The Mystic River Rugby Club, sometimes called Boston Mystic, is a New England Rugby Football Union (NERFU) club, founded in 1974, located in Malden, Massachusetts, and Melrose, Massachusetts, who field teams in Division 1 American Rugby Premiership and Division 2 Rugby Union in the United States and are the current 2018 USA Rugby D1 National Champions.
The Denver Barbarians Rugby Football Club is a rugby union team based in Denver, Colorado. The Denver Barbarians have won 4 national championships dating back to their first DI title in 1990. The club's second title came in 1999, during the height of the Rugby Super League, defeating Belmont Shore RFC 22-18. The Barbarians third title came in the 2018 DII National Championship, defeating the Detroit Tradesmen in an all-time thriller at Infinity Park, 39-38. The Barbarians added a fourth title with a 49-34 victory over a strong Boise United side in the 2023 DII National Championship in St Charles, Missouri.
The Kansas City Blues compete in the USA Rugby Division 1, the highest amateur level. They also field a Division 2 team that offers new and inexperienced players the opportunity to learn the game and advance to Division 1. During the summer, the Blues also feature one of the country’s most successful 7s programs. The Blues have been prominent regionally and nationally since their 1966 inception. They have a long history of success, with many tournament and league championships and several National Championship and National Final Four appearances. The club has produced many USA National Team players in both 15s and 7s and has hosted dozens of National Team players from other countries.
Tom Billups is an American former rugby union rugby player, who played for the USA Eagles as an international and Blackheath Rugby Club, Harlequin F.C., and Pontypridd RFC as a professional. After retiring as a player in 1999, he joined the staff of the United States national team and was the head coach from 2001 to 2006. In addition to coaching the Eagles, Billups managed the U.S. national sevens team program and coached the 2005 U.S. sevens team. In 2015 Billups was inducted into U.S. Rugby Hall of Fame, and was the first person to be inducted as both a player and coach. In 2018 Billups became the 14th recipient of the Craig Sweeney Award which was first award in 1979 in memory of former United States national team member and captain, Craig Sweeney. The Sweeney Award is presented to a former national team player who has contributed significantly to the game while displaying exemplary character on and off the field.
The Princeton University Rugby Football Club is the college rugby team of Princeton University. The team currently competes in the Ivy Rugby Conference, an annual rugby union competition played among the eight member schools of the Ivy League.
Jack Clark is an American former rugby union player, former head coach of the U.S. national rugby team, and the current head rugby coach at the University of California, where he became the sixth head coach in team history in 1984.
Division 1-A Rugby is the highest level of college rugby within the United States and is administered by USA Rugby. Division 1-A rugby is modeled after NCAA athletic competitions, with the 46 D1-A rugby schools divided into eight conferences: East, Midwest, Rocky Mountain, California, Big Ten, Red River, PAC, and Independent.
Blaine Hansen Scully is an American former rugby union player who played for the U.S. national team as a fullback or wing. Scully was captain of the U.S. national team and previously served as co-captain alongside long-serving USA Eagle, Todd Clever. Professionally, Scully last played in Wales for Cardiff Blues and for the Leicester Tigers. Scully also founded the United States Rugby Players Association (USRPA) with former 7s Eagle, James Gillenwater.
Mike Palefau is an American rugby union player who plays center in 7s and wing in 15s. Palefau currently plays for the Utah Warriors having moved mid season from the Seattle Seawolves.
Alexander Magleby is the CEO of the professional rugby union team, The New England Free Jacks. He is a former professional rugby union coach, and former United States national team player and captain.
The Red River Rugby Collegiate Conference is a college rugby conference in Division 1-A Rugby, formed during summer 2014. The conferences consists of many of the same schools from the Big 12 Conference that had previously been in the Allied Rugby Conference adding the Texas Christian University rugby team.
The Varsity Cup Championship was an American college rugby competition established in 2012 to serve as an invitational championship following the breakaway of several schools from Division 1-A Rugby.
Madison John Hughes is a rugby union player who was the captain of the United States national rugby sevens team from 2014 until he stepped away from the team in late 2021. Hughes was named captain of the United States national team at the start of the 2014 Sevens World Series, shortly after the appointment of new head coach Mike Friday.
Michael Paseka Te'o is an American professional rugby player who plays for San Diego Legion of Major League Rugby (MLR). He also represents the America as a member of the United States national rugby union team.
Kelly Griffin is an American rugby sevens player and Olympian. As a member of the United States women's national rugby sevens team, she won a bronze medal at the 2013 Rugby World Cup Sevens, and a silver medal at the 2015 Pan American Games. She was also captain of the United States Women's Rugby Sevens team for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Ben Pinkelman is an American rugby union former player and current coach. As a player, he represented the United States in rugby sevens and the traditional fifteens version of the game. By the age of 25 Pinkelman competed in the highest profile tournaments in rugby sevens and rugby fifteens — the 2016 Olympics in Rio and the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan. He debuted for the United States sevens team at the 2016 Wellington 7's. He retired due to back injury in 2021 but returned to play in 2023 for the Pittsburgh Steeltoes in Premier Rugby Sevens. He also made his national team return in the 2023 Olympic RAN Qualifiers.
Tony Ridnell is an American businessman, former international rugby player, and army officer. He is the founder of TRInternational, Inc., a Chemical sales company.
Hope Rogers is an American rugby union player who plays for Exeter Chiefs in the Allianz Premier 15s. She has competed for the Eagles in three consecutive Rugby World Cup's, at the 2014, 2017 and the delayed 2021 tournament.
Malon Maurice Al-Jiboori is an American rugby union player who plays for the United States men's national rugby sevens team and the United States men's national team (XVs). He currently plays for Ealing Trailfinders and the Houston SaberCats in Major League Rugby (MLR).
San Diego State Aztecs Rugby Club is the rugby union club of San Diego State University in San Diego, California. It fields both men's and women's teams, the men compete in Division 1-A in the California conference and the women play in the Pacific Desert conference of Division II. The Aztec men's team won the US National Collegiate Rugby Championship in 1987.
