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Rugby union in the United States is played at youth, high school, college, amateur, professional, and international levels and governed by USA Rugby. There were over 125,000 players registered with USA Rugby as of 2016. Over 2,500 rugby union clubs exist around the country, including those who are part of college rugby. Professional club competition has existed as Major League Rugby (MLR) since 2017.
The Louisiana State University Rugby Football Club, often referred to as LSU Tiger Rugby, represents Louisiana State University in college rugby and rugby sevens. The team is part of the Southeastern Collegiate Rugby Conference (SCRC) and they play their home matches at the UREC Field Complex on LSU's campus.
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 40 D1-A rugby schools divided into seven conferences: East, Midwest, Rocky Mountain, California, Big Ten, Lonestar River, and Independent.
Mike Tolkin is a rugby union coach who served as head coach of the United States national team from 2012 until 2015. He was the head coach for Rugby United New York for the Major League Rugby 2019 Season. He is the current General Manager of Premier Rugby Sevens.
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 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.
This is a list of results and records for the USA Rugby National Collegiate Men's Rugby Championships, which began in 1980. The 1984–1988 and 1990 editions were played in conjunction with the Annual Pebble Beach Rugby Classic. In 2010, several of the top college teams agreed to form the College Premier League, now known as Division 1-A Rugby to begin play in spring 2011. This list does not include records from the breakaway invitational Varsity Cup Championship held between 2013 and 2017, nor from the rival National Collegiate Rugby Organization's D1 championship that began in 2021.
Big Ten Universities is a Division 1-A college rugby conference founded in summer 2012 by ten of the twelve schools that then made up the Big Ten Conference. The Big Ten Universities was formed to improve rugby among the Big Ten schools by capitalizing on traditional Big Ten rivalries, increasing the number of fans, attracting talented high school rugby players, and playing other regional schools, which would create more competitive matchups with traditional rivals.
The PAC Rugby Conference was a college rugby conference composed of four schools from the Pac-12 Conference that competed 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.
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.
Hugh Angus MacLellan II is an American rugby union player whose usual playing position is prop. He plays for the Utah Warriors in Major League Rugby (MLR) and has played for the United States national rugby union team.
Benjamin Joseph Pinkelman is an American professional rugby union player who plays as a forward for the United States national sevens team.
Bryce Campbell is an American rugby union player who currently plays for the Chicago Hounds of Major League Rugby (MLR). He also plays for the United States national rugby union team.
Hanco Jacobus Germishuys is a South African born American rugby union player who plays as a flanker for the Houston SaberCats in Major League Rugby (MLR) and for the United States national rugby union team internationally.
Cody Melphy is a professional American rugby union player for the United States national rugby sevens team. Melphy was named to the team in February 2018 where he made his debut in the 2018 USA Sevens in Las Vegas. Melphy helped the U.S. to its first tournament win on home soil, the second-ever World Series tournament win in American history.
Ruben Pieter de Haas is a rugby union player who plays scrum-half for the United States men's national team. He previously played for Saracens in the English Premiership and currently for the Cheetahs in the SA Currie Cup and the 2024-25 EPCR Challenge Cup in Europe.
San Diego State Aztecs Rugby Club is the rugby union club that represents San Diego State University. The men's team competes in Division 1-A in the California Conference and the women's team competes in Division II in the Pacific Desert Conference. The team plays its home games at ENS 700 Field.
The 2023 Division 1-A Rugby Championship is the eleventh season of the Division 1-A Rugby championship, the annual university rugby union competition run by USA Rugby for teams from the top twelve college teams in the United States. Navy won their first Championship with a 28–22 win over California, capping a perfect 18–0 season.
College rugby is played by men and women throughout colleges and universities in the United States. 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 2024 Division 1-A Rugby Championship is the twelfth season of the Division 1-A Rugby championship, the annual university rugby union competition run by USA Rugby for teams from the top twelve college teams in the United States. Navy entered as defending champions having won their first Championship, capping a perfect 18–0 2023 season. St. Mary's beat Navy in the final 26–22 in the final to secure their fourth championship.
References
- ↑ "Eagle Dream Begins at Home for McGowan", Goff Rugby Report, February 2, 2016.
- ↑ "All Americans Part of McGowan's Journey Back", Goff Rugby Report, June 26, 2016.
- ↑ "A Tradition of Excellence", La Morinda Weekly, Michael Sakoda, June 18, 2014.