More details in story at the link below:<br /><br /><a href="<a href="<a href="<a href="<a href="http://www.calbears.com/sports/m-rugby/spec-rel/122311aab.html""""" class="postlink " target="_blank">http://www.calbears.com/sports/m-rugby/spec-rel/122311aab.html""""</a> class="postlink " target="_blank"><a href="http://www.calbears.com/sports/m-rugby/spec-rel/122311aab.html"""</a>" class="postlink " target="_blank">http://www.calbears.com/sports/m-rugby/spec-rel/122311aab.html"""</a></a> class="postlink " target="_blank"><a href="<a href="http://www.calbears.com/sports/m-rugby/spec-rel/122311aab.html""</a>"" class="postlink " target="_blank">http://www.calbears.com/sports/m-rugby/spec-rel/122311aab.html""</a>"</a> class="postlink " target="_blank"><a href="http://www.calbears.com/sports/m-rugby/spec-rel/122311aab.html""</a></a>" class="postlink " target="_blank">http://www.calbears.com/sports/m-rugby/spec-rel/122311aab.html""</a></a></a> class="postlink " target="_blank"><a href="<a 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class="postlink " target="_blank">http://www.calbears.com/sports/m-rugby/spec-rel/122311aab.html"</a>""</a> class="postlink " target="_blank"><a href="http://www.calbears.com/sports/m-rugby/spec-rel/122311aab.html"</a>"</a>" class="postlink " target="_blank">http://www.calbears.com/sports/m-rugby/spec-rel/122311aab.html"</a>"</a></a> class="postlink " target="_blank"><a href="<a href="http://www.calbears.com/sports/m-rugby/spec-rel/122311aab.html"</a></a>"" class="postlink " target="_blank">http://www.calbears.com/sports/m-rugby/spec-rel/122311aab.html"</a></a>"</a> class="postlink " target="_blank"><a href="http://www.calbears.com/sports/m-rugby/spec-rel/122311aab.html"</a></a></a>" class="postlink " target="_blank">http://www.calbears.com/sports/m-rugby/spec-rel/122311aab.html"</a></a></a></a> class="postlink " target="_blank"><a href="<a href="<a href="<a href="http://www.calbears.com/sports/m-rugby/spec-rel/122311aab.html</a></a><br"""" class="postlink " target="_blank">http://www.calbears.com/sports/m-rugby/spec-rel/122311aab.html</a></a><br"""</a> class="postlink " target="_blank"><a href="http://www.calbears.com/sports/m-rugby/spec-rel/122311aab.html</a></a><br""</a>" class="postlink " target="_blank">http://www.calbears.com/sports/m-rugby/spec-rel/122311aab.html</a></a><br""</a></a> class="postlink " target="_blank"><a href="<a href="http://www.calbears.com/sports/m-rugby/spec-rel/122311aab.html</a></a><br"</a>"" class="postlink " target="_blank">http://www.calbears.com/sports/m-rugby/spec-rel/122311aab.html</a></a><br"</a>"</a> class="postlink " target="_blank"><a href="http://www.calbears.com/sports/m-rugby/spec-rel/122311aab.html</a></a><br"</a></a>" class="postlink " target="_blank">http://www.calbears.com/sports/m-rugby/spec-rel/122311aab.html</a></a><br"</a></a></a> class="postlink " target="_blank"><a href="<a href="<a href="http://www.calbears.com/sports/m-rugby/spec-rel/122311aab.html</a></a><br</a>""" class="postlink " target="_blank">http://www.calbears.com/sports/m-rugby/spec-rel/122311aab.html</a></a><br</a>""</a> class="postlink " target="_blank"><a href="http://www.calbears.com/sports/m-rugby/spec-rel/122311aab.html</a></a><br</a>"</a>" class="postlink " target="_blank">http://www.calbears.com/sports/m-rugby/spec-rel/122311aab.html</a></a><br</a>"</a></a> class="postlink " target="_blank"><a href="<a href="http://www.calbears.com/sports/m-rugby/spec-rel/122311aab.html</a></a><br</a></a>"" class="postlink " target="_blank">http://www.calbears.com/sports/m-rugby/spec-rel/122311aab.html</a></a><br</a></a>"</a> class="postlink " target="_blank"><a href="http://www.calbears.com/sports/m-rugby/spec-rel/122311aab.html</a></a><br</a></a></a>" class="postlink " target="_blank">http://www.calbears.com/sports/m-rugby/spec-rel/122311aab.html</a></a><br</a></a></a></a> /><br />I believe 2011 was the 1st year that the Premier League played. On one hand it wasn't a bad idea: picking out the elite squads and having them face each other leads to more competitive games. On the other hand, it necessitated each team traveling further to get to their matches (rather than playing local teams), which was bad for monetary considerations.

Prior to 2011, what league, organization, did Cal belong to ??<br />Whatever the pre-2011 arrangement was, it was great. Quarter-finals at Berkeley and<br />semi-finals and final at Stanford.<br /><br />Is this a beginning of a downhill trend??

I trust Coach Clark, but the powers to be not a bit. Sounds like someone wants a true sport to be more of a business opportunity.

