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College rugby is played by men and women throughout colleges and universities in the United States of America. Seven-a-side and fifteen-a-side variants of rugby union are most commonly played. Most collegiate rugby programs do not fall under the auspices of the NCAA and are instead governed by National Collegiate Rugby and USA Rugby, two nationwide governing bodies. 27 women's programs participate in the NCAA.
The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Pac-12 Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF). For football, they are in the Football Bowl Subdivision of Division I. UCLA is second to only Stanford University as the school with the most NCAA team championships at 121 NCAA team championships. UCLA offers 11 varsity sports programs for men and 14 for women.
The Army Rugby Football Club was founded in 1961 and for over 50 years the Army Black Knights have been a leader in USA Collegiate Rugby. The Army Ruggers are West Point’s most winning team.
The Kutztown Golden Bears are the sports teams that represent Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, located in Kutztown, Pennsylvania. Kutztown University is a member of NCAA Division II and competes in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC). The university sponsors eight men's and fourteen women's intercollegiate sports. In 2022, Kutztown University added women's acrobatics & tumbling as its 22nd varsity sport.
The Northeastern University Rugby Football Club is a college rugby union team representing Northeastern University. The club competes in the Liberty Conference of Division 1-A Rugby and is governed by USA Rugby.
The East Coast Rugby Conference is a college rugby conference, founded in 2011 after USA Rugby decided that collegiate rugby teams would leave their local area unions and form independent conferences. Seven teams participated in the inaugural season.
The 2011 Collegiate Rugby Championship was a rugby union sevens tournament. The competition was held from 4–5 June at PPL Park in Chester, Pennsylvania. The men's tournament featured sixteen teams, whereas the women's tournament featured eight teams.
The Collegiate Rugby Championship (CRC) is an annual college rugby sevens tournament. The CRC is the highest profile college rugby sevens competition in the United States, with the tournament broadcast live on NBC from 2010–2017, on ESPN News and ESPN3 from 2018–2019, The Rugby Network in 2021 and 2023, and on CBS Sports in 2022. The CRC capitalized on the surge in popularity of rugby following the 2009 announcement of the addition of rugby sevens to the Summer Olympics. Beginning in 2021, the tournament has been organized by National Collegiate Rugby under license for the name and logo.
The Atlantic Coast Rugby League was an annual college rugby competition played every spring among eight universities—seven from the Atlantic Coast Conference, plus Navy. The league was disestablished in 2016.
The 2012 USA Sevens Collegiate Rugby Championship was a rugby union sevens tournament. The tournament was held on June 2–3 at PPL Park in Chester, Pennsylvania. It was the third annual Collegiate Rugby Championship, and the second year in a row that the tournament was held at PPL Park. Sixteen teams from colleges in the United States competed. Dartmouth College defeated Arizona in the final to secure their second CRC Championship in a row.
The USA Sevens Rugby Collegiate Championship Invitational,, was a rugby union sevens tournament. The competition was held from 4–6 June at Columbus Crew Stadium in Columbus, Ohio. The CCI was a groundbreaking event in college rugby for several reasons—it was the first ever rugby sevens championship contested among college rugby programs, and it was the first time college rugby was broadcast live on network TV. This was the only year that the tournament was called the "Collegiate Championship Invitational." The following year, the tournament changed its name to the "Collegiate Rugby Championship."
The USA Rugby Sevens Collegiate National Championships is an annual competition among the top college rugby teams in the country to decide a national champion in rugby sevens. USA Rugby organized the championship to capitalize on the surge in popularity of rugby sevens following the 2009 announcement of the addition of rugby to the Summer Olympics. USA Rugby recognized that rugby sevens is growing in popularity, participation and interest. At the time of the foundation of the tournament, rugby was one of the fastest growing sports across college campuses. This tournament is a major contributor to the selection process for USA Rugby Olympic athletes.
