Blacksburg Rugby

Blacksburg has qualified for the USA Rugby Men's Division III national tournament rounds with a 51-35 win in the Mid-Atlantic Rugby Football Union territorial semifinals over top-seeded Old Gaelic. The win also placed Blacksburg in Sunday's territorial grand final match against Harrisburg. Both territorial finalists will advance to the national rounds with the final result determining their seeding and who will wear the territorial champs matle this year.

The match was played at finals weekend host Roanoke in unseasonably hot conditions, and Blacksburg got off to an appropriately scorching start by dotting down the first few tries and hauling a massive lead in by halftime. Undaunted, Old Gaelic roared back after the break and repeatedly shaved the lead to just a few points before Blacksburg was finally able to put the match out of reach at the end after some nail-chomping moments. Although Blacksburg never trailed in the match, punishment from both a rampant Old Gaelic side and the boiling sun left the final result in question until the dying minutes. Strong performances abounded, included massive scrum work by the forwards and a brace of tries each for outside backs Caleb Williams and Mark Seiss, but the work rate of flanker Craig Bucher earned him man-of-the-match honors.

It's a battered Blacksburg side that backs up against Harrisburg Sunday, with several players from the semifinal already out of the final due to injury, but the chance of a territorial championship will surely motivate Blacksburg to push hard for a second win.