Blacksburg Rugby

The last of Blacksburg's Fall 2009 Virginia Rugby Union (VRU) Senior Men's Division III matches was played last Saturday, but there were still room for a few late and unpleasany surprises for Blacksburg as the VRU opted to shuffle its final standings after their initial release this week.

As Blacksburgrugby.com reported earlier, Blacksburg finished in a three-way draw for second place in the VRU and was intially awarded a second-place finish based on tiebreaker procedures. This led to Blacksburg originally being officially listed as the second seed from the VRU for the upcoming Spring 2010 Mid-Atlantic Rugby Football Union (MARFU) playoffs.

Apparently, however, a midweek appeal by another VRU member club has led to a standings reshuffle. Based on a late score dispute and an explanation of the VRU tiebreaker procedure that differs from the interpretation reported here last month, Blacksburg will now enter the MARFU knockout rounds as the VRU's third seed.

Although a surprised by the lateness of the standings change, Blacksburg is happy to be entering the MARFU quarterfinals for a fourth straight year and will spend the winter preparing to play whoever is put in front of them. To that end, Blacksburg will play an intrasquad match at its home ground next Satruday, and training sessions will continue twice a week through November. Players and interested recruits are encouraged to come out and get a run.