Temple Men and Women rise to the top of the best collegiate Div II clubs in the US.
While to some finishing second doesn't mean that much...but when you look at what Temple University's Men's and Women's Rugby Clubs accomplished...all you can be is impressed.
Media RFC's John "Spider" Sciotto who took over as the men's head coach 2 years ago finally got the response to his coaching methods last Fall as Temple had a great EPRU Fall league season finishing 2nd to West Chester 12-10 in the Championship match. No matter...they entered the MARFU Div II playoffs this Spring well conditioned and ready to play. They beat James Madison at JMU 34-19. A week later at the MARFU Championships, they beat the 2 perennial MARFU Champions, Georgetown 20-15 in the semifinals and Salisbury 17-10 in the final to earn one of the 2 MARFU seeds in the USA Rugby Div II Collegiate Playoffs.
In mid-April they travelled south to Sanford, Florida for the Round of 16 and beat Texas Tech 22-12 and Appalachian State 25-10 to keep their path to the National finals alive. 2 weeks later they traveled to Stanford University to meet UMass (Amherst) in the semifinals and with a goal line stand as time expired held on for an exciting 33-30 win. In the final they met the Pacific Coast Champion Claremont College but came up just short 25-19.
With about 225 Div II Colleges vying for the National title, Temple's 2nd place finish put them up where "the air is rare" as one of best Div II in the Country.
On the women's side, Temple University who was a former 2-time National Div II finalist, winning the title in 2004 and finishing 2nd in 2005, got back to their championship ways last Fall under the coaching guidance of former Temple Men's player Owen Jones. Last Fall in EPRU league and playoff play, Temple had no real challenge on the field except for nemesis LaSalle University. LaSalle beat Temple in league play 27-12 while Temple turned the table on them in the EPRU Championship final 22-20. In the Spring MARFU playoffs, Temple got off to a slow start struggling against PRU's George Washington University in the quarterfinals winning 17-14. They went on toe handle William & Mary in the semis 42-0 and met "guess who" in the final. They held on to beat LaSalle 20-15. Both Temple and LaSalle earned the right to play on USA Rugby's Div II Collegiate Playoffs.
Along with the men's team they traveled to Sanford, Florida for the opening round National playoff match only to find that their opponent (?) the SoCal RFU #2 team could not make the trip and so they won by forfeit. The next day, they met Met NY Champ Rutgers and won 25-10. So again like the Men, off to Stanford they went. In the semifinals they met Univ. California Santa Cruz, a perennial Div II standout, having won the National title in 2006 and finishing 2nd in 2007. Temple dug deep and came on top 28-26 to earn a spot in the final. Despite the loss in the final to Washington State, the Temple Women showed to all how hard work and dedication to the great sport of rugby can reap a large reward. There are over 200 women's colleges playing Div II rugby and finishing 2nd is quite an accomplishment.
Of interest, Owen Jones besides being the Temple Women's coach, currently plays for the Media RFC and is the brother of Gareth Jones who is the Temple Men's Team Captain. So on top of everything, this is quite a family success story.
A tip of the hat to both Temple teams!
Results : USA Rugby National Championship
Finals - May 1, 2010
Division II - Women - Washington State 37 - Temple 0
Division II - Men - Claremont 25 - Temple 19
Division I - Women - Penn State 24 - Stanford 7
Division I - Men - Cal 19 - BYU 7