So how will this affect how the NC is decided?<br /><br />Is there more going on than what was stated in press release? Cal mostly played the same teams as before, so the travel costs can't be that much more for Cal (how much say did cal have in it's regular season schedule in the CFD? and were some of those games particularly uncompetitive?). I could see <i>other</i> schools having more problems with cost. <br /><br />Having championships conflict with finals is a problem, yes, but every school has different finals/graduation weeks so not everyone will be happy... unless the tournament is in june? <br /><br />Looks like Dartmouth, LSU, Tenn, SDSU, and Claremont also pulled the plug on CSD. Were there issues with division imbalance? <br /><br />Another interesting thing is that it sounds like Cal will be focusing on 7's more, and will be doing this in the fall. Are there many well organized 7 events (I know it's growing quickly due to inclusion in the olympics)? Does the rugby community think that 7's will replace XV's at some point as the prominent form of rugby played in the USA?<br /><br />added:<br /><br />[quote=]<br /><b>What is the likelihood that we will see Pac-12 rugby competitions?</b> <br />I think it's highly probable that rugby will fill some of the programming needs the Pac-12 has. In this regard, our conversations with the Pac-12 office have been very encouraging.<hr></blockquote><br /><br /><br />There are going to be some huge programming holes to fill in the spring on the p12 network (it can't all be baseball/softball), so rugby fits well IMO - wonder how this would work with rugby being outside of the NCAA?

All organized rugby in the Country (including collegiate level) are run by "USA Rugby", so there was never a formal "PAC-10" rugby conference. Instead, the country was broken into Territorial units (7, I think), which were further subdivided into leagues. Cal played in the Division 1 level of the Northern California league, which included 6 other teams: Stanford (the only other PAC-10 school), Saint Mary's, Chico State, Univ. Nevada Reno, and others. However, Cal also played a LOT of other "local" (ie Nor Cal) non-league games as well. Outside of these league games, a few years ago, a PAC-10 rugby tournament held at UCLA was organized (7's only, I think)- this is still ongoing, and happens every January.<br /><br />I believe the Premier League is [U]not[/U] a 7's league - they played 15s.<br /><br />In my opinion, the upheaval in rugby stems from the change in emphasis from 15's to 7's. As another posted noted, the "traditional" 15's game lasts 80 minutes (two 40 minute halves), while the 7's game lasts half as long. This has the interesting result of being much more friendly to being televised (clock stoppages don't occur at near the frequency found in gridiron football). Also, it is the 7's game that is being groomed for the Olympics, not the 15's. Therefore 7's rugby will be the wave of the future in the sport, and this can have a whole slew of consequences in how the sport evolves. For example: flying a 7's team somewhere is about 1/2 the cost of flying a 15's team. Also, instead of needing 15 players (plus reserves) to play a full 80 minutes, you need only 7 players to play 40 minutes, which means more and more schools should be able to find players that can compete with the traditional rugby powers, thus helping to level the playing field.

Sounds like they could move the seven man game inside to play arena rugby.

<blockquote><div class="name-said">chalcidbear;658073 said:</div><hr>All organized rugby in the Country (including collegiate level) are run by "USA Rugby", so there was never a formal "PAC-10" rugby conference. Instead, the country was broken into Territorial units (7, I think), which were further subdivided into leagues. Cal played in the Division 1 level of the Northern California league, which included 6 other teams: Stanford (the only other PAC-10 school), Saint Mary's, Chico State, Univ. Nevada Reno, and others. However, Cal also played a LOT of other "local" (ie Nor Cal) non-league games as well. Outside of these league games, a few years ago, a PAC-10 rugby tournament held at UCLA was organized (7's only, I think)- this is still ongoing, and happens every January.<br /><br />I believe the Premier League is [U]not[/U] a 7's league - they played 15s.<br /><br />In my opinion, the upheaval in rugby stems from the change in emphasis from 15's to 7's. As another posted noted, the "traditional" 15's game lasts 80 minutes (two 40 minute halves), while the 7's game lasts half as long. This has the interesting result of being much more friendly to being televised (clock stoppages don't occur at near the frequency found in gridiron football). Also, it is the 7's game that is being groomed for the Olympics, not the 15's. Therefore 7's rugby will be the wave of the future in the sport, and this can have a whole slew of consequences in how the sport evolves. For example: flying a 7's team somewhere is about 1/2 the cost of flying a 15's team. Also, instead of needing 15 players (plus reserves) to play a full 80 minutes, you need only 7 players to play 40 minutes, which means more and more schools should be able to find players that can compete with the traditional rugby powers, thus helping to level the playing field.<hr></blockquote><br /><br />Outside the US, 15's are played in two ways: Rugby League and Rugby Union. We play the traditional Rugby Union style which is what you will see if you watch World Cup or International play. Calling it "Premiere League" was always confusing for me...<br /><br />In my opinion, the wide open play of the 7's allows smaller teams with a few fast guys to be competitive. Utah has a good team and if I remember correctly beat us in the finals last year. I think if we had a few football players play the wings like Sofele, Keenan, and Bigelow we would be a really tough team to beat. Think of one of those guys getting the ball on a field the size of a soccer field with 7 defenders spread out across the field.<br /><br />Go Bears!

We lost to Utah or BYU (can't recall) in the finals the year before last. Last year we didn't make it to the finals.