This weekend's Great Northwest Challenge in Boise, Idaho, is as compelling a rugby tournament as you'll find in the USA, because—simply put—it produces Eagles and it produces surprises.

Here are three excellent reasons to tune in this Friday and Saturday.

Watch the Great Northwest Challenge LIVE on FloRugby

What It's Supposed To Be

The Great Northwest Challenge got its beginnings in 2002 with select-side competitions between Washington and Oregon on the boys and girls sides. It morphed into many different things, but at its heart, it has been a competition for bragging rights on the Pacific Coast.

This year the GNC has, despite a few hiccups, turned out to be exactly that. Teams from Northern and Southern California, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Utah are all involved, which is as it should be.

More Is Better

Infighting within the different regions has sometimes led to offshoot select sides. Eagle Impact Rugby Academy has done its own thing, and in other regions, there have been various select sides that have split off. 

The reasons for the splits are varied. In Northern California, the split is geographic. There is enough depth of talent for the Bay Area and the Sacramento Valley area to produce their own teams. We will see one Northern California team for each bracket in Idaho this time around. 

In Washington, it was all about personalities and process. Some coaches felt certain players were being overlooked, and formed a second select side. This is only a problem if both teams do poorly. But, despite the fact that Rugby Washington does not have a large number of teams, the talent level is high enough that it can support the Loggers and the Wolverines. Even if one of those teams struggles, the purpose will have been served—get players seen and give those players tough competition to help them improve.

Someone Out Of Nowhere

Not to be too harsh, but there are some high school teams that fit the definition of "nowhere" simply because such a team is either not strong or lacks numbers or is somewhat isolated. But if a player is good, he or she will emerge.

We've seen it happen before, as a player has bypassed those on more well-known programs to become High School All-Americans, Collegiate All-Americans, or Eagles (Hanco Germishuys, Nate Augspurger, Folau Niua, Dylan Audsley). Whose turn is it this time?