The California Golden Bears rugby team is the college rugby team of the University of California, Berkeley. The Golden Bears have won 33 championships since the national collegiate championships for rugby began in 1980. Current head coach and Cal alumnus Jack Clark took over the team in 1984, and has achieved prolonged success, leading the Bears to 28 national titles, including twelve consecutive championships from 1991 to 2002, five more consecutive titles from 2004 to 2008, and back-to-back titles in 2010 to 2011 and 2016 to 2017.
The PAC Rugby Conference is a college rugby conference composed of four schools from the Pac-12 Conference that compete against each other in Division 1-A Rugby. It was formed in 2012 with six teams, with conference play beginning in February 2013 to compete in Division 1-AA. In 2016, PAC added USC and Stanford and dropped Oregon State, and moved up to D1-A. Despite only recently moving up from D1-AA affiliation, the PAC has historically been one of the strongest conferences in college rugby, with five of its members consistently ranked in the Top 25 overall. The PAC Rugby Conference began play on February 2, 2013, with Cal beating Arizona State at Witter Field in Berkeley.
The Dartmouth Rugby Football Club is the men's college rugby team of Dartmouth College. The student-run club was founded in 1951, and competes in the Ivy Rugby Conference against its traditional Ivy League rivals. Current head coach and former assistant coach James Willocks took over the team in 2017, leading the club to the 2019 D1-AA Spring Championship, the club's first 15-a-side national title.
Matt Sherman is a former American rugby union fly-half and current coach of the Army men's rugby team at the United States Military Academy. His ‘21/‘22 Army West Point squad won the D1A National Championship.
The 2014 USA Sevens Collegiate Rugby Championship was a rugby sevens tournament. The tournament was held on May 30 — June 1 at PPL Park in Chester, Pennsylvania. It was the fifth annual Collegiate Rugby Championship, and the fourth consecutive year that the tournament is held at PPL Park. California defeated Kutztown 24-21 in the final to secure the CRC Championship for the second year in a row.
The 2016 Collegiate Rugby Championship is a college rugby sevens tournament played June 4–5 at Talen Energy Stadium in Chester, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia. It is the seventh annual Collegiate Rugby Championship, and the sixth consecutive year that the tournament will be at Talen Energy Stadium. The event was broadcast on NBC and NBCSN. Commentators were Todd Harris and Brian Hightower. California won the championship, defeating UCLA 31–7 in an all-Pac-12 final. Attendance for the two-day event was 27,224.
The 2017 Collegiate Rugby Championship was a college rugby sevens tournament played June 3–4 at Talen Energy Stadium in Chester, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia. It was the eighth annual Collegiate Rugby Championship, and the seventh consecutive year that the tournament was at Talen Energy Stadium. The 2017 championship broke the event's two-day attendance record with 37,518 on hand. It also set the tournament record for a one-day attendance with 14,973 on Saturday. The event was broadcast on NBC and NBCSN. California won the championship.
The 2018 Collegiate Rugby Championship was a college rugby sevens tournament played June 1–3 at Talen Energy Stadium in Chester, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia. It was the ninth annual Collegiate Rugby Championship, and the eight consecutive year that the tournament was at Talen Energy Stadium. The event was broadcast on ESPN+, ESPN2 and ESPNews. The men's tournament consisted of 24 teams split into six pools. Lindenwood won both the men's and women's championships. To claim their first title in only their second appearance in the tournament, Lindenwood defeated UCLA in the men's final. Total attendance for the three day tournament was 27,002 including a record setting 15,109 for Saturday pool play.
References
- ↑ RugbyMag, CRC Crowd Up from 2012, June 2, 2013, http://www.rugbymag.com/tournaments-special/crc/8280-crc-crowd-up-from-2012.html Archived 2014-02-09 at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ "CRC Announces Invited Teams". Archived from the original on 2013-06-28. Retrieved 2013-05-26.
- ↑ "CRC Confirms Army Out, Villanova In". Archived from the original on 2013-10-22. Retrieved 2013-05-26.
- ↑ Rugby Mag, Kelly Heads up All-CRC Team, June 4, 2013, http://www.rugbymag.com/tournaments-special/crc/8294-kelly-heads-up-all-crc-team.html Archived 2013-06-11 at the Wayback Machine