The Cal Poly Rugby Club has announced that it will host the 2012 Californian Rugby 7s National Collegiate 7s Championship Qualifier.

College teams from San Diego to Sacramento are expected to make the trip to San Luis Obispo for the two day tournament, scheduled to be run on the Cal Poly campus on the weekend of November 10-11.

“Hosting this tournament is a great opportunity for the rugby club,” said Cal Poly Rugby club president Taylor Goodsen. “We’re very excited to be the college that will showcase the best rugby 7s talent in the state.”

The winner of the qualifying tournament will go on to play in the 2^nd annual USA Rugby 7s National Championships in early December. Cal Poly received a wild card selection in last year’s championships after their impressive performances at the 2011 qualifier at St Mary’s College. The Mustangs finished 8^th at the National Championships.

Rugby Senior and 2012 7s MVP Bobby McNeal is very confident the Mustangs can go two games better should they qualify for the nationals.

“We were fairly happy with our final placing at the National Championships, but know we could have done much better. We almost beat eventual champions Life University in our pool game, so know we’ve got it in us to compete against the best.”

College 7s is still in its infancy. As recently as the spring of 2010 almost no colleges were playing 7s. However, when USA 7s LLC launched the Collegiate Rugby Championship, which has been broadcast on NBC three times now, college 7s exploded. A 7s All American team was revitalized, and USA Rugby launched its championship last fall.

“For these Rugby athletes their US Olympic journey begins here,” said Andy Doukas the Collegiate 7s Coordinator for California. “Last year we had three teams selected to advance to the Nationals, more than any other qualifier. Our goal is to facilitate a first class tournament where all players can participate and play some quality rugby.”

In the weekends leading into the National Qualifier at Cal Poly, college teams will compete in a number of seeding tournaments hosted up and down the state. Cal Poly will host the 2^nd West Coast Rugby 7s Invitational tournament in San Luis Obispo on the 6^th October, all college teams are welcome to enter.

California’s Draft Fall Rugby 7s Schedule

Warm-up Tournaments
9/29 St Mary's College, Moraga
10/6 West Coast Rugby 7s Invitational, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

Qualifying Seeding Tournaments

10/13 Stanford
10/27 So Cal, TBC

National Championship Qualifying Tournament
11/10-11 Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo

National Championships
11/30-12/1 TBC