ELLENSBURG, Wash. (Nov. 2) – Fresh off a West Coast 7's Championship, the Central Washington University men's rugby team heads back down to California for the Penn Mutual Collegiate Rugby Fall Classic in San Jose.
The Wildcats were one of eight teams selected to participate in the tournament, joining San Diego State, Cal Poly, UC Davis, USC, Stanford, Santa Clara, and Arizona. Central defeated USC, Santa Clara, and Arizona during their run in the West Coast 7's.
"We are proud to be able to have a great mix of national powers and rising programs in this first year event," said Tournament Director Jon Hinkin. "The schools participating represent some of the best rugby playing institutions not just in the state but across the country, and fans will be treated to seeing some of the games rising athletes alongside the international stars who are part of Silicon Valley 7's."
The Wildcats open play against USC on Saturday (Nov. 4) at 1:54 p.m. View all the fixtures and results,
HERE. The tournament follows a double elimination structure.
"What an awesome experience this is going to be for our student-athletes playing alongside today's international stars of sevens," CWU Head Coach
Todd Thornley said. "It does not get much better then representing our institution in front of a big crowd, hopefully we can evolve from our performance at West Coast Sevens. I'm excited to see how we respond under the pressure of being a known quantity now after surprising some teams last time out. The team has been working hard to tidy up some areas of both sides of the ball so we can have another good showing this weekend. We are forever grateful for the invite to the Penn Mutual Collegiate Rugby Fall Classic."
The international field for the weekend will mark the first time that squads from the Island nations of Tonga, Samoa and Fiji, will be in the same event since the 2007 USA Sevens. It is also the first time the Irish National Sevens squad will play in the United States and will be the last international tune-up for rising nations Canada and the United States, as well as traditional powers like New Zealand, Japan and Australia, as they ready for the 2017-18 HSBC World Sevens Series. The Silicon Valley International 7's will also mark the first time the Chinese National team will appear in the United States. England and Chile will round out the field.
In addition to 34 international men's matches, and 20 collegiate matches, an international cultural festival, along with an Island concert series will be held to celebrate the weekend.
