Harvard Edges Princeton in Ivy 15s First Round

Saturday, April 9, 2016

After a tough game, Harvard edged out Princeton rugby 25-21. Princeton’s Man of the match was Nezim Mmegwa. Harvard (#1 seed) played Princeton (#4 seed) in the first round of the Ivy 15s playoffs in Canton, Mass. 

The match kicked off at 10:30 a.m., followed at 12:30 by Cornell (#2 seed) vs. Brown (#3 seed) at 12:30 p.m.

Princeton vs. Harvard

Saturday April 9th
10:30 AM - KO Harvard (1) vs. Princeton (4)

Location
Irish Cultural Center
200 New Boston Drive, Canton, MA 02021
Directions: http://www.irishculture.org/main/directions/

A short thirty-minute drive south of Boston or north of Providence. Rail stations at Quincy, Canton Junction or 128. Airports Boston Logan or T.F. Green.

Run of Play
April 9th
9am – Director Arrives inspects facilities and field
930am – Check in arriving teams
10am – Check in referees
1020am - Captains and referees
1030am – KO Match 1
1200pm – First game ends, Second Match team warm-ups 1215pm – 1st lunch served
1220pm Second Match Captains and Referees
1230pm Second Game KO
205pm – Second Lunch Served
230pm – Boston Irish Wolfhounds vs. Mystic River (Men’s D1)

Ivy Rugby process for determining our seed to the USA Rugby D1AA Playoffs

The 2015/2016 Ivy Rugby D1AA representative will be selected via a 4 team playoff during the weekend of April 9th /10th 2016.

The winner of the April Ivy playoffs will be awarded the official Ivy Rugby seed and advance into the USA Rugby D1AA Round of 16 playoffs.

The 4 Ivy D1AA spring playoff teams will be selected and seeded based on their Ivy Rugby rankings at the end of the fall league season.

The Ivy team that finishes first in the fall league is given the option of hosting the April 2016 playoffs.  If they are unable or unwilling to host the 4 team playoff, the right to host will be offered to the second seeded team and so on. 

Ivy Rugby Top Four Men's Teams for 2015

1. Dartmouth (playing in the Varsity Cup in spring of 2016)
2. [1] Harvard (passed hosting to Cornell)
3. [2] Cornell
4. [3] Brown
5. Columbia (playing sevens in spring of 2016)
6. Yale
7. Penn
8. [4] Princeton

Harvard, Cornell, Brown and Yale make up the top four participating teams in the spring playoffs. In the first round, Harvard will play Princeton and Cornell will play Brown

Ivy Playoff Rules and Regulations

Before being officially recognized as being the Ivy playoff host, the team must submit an official bid to the Ivy Competitions Committee.  The bid will have to adhere to protocols laid out in the Ivy Competitions Committee handbook as well as meet all the correct safety standards.  The Ivy Competitions Committee will then decide if the team will be awarded the right to host.  This process will be finalized before the 2016 Ivy Rugby Board meeting, and if needed confirmed at the Board Meeting.

If an Ivy team who finishes in the top 4 at the end of the fall league decides it does not want to participate in the USA Rugby D1AA playoffs, it will drop out and the next seeded team will be allowed to move up and participate in the Ivy Rugby playoffs (for example Dartmouth has already indicated they will not be participating in the D1AA playoffs and instead will focus on the Varsity Cup).  If any other playoff team drops out for any other reason, the right to take their Ivy Rugby April playoff berth is offered to the next highest seeded team and so on.

The Ivy Rugby D1AA playoffs will be played over 2 days.  Games will be regulation length adhering to all USA Rugby protocols.  In the first game the #1 seeded team will play the #4 team, and in the second match the # 2 and # 3 seeds will play.  The winners progress to Sunday and play each other to determine who will be awarded the Ivy Rugby 2016 USA Rugby seed.