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Florida DII Men's Rugby for the 2012-2013 season is a confusing animal. USA Rugby kicked off the confusion with the release of a draft proposal to the organizing structure of American club rugby. Unsure how and when these changes might take affect our FRU leadership attempted to get out ahead of the curve and prepare a plan that would allow for the continuity of FL rugby including creation of a schedule and plan that would lead to a meaningful state championship competition.
Posted on 11/29/2012
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Florida DII Men's Rugby for the 2012-2013 season is a confusing animal. USA Rugby kicked off the confusion with the release of a draft proposal to the organizing structure of American club rugby. Unsure how and when these changes might take affect our FRU leadership attempted to get out ahead of the curve and prepare a plan that would allow for the continuity of FL rugby including creation of a schedule and plan that would lead to a meaningful state championship competition.
While FRU moved quickly to secure its plan it became apparent that USA Rugby would not be implementing their proposed reorganization until the 2013-2014 season. So here we find ourselves in this odd transitional year with parallel competitions both being impacted by the results of this season's games.
This year Florida DII clubs will have the opportunity to compete for both the newly created Florida Rugby Union State Championship Cup (FRUSCC) and the USA Rugby South Championship and Nationals. However, the path to these two competitions varies slightly. I have spoken to Frank Tito, author of Florida's DII schedule, as well as Pete Steyn USARS's competition chair in order to gain an understanding of how seedings and selections for these two competitions will work.
The newly created FRUSCC.
First I'll discuss the newly created FRUSCC. As you're probably aware FL has been divided into two divisions North and South. The North contains Jacksonville, Daytona, Orlando, Krewe, and the Pelicans while the South contains Boca, Miami, Naples, Tridents, and Fort Lauderdale. The regular season which includes all games up to and including games on 1/26/2012 is fairly straightforward with teams playing each of their respective divisional opponents twice and accumulating points which will be used in FRUSCC crossover and playoff seadings. There is also a new points structure, but more on that in a moment.
Upon completion of divisional games the top four point earning teams in each division advance to 3 game Crossover play. Crossover games will occur the weekends of 2/9, 2/16, and 3/2. Crossover seedings are based on points earned throughout divisional play and games shall be played as follows.
2/9 Crossover Weekend - Home team first column away second
N1 vs. S4
N2 vs. S3
S1 vs. N4
S2 vs. N3
2/16 Crossover Weekend - Home team first column away second
S4 vs. N2
S3 vs. N1
N4 vs. S2
N3 vs. S1
3/2 Crossover Weekend - 4 highest point earners receive home field
N1 vs. S1
N2 vs. S2
S3 vs. N3
S4 vs. N4
At the conclusion of Crossover play the top 4 point earners, irrespective of division, will advance to the FRUSCC which will feature three rounds taking place on the weekends of 3/16, 3/23, and 3/30.
3/16 - 2 Games - Major Semifinal and Minor Semifinal
Major Semifinal 1 vs. 2 - winner advancing to Finals loser to Prelim.
Minor Semifinal 3 vs. 4 - winner advancing to Prelim. loser out.
3/23 - 1 Game - Prelim.
Loser Major Semifinal vs. Winner Minor Semifinal
3/30 - 1 Game - Final
Winner Major Semifinal vs. Winner Prelim. - winner is FRUSSC Champ.
Selecting Florida's representatives for USARS's 2012-2013 Championship and USA Rugby Nationals.
Now back to selecting Florida's representatives for USARS's 2012-2013 Championship and USA Rugby Nationals. These representatives will be the two Florida teams with the highest point totals after the Crossover games concluding the weekend of 3/2 and prior to the FRUSSC games.
Again the teams selected will be the two teams with the highest point totals irrespective of division. As mentioned earlier, this season's points system has been modified.
This year's points system works as follows.
Points per game
Win = 4pts
Loss = 0pts
Draw = 2pts
Opposition Forfeit = 5pts
Forfeit = 0pts
Bye = 5pts
Bonus Point Opportunities
Winner - 4 or more try +1 point
Loser - Margin of loss <7 points +1 point
As a final note despite early reports to the contrary both Boca and Naples are eligible for post season play in both the FRUSSC and USARS Championship. While Krewe apparently remains ineligible for post season play I'm unclear whether their ineligibility applies solely to the USARS Championship or if it includes the FRUSSC.
Hope that sheds a little light. If you're still a little confused than just follow Al Davis' mantra and "Just Win baby win".
As a disclaimer I wrote this after trying to clear the subject up for myself. I tried to talk to all the PTB (Powers that be) and clearly represent what they had to say but it is possible I got something wrong. Final authority on the matter rests with FRU, USARS, and USA Rugby.
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