USA Sevens Rugby Release
Philadelphia, Pa. – May 7, 2018 – In advance of this year’s Penn Mutual Collegiate Rugby Championship, the men’s pool assignments for the 24-team men’s rugby sevens tournament field has been announced.
The 2018 Penn Mutual Collegiate Rugby Championship is set for Friday, June 1st through Sunday, June 3rd at Talen Energy Stadium in suburban Philadelphia. Reserved and field level tickets to the “World’s Largest Collegiate Rugby Festival” are available online at sevensrugby.com. Single-day reserved tickets are $90 and field level tickets are $63, and full weekend reserved tickets are $132 and field level tickets are $79.
Pool assignments for the men’s field are as follows:
- Pool A: Lindenwood, Saint Joseph’s, Wisconsin, Mount St. Mary’s
- Pool B: Arizona, Indiana, South Carolina, Boston College
- Pool C: Kutztown, Dartmouth, Iona, Temple
- Pool D: Life, Penn State, Air Force, Notre Dame
- Pool E: Arkansas State, UCLA, Virginia Tech, Delaware
- Pool F: Central Washington, Navy, Army, Maryland.
The 2018 Penn Mutual Collegiate Rugby Championship men’s winner will once again receive the Pete Dawkins Trophy, named after the All-American football standout at West Point won the Heisman Trophy in 1958. Dawkins was a Rhodes Scholar and attended Oxford, where he used his outstanding football skills to make him a star on the Oxford Varsity rugby team, revolutionizing the game in the process. The men’s most valuable player will receive the Mark Dombroski Most Valuable Player Trophy, named in honor of the late Saint Joseph’s rugby player who passed away in March.
The 2018 Penn Mutual Collegiate Rugby Championship will be televised live by the ESPN family of networks and will feature the most television and digital coverage in the tournament’s history.
This year marks the eighth consecutive year that the event has been held in Philadelphia and at Talen Energy Stadium. The annual event features not only the nation’s top 24 men’s collegiate rugby 7s teams but also the top 16 women’s teams, as well as the Freedom Cup regional competition with a six-team field vying for a spot in next year’s main bracket. The action also includes the National Small College Rugby Organization national championship and a national high school tournament with both boys’ and girls’ teams.
The three-day rugby event is one of the largest gatherings of collegiate and high school rugby teams in the world. Penn Mutual is in the fourth year of a title sponsorship for the event.
The interest in Rugby Sevens (also known as Sevens Rugby) continues to grow after the return to the Olympic Games in 2016, following a 92-year hiatus. The Penn Mutual Collegiate Rugby Championship is America’s national sevens championship and serves as the centerpiece of a nationwide effort to build American rugby talent for competition on the International stage. Over the past eight years, the event has produced over 31 players who have gone on to play for the U.S. National teams.
