the trip even if it had been invited to nationals. Additionally, New York’s league schedule all but disappeared once the SBRO, Rugby New York, eliminated New Jersey teams from their spring lineup. New York struggled on the national stage last year and could have used another league to develop their talent. Dengler suspected that the aforementioned factors played a big role in why New York was omitted.

But having healthy competition and winning history within one’s SBRO isn’t necessarily a boon as far as nationals are concerned. Take Tennessee, for example. Even if two-time state champion Ravenwood applied for this year’s NIT, they wouldn’t have been able to attend as the USA Rugby championship is scheduled on the same weekend as states. Rugby Colorado’s Summit High School, arguably the best team in the country under coach Karl Barth’s direction, also didn’t apply for the NIT, and likely never will since rugby is sequestered to one season (fall) the way most high school sports operate. In general, the NIT occurs too early (mid May) for high school sports to participate, and more coordination between USAR and SBROs is needed in order to expand the competition.

If the competition could expand to 16 teams, then room would open for squads like Mother Lode. One of the top two teams in the competitive Sacramento Valley region, Mother Lode was denied entry into this year’s NIT.

“On February 4 we had a game with the Amazons and Mother Lode won 24 to 10,” Mother Lode Ron Chance said. “We still did not receive an invitation and my girls are crushed. I understand the Amazons deserve an invitation because they were last year's runner-up. I'm disappointed the new selection process is not about getting the best teams at nationals and still mired with politics.

“I'm extremely disappointed,” Chance continued. “We are clearly one of the best teams in the country. It is unfortunate we have the annual national champion or runner-up, Amazons, in the same town. I was under the impression that the new invitation policy was set up specifically to address this situation.”

Even if Mother Lode beats the Amazons in their regular season match at the end of the month, or even at the league championships, there’s no guarantee into next year’s tournament, but that’s how the excluded teams must view their current seasons – as fodder for next year’s application.

Pat Clifton is on the ground at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif. He caught the Eagles scrimmage with Guyana earlier today.

Pat Clifton is on the ground at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif. Monday and Tuesday to check in on the team as it prepares for Hong Kong and the four remaining IRB World Series tournaments.

The latest D1-A Top 20 features one big change ...

Finally we are back ranking the High School teams in the USA.

Ties can be welcomed differently in different locker rooms.

You will see a different Eagle 7s team when the USA plays in Hong Kong.