Men's Rugby repeat as Big Ten Universities 7's Champions
South Bend, IN – This past weekend Penn State Men's Rugby traveled to South Bend, IN to take part in the annual Big Ten Universities Rugby 7's Championship, hosted at Notre Dame.
Having won both the 1st and 2nd Team brackets in 2023, Penn State were looking to defend their title once again in 2024. The team were able to do just that, going 6-0 on the day winning the Big Ten Universities 7s Championship outscoring their opponents 190-26 over the course of the two-day tournament.
In pool play Penn State took on the likes of Michigan, Iowa, Ohio State and Wisconsin.
The Michigan match was a tight contest, a very strong Michigan team really put the Lions under pressure. Lack of seven's matches really showed, but the team were still able to come away with a win, 28-12. Speed was the name of the game in match two as Penn State used all of theirs to dispatch Iowa, 40-0. The final match of day one was against old rival, Ohio State. Last year OSU pushed the Lions tremendously, this year Penn State got on top early and then pressured OSU with a strong defensive showing, defeating the Buckeyes 35-0.
Day two kicked off with the final pool match against a strong Wisconsin team. Wisconsin were able to apply pressure as Penn State struggled to maintain possession through a few errors. But in the end the grit of the Lions showed as we won 14-7.
This win put the team into 1st place in the pool and a crossover with 2023 Runner Up Indiana. The team were poised and ready into the kick-off and opened up with a try in first minute. It was one way traffic after that and Penn State defeated the Hoosiers, 33-7.
Michigan had finished 2nd in the Pool and crossed over with a victory over hosts Notre Dame, setting a pool play rematch. The team had done tremendously well to improve in every match over the course of the weekend, and the final was no different. In a strong showing Penn State came out victorious, 40-0 over the Wolverines.
